Commissioned by Nexis
1 Introduction
Today, more and more corporate processes are implemented based on IT systems. Largely independent of the respective industry, a multitude of operational workflows are provided in digital form. The identities of employees, appropriate authorizations in processes and systems, and a permanent control and monitoring of access to prove compliance are becoming increasingly important for organizations.
However, the management of these things remains less than optimal because the traditional IT organization principles applied to IAM and IGA often prove to be inadequate for modern digital enterprises.
With the increasing digitalization of processes described above and the corresponding specialization of employees, teams, and their fields of competence, the processes necessary for the management of authorizations and identities are also changing. To leverage existing domain know-how, it is becoming increasingly important to involve different stakeholders directly from the business in clearly-defined and properly-delineated administration, review, and approval processes. This means that the dividing line between end users and business administrators is becoming increasingly blurred.
It is essential to identify the most relevant stakeholders and administrative processes to involve only those that can make a meaningful contribution.
Technology and architecture are essential: The majority of IAM and IGA systems and suites, including conventional ones, are now equipped with functionalities that can be categorized as delegated administration. However, they are often not good at keeping up with that task.
There is the need for more adequate approaches for solving this challenge and for achieving the desired involvement of various stakeholders as subject matter experts in IGA processes. The KuppingerCole Analysts’ concept of the Identity Fabric relies on a strict service-oriented approach for the design, implementation, and maintenance of future-proof IAM-architectures. This shift away from isolated systems to a service platform that provides and orchestrates a set of required IAM services and related functions is essential for overcoming the notion of IAM infrastructures that stem from traditional enterprise IAM systems.
As an example, the German specialist software vendor Nexis is following a future-oriented approach of providing IAM services as functional building blocks augmenting modern Identity and Access Management infrastructures following the Identity Fabric paradigm. For the design, implementation and swift roll-out of IAM services, Nexis Controle provides a workflow engine, which is dynamic and fully adaptable.
Dedicated, specialized and lean IAM & IGA services, such as those provided by Nexis Controle, represent a sustainable and efficient approach to the continuous and future-oriented development of modern identity and authorization platforms with a specific focus on different types of stakeholders. The underpinning service approach is an abstraction from existing infrastructures and enables new, innovative concepts for administration and further development, but also for ensuring compliance and governance in all types of organizations.
