What are the benefits of automation, how does role-based access management support efficiency, and why should you define policies before you need them to ensure security, efficiency, and compliance?
Self-service and automation make life easier, not least of all for the organization’s IT department. The benefits of automation are numerous, but many are still cautious to take their first step. Some say that they do not want to automate out of fear for loss of control, and others fail to understand that automation need not mean a full automation of all systems.
Automate the basics
By implementing automation, organizations can reduce the amount of time spent on basic tasks, freeing up necessary time for the IT department to focus their efforts on the more complex issues at hand.
Automation can lead to significant optimization of processes within an organization, helping eradicate simple human errors and work alongside humans to provide a best of both worlds scenario. Automation does not necessarily mean having all your IT processes fully automated but can be seen as a form of assisted automation, supporting the business where needed – help with the heavy lifting.
Automation of identity and access management
Identity and access management is about managing user access rights and being in control of who has access to what, who granted that access, and why, thereby ensuring that the right people have access to the right systems at the right time.
Some organizations still use manual identity and access management processes. According to a report from Forrester, those who do not secure their organizations with automated processes are more likely to fall victim to breaches than those organizations who do. Among the reasons for the increase in breaches at organizations using manual processes is that the IT departments fall behind with update tasks or make unnecessary mistakes due to the pressure of their workloads.
Automated identity and access management supports organizations by detecting external and internal threats and risks without human intervention, enabling automated role-based access management, improved security of user access privileges, audit and reporting capabilities, optimized efficiency processes, among others, overall providing increased security, efficiency, and compliance.
Automation is one of the main benefits of identity and access management. Automation through identity and access management can give organizations an edge when it comes to efficiency and optimization, and can improve productivity, services, and security – and minimize costs and human error.
Automating roles in the organization
Managing access rights for thousands of users across an organization is both complex and time-consuming. At the same time, organizations need to retain consistency across the various systems. Having full control of the access rights, which are constantly changing in a complex mix of users, IT systems, and organizational structures, is no mean feat. Add to that regulations and legislations which continually result in changes, and your organization is challenged to keep on top of access rights.
Role-based access control means that what you have access to – and just as importantly, what you do not have access to – is defined by your role. Instead of managing user access rights on an individual level, the user access rights are consolidated across various systems to a set of roles. What should the CEO, the receptionist, and the sales rep have access to? An employee should have one set of defined access rights, depending on his or her role in the organization.
Thinking about security proactively and defining the roles through automation leads to efficiency gains, increased security, and compliance. Defining roles in a so-called relaxed environment is more efficient than the organization’s IT department having to do so on a busy Monday morning before a group of new hires have their first day in the company. Therefore, by thinking proactively about security and defining policies before you need them, your organization can take a proactive approach and use automation to support the business.
Tap into the success of others
Foundational to the success of any identity management and access governance project is a good understanding and modelling of business processes. This requires a core understanding of the relationship of identities to entitlements, to business roles processes and the organizational structure, and relies to a large extent on automated processes.
Many organizations are automating their processes and implementing identity and access management to support them on their digitalization journey. Automation need not be a tough process and organizations can tap into the success stories of others to help them on their way. Implementing a tried and tested approach allows your organization to tap into the best practices other organizations have developed and with the Omada Process Framework, organizations can not only accelerate their IAM projects, but also gain access to built-in standard processes.
The process framework covers a wide range of related processes based on commonly used practices, for example identity lifecycle, which includes standard processes for onboarding an employee, a contractor or third party, and governance, where there are lifecycle processes for the identities, system owners, role owners, and application owners.
Establishing best practices before automating security processes increases the likelihood of success, supporting IT departments in automating more basic tasks to help cope with evolving and complex businesses and today’s modern IT environments.
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Read more about the process framework here:
