Every organization around the world is on a journey to cloud, each one facing the need to reinvent themselves with engaging omnichannel digital experiences to remain relevant in a hyper-competitive market. At the core of supporting a hybrid cloud environment is the need for a strong Identity and Access Management (IAM) program. But, embarking on any Identity project is difficult given its deeply embedded nature and complexity, and many CISOs have battle scars from one or more failed Identity projects, whether inherited or implemented. Usually this happens because CISOs have marched into battle with the wrong tools and/or the wrong partners by their side.

The advantages of Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) solutions include features like simplified administration, out of box integration to thousands of cloud apps and intuitive end user dashboards. First-generation IDaaS solutions were architected to solve these basic problems. But solving the next level of business challenges requires much more than a slick user interface and large marketing budgets. Only when IAM is properly solutioned from a well-crafted IAM program and a best-of-breed cloud IAM platform can it be a springboard for lower total cost of ownership, simplified architecture and improved security and compliance. This is the new approach that the market is demanding.

IBM uniquely understands the challenge and payoff of moving complex workloads from on-prem infrastructure to cloud-based environments. IBM IAM professionals can help organizations plan and prioritize key workloads for cloud migration, while ensuring IAM protects users and apps at every point in the journey. IBM’s Identity products have been recognized as a leader in Access Management and Identity Governance by analysts for years. IBM not only empowers organizations with the leading IAM technologies but backs those solutions by building better, smarter strategies for adoption, deployment and the on-going management across a hybrid cloud environment.

So What Is a Best-of-Breed Cloud IAM? IDaaS That Scales to Support the Toughest Challenges

IBM has a long history of solving our clients’ evolving IAM business challenges. Four years ago IBM expanded our IAM portfolio to include a robust IDaaS platform that differentiates itself by offering both Access Management and Identity Governance capabilities. IBM Cloud Identity is our modern, API-first and cloud native IDaaS platform, and has proven to meet the needs of organizations of all sizes. Cloud Identity is easily consumable for smaller growing organizations while robust enough for the demands of the largest enterprises. Take for example:

• A large US municipal education department uses Cloud Identity to quickly scale up a remote learning environment and ensure their 2 million students, staff and parents could remotely access their educational materials seamlessly and securely.
• An international automobile manufacturer uses Cloud Identity to register and manage 100% of their over 23 million worldwide customers.
• IBM’s own CIO organization uses Cloud Identity to support more than 34 million customer identities and a workforce of more than 600,000 employees and contractors.

IBM continues to rapidly innovate capabilities in Cloud Identity in three major categories that are becoming the cornerstone of Identity transformation initiatives:  

• Adaptive Access – Unlike first-generation IDaaS products that claim adaptive Multi-Factor Authorization (MFA) based on simple location, device or network context, Cloud Identity’s adaptive access leverages robust artificial intelligence (AI) technology to build deep contextual insights to determine the level of trust or risk associated with each user. This allows organizations to optimize both security and user experience, without making tradeoffs.
• Identity Analytics – Complex identity environments are making it more difficult for organizations to make the decisions necessary to reduce risk and improve compliance. Cloud Identity delivers a single, authoritative dashboard that helps security admins prioritize identity-related risks and immediately take action. And by leveraging AI and machine learning, Cloud Identity also provides recommendations to help line of business managers make smarter decisions about their employees’ access to sensitive IT resources.
• Decentralized Identity – Decentralized Identity will enable individuals and organizations to achieve a more trusted exchange of information in both the digital and physical worlds. Cloud Identity allows developers to easily establish and participate in decentralized identity ecosystems, in order to deliver user engagement models that have not been possible with traditional IAM implementations. IBM is leading the way, partnering with organizations in multiple industries, and driving many of the emerging interoperability standards that are required in this next generation of identity.

“IBM Security Services provides expertise and guidance to help clients with a wide-ranging set of IAM solutions across multiple vendors” said Chris Esemplare, VP and GM of IBM Security Services. “We can and are proud to help our clients move to IBM Cloud Identity to protect their hybrid cloud workloads and take advantage of differentiated capabilities in the areas of Adaptive Access, Identity Analytics, and Decentralized Identity.”

With over 2 billion identities under management, and an IDaaS solution that is growing exponentially, IBM has the experience, technology and expertise to address your biggest identity challenge today and into the future.

Get access to the free edition of Cloud Identity here.