Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) is crucial for companies because it ensures that access to sensitive data, systems, and resources is properly managed and controlled. IGA also facilitates more accurate compliance with industry regulations like HIPAA, PCI, HiTRUST, FISMA, and GLBA by providing a framework for managing user access, conducting access reviews, and generating audit trails, ultimately safeguarding the organization's reputation and trustworthiness.
While many companies eventually employ automated IGA solutions to streamline these processes, there are instances where some still manually manage their IGA approach. While manual processes may be preferred or even necessary for companies as they get started, they can be time-consuming and resource-intensive on top of creating an environment where human error and non-compliance become much greater risks, especially as companies grow and scale.
When planning for a comprehensive Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) strategy, leaders should consider several key factors:
By addressing these considerations when planning their comprehensive IGA strategy, leaders can effectively manage identity and access risks, ensure regulatory compliance, and support the organization's overall security posture.
Managing IGA processes manually poses significant risks due to the prevalence of errors, lack of scalability, and wasted resources. They are inherently prone to human error, leading to inaccuracies in access control, potential security breaches, and a high likelihood of eventual compliance violations. Additionally, as organizations grow and evolve, manual IGA processes become increasingly cumbersome and difficult to scale, resulting in inefficiencies and delays that can increase risks to an organization's security posture while also consuming valuable human resources, diverting skilled personnel from more strategic tasks and increasing operational costs.
Some of the most common areas where companies may leverage manual processes are:
Automating IGA processes can mitigate these risks by enhancing accuracy, scalability, and resource efficiency.
As a company grows, manually managing Identity Governance and Administration processes becomes increasingly challenging and unsustainable. Manual processes are not easily scalable and may struggle to keep up with the growing complexity of user access requirements and organizational changes. Additionally, the propensity for errors and wasted resources inherent in manual processes can hinder efficiency and pose significant risks to security and compliance.
Team size and budget constraints can also be a factor in assessing the right IGA approach. As roles and responsibilities for security teams evolve, there may not always be budget for additional headcount to manage increased responsibilities. This is where automated tools and processes can help enhance team bandwidth and optimize operations without the need to increase team size and role scope.
When companies reach this threshold, it is a good time to consider an automated IGA solution. Transitioning to automated IGA solutions enables scalability, adaptability, and sustainability by streamlining processes, reducing errors, and optimizing resource utilization, thus better supporting the evolving needs of a growing organization, and thereby strengthening the security posture.
Homegrown Identity Governance and Administration solutions can offer customization and flexibility to meet specific organizational needs as a company starts out. When employee rosters are small and security checklists are short, this approach can be the best option for some organizations. But as highlighted, this approach can also be labor-intensive to develop and maintain. As a company grows and its needs become more complex, homegrown solutions may struggle to scale efficiently, leading to increased costs and resource allocation.
On the other hand, automated IGA solutions provided by vendors offer out-of-the-box functionality, scalability, and ongoing support, making them more suitable for organizations experiencing growth. Investing in a SaaS solution as the company scales can provide a more cost-effective and sustainable approach, offering advanced or custom features, compliance support, and streamlined processes to accommodate increasing complexities and volumes of user access requirements.
For a safe, low effort way to tackle identity governance initiatives, organizations are partnering with companies like Clarity Security. An easy-to-implement, easy-to-use solution, Clarity helps mid-market enterprises manage and scale their Identity Governance programs. Focusing on decreasing the burden posed by manual IGA processes as well as mitigating the substantial lift required from teams adopting a third-party solution, Clarity’s innovative approach gets teams onboarded faster, increases department bandwidth, and reduces overall IT spend. And, not only does it help teams eliminate the tedious manual processes, it does so while providing the identity governance and audit compliance support for adhering to key cybersecurity frameworks like NIST, HIPAA, and HiTRUST.
Schedule a demo now to learn more about how Clarity's solution can help your organization.
By following these best practices, organizations can manage and scale their IGA processes as they scale. This can modernize a growing company’s approach to identity and access management, allow them to better mitigate security risks, and enable them to better protect their critical assets from emerging threats.