There’s no doubt that today’s identity and access management (IAM) programs are under pressure. Invisible forces both inside and outside the enterprise, such as the growing API economy, the explosion of smart devices, the move toward multicloud infrastructure and increasing regulatory compliance, are putting enormous weight on IAM, prompting business and security leaders to re-evaluate existing programs.

Meanwhile, the target audience of identity and access management — the users themselves — are changing too. As breach after breach hits the news, it looks like the average adult is becoming more security-savvy when it comes to managing his or her personal digital identities online.

Modernizing Identity and Access Management With Silent Security

In IBM’s new “Future of Identity Study,” the majority of respondents revealed that they’re now willing to use emergent authentication methods, such as biometric and multifactor authentication, to sign in to their workplace and e-commerce applications. In fact, 67 percent of survey respondents said they are comfortable using biometric authentication today, and a similar percentage said they’d consider using multifactor authentication on their online accounts.

So how can organizations modernize IAM while delighting an increasingly security-aware user base? At IBM, we call that silent security — IAM that works so seamlessly and is so in sync with the day-to-day operations of the business that users don’t even realize it’s there. While other approaches to IAM force security in front of the user — by conducting massive access recertification campaigns or integrating multifactor authentication in front of every other app, for example — silent security works quietly in the background, connecting people to the services they need and only intervening when it detects something wrong.

Read the white paper: Need strong security? Go silent

It’s a vision that’s true to our roots. With decades of experience working with some of the world’s largest corporations, we’re willing to bet you’ve interacted with our IAM products over the years to securely access everyday services and applications, whether you knew it or not. For this year’s Think 2018 conference, which is coming up in March, our team is building a vast array of hands-on user experiences to help organizations accomplish silent security and extend IAM’s impact beyond IT and into the security operation center (SOC) and digital transformation initiatives that are going on in your business.

Learn More About Silent IAM at Think 2018

For the global IAM team here at IBM, Think provides a fun and valuable opportunity for us to get together in person with our colleagues and show off new joint integrations and initiatives.

At our IAM user group and client sessions, you’ll hear about what has worked best from companies such as:

• YUM! Brands, which used IBM IAM to deliver a global onboarding and offboarding program to millions of employees across 25,000 Pizza Huts; and
• KPMG, which created a first-class identity governance system to ensure audit compliance across global firms.

Watch the full session from Think 2018: The Best Identity and Access Management is the Kind You Don’t Know is There