What is Identity and Access Management?
Identity and Access Management is the process and technology associated with creating and maintaining system-identities for each discrete person or device that needs access to corporate information systems and applications. It includes provisioning of those access requirements, integration with existing directory services, single sign-on, centrally controlled authentication and access policies, the federation of identities across the organization, plus auditable reporting across the enterprise. The Ensynch Difference Ensynch has assembled a world-class team (view press release) of Identity and Access Management professionals unlike any other. With 2 Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVP) for Identity Lifecycle Manager (view their blogs), out of only a handful in the world, our clients know they are getting proven, consistent solutions and “Whatever IT Takes” commitment, to deliver unparalleled return on investment. View our Identity and Access Management resume.
The Burton Group defines identity management as follows: “Identity management is the set of business processes, and a supporting infrastructure for the creation, maintenance, and use of digital identities.”2 In this paper, we define identity and access management (I&AM) as follows: “Identity and access management refers to the processes, technologies and policies for managing digital identities and controlling how identities can be used to access resources.” We can make a few important observations from the above definitions: • I&AM is about the end-to-end life cycle3 management of digital identities. An enterprise class identity management solution should not be made up of isolated silos of security technologies, but rather, consists of well integrated fabric of technologies that address the spectrum of scenarios in each stage of the identity life cycle. We will talk more about these scenarios in a later section of this paper.
SAP has formed the Global Security Alliance, a platform for information and knowledge exchange that comprises leading providers of security and risk management offerings. Members must demonstrate a high level of security knowledge, best practices, and the ability to integrate their technologies and collaborate to provide customers with a complete, long-term security solution. SAP provides a single point of reference so that customers can easily get expert advice and deploy the most effective security solution.
