For US-based public companies, recent SEC regulations around how quickly companies must now disclose a breach complicates things further. According to the regulations, companies must disclose a security breach within a matter of days of the event. Anyone who has faced a breach of any kind knows that having all the information regarding a breach in a matter of days is hugely challenging, in addition, it may complicate the situation of having to disclose as the breach is still being remedied. With these new regulations, what will prove important is not just sharing information early but updating often, particularly as more information comes to light, which is likely to happen outside of the initial disclosure period. I cannot overstate it — the ramifications around transparency, clarity and timeliness are extremely apparent here.  

Last but certainly not least, is the complexity of the digital landscape. Understanding the “who” in “who has access” and the “what” (technologies, data and resources) they have access to has evolved tremendously. Without clarity on both areas AND a very focused, integrated, unified approach to managing all of that at the scale that today’s enterprise demands, it becomes very difficult for companies to be able to address the transparency, clarity and timeliness that the regulatory environment alone now demands.  

So where does that leave today’s enterprise CISOs? Well, with the wrong cyber security strategy, that would leave them exposed! CISOs and CIOs, more than ever before, must be able to defend their cyber strategy, ensure they have the right approach, right execution, and a fortified enterprise that can withstand the never-ending cyber threats. They have to be prepared and equipped to disclose everything necessary in the event of a security incident. The reality is, that they simply cannot afford to make a careless mistake, the stakes are too high! One wrong (or delayed) decision is all it takes. It could mean a company lawsuit, a failure to meet regulatory requirements, and, of course, it could also put their job—and their reputation—in jeopardy.  

The enterprise security tipping point 
We’re faced with a real tipping point in enterprise security—organizations need a better way to see everything happening across their business so that they can manage it all, secure it all, and, importantly, react to it all—without pause, without delay. It is crucial to get this right. This is where we continue to see the relevance and business essentialism of unified identity security across enterprise security programs worldwide.  

Unified identity security is about the right security policies that bring the clarity and control needed to safeguard the business. That means a holistic view into every identity type, every access type and every type of application and the sensitive data within. It’s not just that holistic view that puts the power back in the hands of the CISO, it’s also the element of AI that drives autonomous decisions based on a unified set of policies, thus freeing up security teams to focus on the bigger picture.   

This is not the time to save a few bucks, nor is it a time to look for the seemingly easy way out with a converged approach to managing identities, which will almost always end up costing more in the long run. Given the layered dynamics—regulatory, reputational and landscape—that impact every enterprise worldwide, companies must look at securing their business through the right lens. With identities being the central thread that weaves the enterprise together today, the only way to truly secure it all is by taking a unified approach, backed by policy and underpinned by a unified data model. Simply put, enterprise security has to start and end with identities. This is no longer a niche or a nice-to-have buy for CIOs and CISOs, identity security is a strategic investment that will drive risk reduction and business resiliency. And ultimately, forms the foundation of enterprise security today.  

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In the ever-evolving threat landscape, cybercriminals use advanced malware, phishing tactics, ransomware and zero-day exploits that are harder to defend against with traditional security measures. On top of that, it is difficult for enterprises to understand what modern cybersecurity strategy and architecture should look like, making it a very confusing time to be an acquirer of security technologies. And it’s certainly not helping that there are conflicting terminologies used interchangeably to describe solutions to these complex problems. For example, today we hear about “converged identity platforms,” “workforce identity platforms” and an assortment of other buzzwords and terms that companies are creating and using to try and differentiate the solutions they are bringing to market. It’s becoming an ongoing challenge to tell what’s real, what’s proven and what’s simply “buzz”? While everyone is well-intentioned, many “advisors” often exacerbate the challenges by adding confusion rather than demystifying the market for buyers, and invariably send today’s buying community down the wrong path.

The technology world has always had a bit of a “copycat” culture, and lately, we’ve seen a few new terminologies introduced, for marketing purposes primarily, that are now spreading. Specifically, “Converged Identity Platforms” or “Workforce Identity Platforms” are two interchangeable terms that are being socialized as of late. At first glance, “Workforce Identity Platforms” sounds like it might be the “next-gen” identity security solution buyers are eager for today. But when you drill down into it, “Workforce Identity Platforms” for the most part is just another way of saying “convergence.” In the identity security world, convergence essentially means taking pieces of solutions, like access management, identity governance and legacy privileged access management and combining them. To be clear, this is not “unifying” or “integrating” with a common set of data and a policy-driven framework.

Workforce Identity Platforms or converged platforms invariably strip away core capabilities in the name of streamlining or simplifying the three technologies (access, governance and privileged access) into one via a hosted platform. The converged approach is underpinned by technologies that are initially designed to tackle contemporary identity challenges yet intrinsically outdated, which can lead to patchwork solutions that neglect the inherent complexities of today’s identity security scenarios, including the rise of AI and escalating access intricacies.

It’s important to note, this converged approach oftentimes over indexes on identity access management needs such as SSO and MFA while missing the foundational role identity governance plays.  And that’s where the danger resides. When a converged platform is heavily skewed towards access management, it simply opens the front door to more cyberattacks. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, we are seeing access management emerge as a new attack vector introducing increased vulnerability for enterprises. This risk is magnified when access management is treated as a cornerstone of a convergence strategy but without a cohesive integration or policy framework that unifies it with the rest of the identity management solutions.

This is just one sliver of solving the identity security challenge for enterprises today. It’s a complex problem that demands a solution that delivers the depth of policy controls to keep up with the ever-changing nature of the enterprise identity landscape. If governance isn’t properly prioritized, the consequences can be significant and the risk inordinate.

Now. Let’s take a step back from these terms and think about the big picture. What problem should enterprise identity security solve for? Managing and securing all enterprise identities and their access (both regular and sensitive access) to critical data, applications and cloud resources – at any speed and scale that your business requires. That’s the goal. The only way that is achieved is through an identity security platform that shares a common set of data and policy and is fueled by AI and ML technologies. This breaks down the silos still existing in the convergence approach and is THE next-gen approach to identity security. One that is unified. Accelerated. Enterprise-class. And importantly, grounded in governance. If the scenario I just described sounds like the shape and speed your business is taking, don’t let the latest industry buzzword distract you and take you down the wrong path. Take the proverbial step back and think about the business you’re in, the challenges you face, the risk in your business today and the business outcomes you’re solving for. Work back from there, and you will begin to have a better understanding of what your cyber strategy is lacking to confidently secure your enterprise in an ever-challenging cybersecurity world.  

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So, when I sit here and think about our next evolution as a company and as the leading technology in this space, a question comes to mind: What “should” next-gen look like?  Anyone can claim they deliver a “next-gen” solution, but what does that mean in the context of enterprise identity security?  

I look at it like this: what do our customers need to address today – and tomorrow? What are the must have’s? And most importantly, what business value does it deliver?   

First – our customers’ needs 

There is nothing about the enterprise identity security challenge that screams “give me something good enough” to address my needs. These are complex, highly sophisticated, often highly regulated enterprises. There is a lot going on every single day to keep these companies moving fast. The key is to deliver a solution that takes on the complexity on behalf of customers so that what they see is simplified but sophisticated, administered with ease.  

At the same time, the balance between speed and security needs to be tightly orchestrated. And the depth of security policy has to address the following:  

• All enterprise identities – spanning both employees and non-employees, including contractors, software bots, third-parties, etc. 

• All levels of access – across sensitive and regular user access 
• All critical applications and data – both cloud and on-prem  
• With management of access, down to the entitlement level 
• And access granted on an as-needed or “just in time” basis 

The parameters I just described are constantly changing as each identity joins, moves, and eventually leaves the business. Multiply all of that change by the number of apps, data, and entitlements each identity has, and the ability to manage it all becomes exponentially harder, if not impossible if only managed by humans alone. Next-gen identity security has to be fueled by AI/ML – this is table stakes. There’s no way any large enterprise can handle the level of accelerated change happening across the business without the aid of automation. Through continuous machine learning, we fully believe AI will absolutely trump traditional convergence in this market and underpins true next-generation identity security.  

Second – what are the must have’s for the next-gen identity security solution?  

It needs to be driven by policy – not roles – to determine if and when access is granted, to what degree, and within what timeframe. We’ve moved far beyond simply granting access and assuming good intent, that that access will be used in the right way, at only the right time, no more, no less. Any access point can become a point of entry for an adversary at any given time. For that reason, enterprises need the ability to create a dynamic trust model that is context aware, with policy as the blueprint. Arming them with the intel needed to grant access just in time, and then shutting down that access when it’s no longer needed. All of this needs to be built on a platform, so that enterprises can build an identity security foundation that fits their unique business needs, delivering extensibility and scalability on repeat.  

And third, what business value does next-gen identity security deliver?  

For starters, peace of mind. That every enterprise has a trusted technology ecosystem, one that allows the business to flourish as quickly and as seamlessly as possible. Next-gen identity security should ultimately equip every enterprise to effortlessly manage and secure their identities at any speed, at any scale. The outcome of that is a business that can compete fiercely, can grow and evolve at any pace, and can drive business acceleration that enables every identity to do their best work, securely and efficiently.  

This is how we define next-gen identity security at SailPoint. We’re ready to reveal how we plan to deliver on this vision during Navigate next week and hope to see you there. In the meantime, keep a close eye on this space as we get ready to publish the final installment of this blog series, authored by our leader and founder, Mark McClain where we reveal our future trajectory.   

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And certainly, there is a short list of vendors in identity who are very much “legacy” in the traditional sense. They’ve given up on innovation. They no longer invest in that area of their business. It’s become the forgotten technology that didn’t make the shortlist of technologies they devote time, resources, and headcount to. With endless customers left to fend for themselves.  

But that’s just one side of the coin. What happens when we look at “legacy” from the other side? How can the word “legacy” actually be considered a good thing? Respected. Inimitable.   

As the creators of the identity security space, we bring more than 18 years of expertise, innovation, and commitment to this industry. Nobody else can stake that claim. Nobody else has that depth of institutional knowledge. Nobody else has that heritage.  

And certainly, nobody else does identity security like we do. The very real reason why: it’s simply impossible to replicate nearly two decades of relentless focus on deeply understanding the identity security challenges faced by enterprises around the world. And then applying that depth of knowledge to create the first and only identity security platform that completely addresses the sophisticated needs of the modern enterprise.  

So, what is legacy (re)defined? It’s strong heritage. It’s thousands and thousands of implementations successfully completed on behalf of our enterprise customers. All of that learning. All of that depth of knowledge. All of that Innovation that speaks to real business needs and that drives real business impact. None of that can be imitated. That’s a heritage, a history that you can’t beg, borrow and steal your way to. You’ve got to put in the time, the resources, the commitment, the energy, the passion, and the deep-seated understanding of the nuances of a very complex problem. And then, you have to be able to simplify that complexity – and do so on behalf of the most demanding, sophisticated, and valuable brands around the world, earning their inherent trust in helping them to create an enterprise security foundation grounded in identity security – powered by SailPoint. 

At SailPoint, we’re redefining legacy: we’re the pioneers, the very creators of this space, who actively replaces traditional legacy vendors every single day. And we equally replace those vendors who feign commitment to this space but instead bring lackluster, lightweight, narrow approaches and try to pass it off as comparable to what we deliver. These approaches – outdated or lightweight – don’t hold a candle to the depth of knowledge and technology innovation we bring to bear. There is no “fast forward” button in the world that can replicate what we deliver today.  

That’s the redefined “legacy” and leadership we’ve built and sustained at SailPoint.  

Let us show you: Sign up for a demo today. 

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Let’s take single-tenant SaaS for starters: this often means a vendor provides their single tenant software IP in the ‘cloud.’ Now, it could be entirely possible that your company requirements necessitate a single-tenant environment. Still, as the buyer, you must fully understand what that means for you and your company. First off, you assume ownership of the day-to-day operations, and you will take responsibility for upgrading and updating your solution. In other words, you’ll never get the benefit of true SaaS. You’ll still need manual upgrades and updates every time a new feature is rolled out. So, you can expect a “big announcement” encouraging everyone to update their software every six months to a year. These updates take several weeks and require planned downtime and support tickets, impacting business continuity which adds to the total cost of ownership of the solution. Meanwhile, customers typically fall several versions behind the current release and are not benefiting from the latest updates. Sound familiar? It should – this is how the on-prem world operates; single-tenant “SaaS” is just a fancy way of saying on-prem hosted in the cloud.  

In contrast, a multi-tenant SaaS solution must provide a single code across all its customers universally. With this approach, each customer has immediate and universal access to the latest features. How? Because these features are built on microservices to enable the delivery of new capabilities, fixes, and enhancements as soon as they are available. As a result, you’ll see rapid and high adoption of new features and automation of manual processes, including the elimination of lengthy upgrades that often force customers to live with outdated software. 

Now, naysayers of multi-tenant SaaS will say you have to use it right out of the box, but that isn’t the full story. Configurable SaaS is available through workflows, forms, AI, and notifications. All of these tools allow you to take a multi-tenant SaaS solution and consume it your way — however, it fits within your existing business processes. But the constructs of multi-tenant SaaS also provide guardrails that prevent your company from starting the customization dance that often happens with single-tenant SaaS. What do I mean by customization dance? It is where companies quickly lose the value of true SaaS – with every customization; you’re starting from ground zero when a new feature comes out.  

On the other hand, companies that look to accelerate innovation are the ones that embrace multi-tenant SaaS; even the largest companies in the world are using it as a catalyst for simplicity and to deliver a best practices approach across their organization. What do I mean by simplicity? Simplifying the deployment and ongoing administration of your identity security program by avoiding customization and instead, aligning with industry best practices. This drives enormous time, maintenance, and ownership efficiencies. 

If it wasn’t clear by now, SailPoint is a multi-tenant SaaS platform. So, let me provide a real-life example of the benefit of multi-tenant SaaS: In early 2022, we launched a new AI-driven capability called Identity Outliers. Once launched, any and all customers who were already using our Access Insights capability automatically had Identity Outliers. They didn’t have to schedule downtime. They didn’t have to push updates manually. Then, when we launched Identity Scoring only a few months later, customers with Identity Outliers automatically had that new capability as well. Now, just for a second, let’s pretend we were a single-tenant platform. Only a portion of customers would be using the Identity Outliers capability. The portion of customers who did issue an update to have Identity Outliers capabilities now, most likely, would not be utilizing the following update — Identity Scoring — until their next scheduled update, which could be six months to a year later (and that’s the best-case scenario).  

Quick pause. Let’s recap:  

For those of you that may be looking for the “TL;DR” version. My point is this, strategically, multi-tenant SaaS causes you to think differently about the outcomes and problems you are solving. And in this space, identity security is—in many aspects—still early in maturity, especially from how customers today are consuming and evolving their approach to managing identities and access. There is a significant amount of innovation on the way. If you’re using a single-tenant cloud solution, your path to accelerated innovation and new technologies will be seriously stalled. 

Multi-tenant SaaS is hands down the better option when presented with a choice. And that’s the key – you deserve options and clarity around what those options look like in the market today. No smoke and mirrors. It’s clear that much of this has gotten lost along the way, and, as the industry leader, it’s on us to educate the market, reduce or eliminate confusion, and add clarity.  

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Maybe it’s the painting hanging on the wall in your living room and you notice it’s slightly off-center one day as you’re packing up to leave for work. 

Or maybe it’s the project at work you’ve been working on for months, and you’ve hit a standstill. You step back and revisit all the work you’ve put in and realize, well, you were about to go down the wrong path.  

This is similar to what we are seeing today in the world of identity security. Let me explain. 

CIOs and CISOs are in a mad dash to secure their enterprise while juggling an overwhelming number of competing priorities, shrinking budgets, driving efficiencies, all while evolving the digital ecosystem to match pace with the speed of innovation and change happening across the business.  

Enterprise Security Through the Wrong Lens 

So, it’s not all that surprising that there are some CIOs and CISOs who are looking at enterprise security through an incomplete lens. Enterprise security is much more than protecting the perimeter. We know that securing the perimeter or the “moat” around the business is no longer good enough to secure the enterprise. Today, identities are core to securing your enterprise. Identities are the most straightforward way to compromise an organization and the bad guys know that – target just one identity and one point of access and you’re in. It’s that simple.  

Taking it a step further – once you build a cyber security strategy that starts with identity security at the core, make sure you’re looking at it through the right lens. While identity security has been around for many years, many organizations still look at Identity as an efficiency play alone and, to that end, acquire solutions woefully inadequate to secure their enterprise. More often than not, that “minimum viable” or “good enough” option tends to be centered on gaining access for your employees “I have to get my people access to the technology they need to work efficiently.” We saw this in quantum leaps during the pandemic, as companies immediately went to a “virtual workforce” that needed “access.” What companies quickly found out was that providing access does not necessarily mean secure access.  While it’s great to ensure your workforce has access to key technologies, data, and cloud resources, all of that access must be protected. With the right level of security controls in place to ensure that the access being granted is correct based on job need and role, and if/when that access is no longer required, it’s shut down. It’s the latter piece that’s hard to get right as you get to the very large enterprise – access needs can change quickly and often, so keeping up with that rate of change is critical.   

Enterprise Security Through the Right Lens 

Neither of the lenses I’ve mentioned so far is the right lens through which to view enterprise security. It’s no longer about the so-called perimeter. It’s not just about access. Nor is it just about efficiency. It IS about security and, ultimately, cyber risk mitigation. It IS about identities. 

And when you’re talking about the large, complex enterprise, companies with thousands and thousands of identities, employees joining the company, moving within the company, and leaving the company daily, an inadequate identity security program adds up to a lot of potential risk for your company. It just takes one. One compromised identity. One compromised access point. And your entire business could come crashing down. That’s the lens companies need to be looking through – one of risk mitigation. 

The magnitude of this effort is not insignificant. Employees, applications, and entitlements – all magnified by the rate and complexity of change become untenable and very quickly surpasses the scope of human capacity. To keep up with the rate of change and scale of identity and access decisions at the enterprise level, you’ve got to take the human being out of the equation and rely on AI/ML to automate identity decisions. Very few identity security solutions today are built to address the sophisticated needs of the modern enterprise. If you want true, enterprise-grade identity security that aligns with the speed and sophistication of your business, you need a platform that is AI-enabled, that infuses identity intelligence into every security decision, and that connects to all of your other technology investments so you have a holistic picture of every identity, every access point. This is the secure path forward to grant access quickly and autonomously while dynamically addressing and managing identity decisions – at scale.   

Ruthless Prioritization 

When you start to look at enterprise security through this “identity security lens,” suddenly, everything gets a lot clearer. Now you’re looking at your business the right way, focusing on securely enabling your modern enterprise. The people and things that keep your business churning are also the people and things that introduce the greatest points of risk. It’s about efficiency, security, AND cyber risk mitigation. You can’t pick and choose – your identity strategy must deliver all three.  

As we face a macroeconomic environment where CIOs and CISOs are questioning every single dollar spent, ruthless prioritization will be critical for success. On top of that, no CISO or CIO wants to be on the hook for a significant breach that causes their company potentially millions of dollars and significant damage to their brand.   

Being a CIO or CISO today is not for the faint of heart. The ones that will come out ahead are the ones who will look at their enterprise security program through the right lens and ruthlessly prioritize that investment, getting buy-in across the business to ensure all access and all identities are secure. This is not a place for good enough. 

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In the case of our world, identity security for large, complex enterprises – it’s not about a distinct start and end point. It’s not one-and-done. It’s a program with key mile markers and successful business outcomes, and it builds over time.  Think of these mile markers as horizons to work towards and achieve before you hit that next horizon.  

That’s what we just worked through in a new research study called “The Horizons of Identity Security.”   

In May and June of this year, we surveyed identity security decision-makers across the globe to clearly define the core capabilities across five distinct horizons of identity security.  And importantly, we used this data to better understand where these organizations were on their identity journey. Now, we have a clear understanding of just how far along in their identity journey companies are today so that we can provide to them prescriptive paths forward that align to their business goals.

There’s a lot to dig into here. I’ll touch on just a few of the bigger takeaways, but I urge you to read the report in full. The data confirmed what we already largely believe:  The future of identity will be shaped by ongoing technology shifts including integration across technology environments, dynamic trust models that evolve based on behavior and interactions, universal identities that can merge with federated access across domains and geographies, and frictionless access that is dynamic, automated and code-driven.  

The 5 Horizons of Identity Security 

To achieve the future vision of identity, companies we surveyed generally fall across 5 horizons of identity security:  

• At Horizon 1, the lowest maturity, companies lack the strategy and technology to enable digital identities. 
• Those at Horizon 2 have adopted some identity technology but still rely heavily on manual processes. 
• For organizations at Horizon 3, the identity program has become digitalized, scaled up, and adopted more widely across the company.  
• Those at Horizon 4 have automated at scale and use artificial intelligence (AI) to enable digital identities. 
• Horizon 5 is closest to the future of identity – serving as a critical control point in reducing cybersecurity risk and supporting businesses in next-gen technology innovation. 

Interestingly, we learned that nearly half of companies fall into horizon 1, which means they’re behind on the identity journey leaving significant value to be gained on the table. There lies huge opportunity for companies that fall into this category. This value includes improving their overall security posture and driving up business resilience – two critical and foundational elements for enterprise security. For organizations in horizons 1, 2 or 3, evolving your identity program is not a choice, it is mission-critical for your business. Put another way, it’s business essential.  

The cost of inaction 

The costs of inaction here are high and include increased risk of cyber-attacks, productivity losses, enormous regulatory fines, lost revenue, and reputational damages. Not to mention the fact that many companies in horizons 1 and 2 are overspending on their program – allocating the same portion of cyber budget as horizon 4 companies but only getting a fraction of the benefits. 

I can’t repeat it enough – no enterprise today can afford to take a “good enough” approach to identity security. And this report fully validates what we’ve seen among companies, especially in the last few years. Identity security has evolved to be core to securing the enterprise today. From that lens, wouldn’t you want to strive for the best of, aiming for horizon 5? Think about that as you take your own self-assessment here.

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Now, digital acceleration is great for businesses worldwide. It allows for anywhere, anytime work. It creates new opportunities for business growth. It speeds up the pace of innovation within the modern enterprise. But – to do all of that effectively, efficiently, and most importantly, securely – you need an enterprise security foundation rooted in identity security.   

The problem is, not all identity security foundations are created equally. There are plenty of legacy approaches to identity security out there, as well as “lightweight” approaches to identity security. Legacy approaches are cumbersome and outdated, unable to match the realities of today’s cloud enterprise.  And those “lightweight” approaches lack the intelligence and full oversight needed to fully protect all identities and their access to technology resources. They merely connect identities with technology without the deep identity security controls needed to address critical questions like – how long does that identity require access to that specific technology resource? Should they have that access long-term or for a minimal amount of time to avoid overprovisioned, unnecessary access? And how will that access evolve over time for that particular identity and their role within the business? These are critically important questions to be able to answer for every identity. The bulk of identity-related breaches today stem from having access to technology or cloud resources that they shouldn’t have access to in the first place.   

Clearly, neither approach makes the cut when it comes to fully securing the modern enterprise as they make their way down their respective digital transformation journeys. The reason? Neither of these approaches takes into consideration the speed with which the business environment is evolving. Or the scale. The sheer volume of identities a typical enterprise has under management at any given moment is in the hundreds of thousands. Couple that with how many entitlements each identity has, how often those entitlements change as roles change, job duties change, environments change, and the complexity skyrockets very quickly. These dynamics demand a modern, forward approach to identity, one that is built on a foundation of AI and ML technologies. There’s simply no way to keep pace based on the human capacity of your IT and identity teams today.   

CISOs and CIOs today are best served by prioritizing this modern approach to identity security at the core of all that they do from an efficiency, security AND cyber risk mitigation perspective. You can’t pick and choose – a successful identity strategy must deliver all three. Those who recognize identity security as a way to securely enable the enterprise, are set up for successful business outcomes again and again. Instead of being seen as a program, not just a one-and-done project; or being used as a “tool” for doing the bare bones, opening up access to all identities and all technology resources, these CISOs and CIOs can use identity security as a force multiplier – securely solving their identity needs at scale while hedging potential risk to the business via the modern, AI-driven approach to securing and enabling their business.   

The benefit to taking this approach is enormous, the obvious benefit being an ironclad security posture that matches the pace of the business and remains grounded in AI-driven identity security. From a business and cost-savings standpoint, we consistently see organizations that take a modern approach as described receiving significant return-on-investment, an accelerated payback period of 1-2 years; and hundreds of thousands in savings on legacy spend reduction. These are numbers that matter to the C-level and to the board today. Showing the real, tangible business value of identity security done right is the quickest way for a CISO to become a rising star within his or her business.   

Modern identity security must be at the core of your business. As you assess your current environment, if you think it’s “good enough” — think again. Approach identity security through a combination of efficiency, security AND risk mitigation, and you’ll see enormous business impact. And, as the identity champion within your business, you’ll sleep better at night.   

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Not only was the shift swift, it also created a significant margin for error when it came to the security of the business because now everyone had access to everything. This became a massive forcing function for companies to really understand the challenges of keeping a virtual workforce productive and not compromising the security of the enterprise in the process.  

Fast forward to today, more than two years later, and it’s clear that the virtual workforce is here to stay. In tandem with that, what was once considered a digital transformation for organizations in every industry has become a digital acceleration. Organizations are adopting an array of new technologies to keep them competitive even faster than ever, and the number and variety of identities that need access to these technologies have skyrocketed. Between these two dynamics, companies are struggling to keep up with the pace, both from a security and access standpoint. This acceleration in digital transformation efforts has, once again, become a forcing function. Without having a modern identity security system, companies will find themselves unable to operate day-to-day without exposing their company to significant risk.  

The bottom line is this: organizations today can’t afford to shift into high gear with their business transformation efforts if they don’t have the right foundation in place to securely hit that gas pedal. That foundation, the thing that sits at the core of all of this, is identity security. It continues to be “business essential” to the accelerated digital transformation movement happening across modern enterprises around the world.  

The reason I bring this up is this: no enterprise today can afford to exclude identity security as their #1 priority. It has proven to be far too critical to the security of the business today. There is so much flying at identity and security teams – and a majority of these threats target the identities that keep the business running full steam ahead. IDSA just put out a new report on this that validates what we’re seeing every day in customer conversations – 84% of organizations experienced an identity-related breach in the last year. 

It’s for this reason that CISOs around the world smartly continue to place identity security at the core of their enterprise security programs. This is a strategic program for them when done right, not a one-and-done project.  This decision can make or break them, becoming the difference between fully protecting their company from the identity threat or doing just a “good enough” job at it, which is akin to doing nothing at all. We know the bad guys never rest, and they never settle for “good enough,” instead, they look for the easiest point of entry to attack from, and nearly 100% of the time, it’s through a compromised identity.  

No company can afford to open up access to their technology resources without wrapping each access point with clear identity security controls – who should have access, for how long, and how deep should that access go? It’s not as simple as flipping a switch “on” for access. There needs to be deep identity intelligence behind each flip of that switch to properly address identity security policies for EVERY identity and ALL technology access points needed for their job or role.   

And on top of that, there needs to be the right level of automation to ensure all of these decisions are keeping pace with the velocity of change across the enterprise environment today. If you’re counting on people to keep pace, it’s just not good enough. This problem has moved far beyond human capacity — it requires intelligence and automation to stay ahead. Weak or lightweight “good enough” identity security opens the door wide open to security threats, compliance inadequacies, and productivity stumbles. Good enough just doesn’t cut it. For that CISO who went for “good enough,” well – they probably just put their job at jeopardy, and that company just had its business reputation severely tarnished.  

Just like the pandemic was one of the most tangible real-world examples to illustrate why identity must be the foundation of every business around the world today, digital transformation and acceleration is the newest example. And this example is even more applicable to modern enterprises worldwide as it’s a permanent fixture shaping the future of the business.  

I’ll be writing a series of blogs in the coming weeks that illustrate just how identity security is “business essential” and a driving force for organizations today, as both a risk mitigator and a digital business accelerant.  

The post Identity security remains business essential  appeared first on SailPoint.

People tend to want what they need. This is as true for technology solutions as it is for everything else. But while the truism may sound simple in theory, the unfortunate truth is that people don’t always know what they need. Often, customers need to see for themselves the positive outcomes that stem from implementing a solution before they understand why it is necessary.

Back in 2020, I wrote that identity security was a business essential—but one that not enough organizations understood. Anticipating that identity security was more “essential” than ever, I noticed that many companies were only scratching the surface of identity security, focused only on granting access. That may have been good enough at the time, but today the stakes have never been higher when it comes to enterprise security. “Good enough” is no longer enough.

Today’s Threats Demand New Solutions

Enterprises face cyber threats daily, and breaches incur costs that are both financial and reputational—and in many cases, it has cost executives their careers. It’s no mystery where those breaches come from: according to a recent Identity Defined Security (IDSA) report, approximately 95% of security breaches are identity-related. Today’s enterprises cannot afford to kick the can down the road any further. Strong identity security is no longer a “nice to have” solution. It is essential. The SailPoint Identity Security Cloud suites package, unveiled earlier today, is exactly what is needed to secure the modern enterprise fully—just as we anticipated two years ago.

Because, look—we’re the leader in identity security. We’ve implemented thousands upon thousands of identity security programs for some of the most complex, sophisticated enterprises worldwide—from Humana and Samsung Biologics to Toyota Motor Europe and Western Union. We know what the standard for cybersecurity looks like today. It only makes sense for us to package our identity security offerings in a way that makes it foolproof for our customers—following through on meeting their needs by the tried-and-true approach of listening and then executing, guiding the path for true (and comprehensive) identity security.

One side benefit of streamlining our offerings is the fact that it will now be easier than ever for customers to add new solutions from us or our network of partners. All of this sounds like a win-win to me, but there are other reasons this approach seemed like the obvious course of action to us.  For starters, let’s take a look at the outcomes. Both the SailPoint Identity Security Cloud Business and SailPoint Identity Security Cloud Business Plus include features that lead to outcomes like:

No matter which option our customers choose, these outcomes come standard. We’ve packaged identity security for our customers, providing an unshakable identity security foundation for any organization. This not only makes for an easy purchase decision but easier consumption—and, from there, immediate ROI and cost savings.

I am proud of the work the SailPoint crew has put in to get this accomplished. I’ve worked closely with every single person on our team to make sure SailPoint is delivering a premium identity security solution to meet security challenges head on and to make our customer look like the hero in their security organization. We want our customers to know that SailPoint will be with them on every step of their identity security journey.

SailPoint will deliver on those promises every time. 2022 is off to a great start for the SailPoint product, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for our customers and our crew. We are setting the standard for identity security today and tomorrow.

Learn more about the recent updates to the SailPoint Identity Security Cloud here.

*Note: all figures in the outcomes are from SailPoint customer success stories.

The post How Our New Product Suites Are Setting the Standard for Identity Security appeared first on SailPoint.