Identity: Free the people who power your business

An identity solution accelerates your business by unlocking workforce productivity. It’s a bold statement, but that’s what’s happening in companies that have deployed modern identity solutions. They’ve improved access controls and strengthened their security posture while helping the organization focus on productivity, efficiency, and core business objectives.

A holistic identity management approach enables secure login without adding unnecessary friction. Everyone has the right level of access to the right resources at the right time. A strategic approach can help businesses reduce risk, boost efficiency, and control costs.

This sounds like a solution that would excite internal IT and possibly a few efficiency-minded executives, but everyone? Well, almost everyone. Lift barriers to collaboration and resources, eliminate repetitive login requests that employees hate, and facilitate secure work from anywhere, and you’ll gain a lot of fans.

Modern identity solutions free the people who power your business — employees, managers, IT teams, and outside contractors — and keep the wrong people out. What follows is a preview of what that looks like.

Employees access everything they need to get the job done

Even with a convoluted workplace that consists of multiple cloud platforms, on-premises systems, and third-party applications, identity management makes it easy for employees to use mission-critical software, harness data, and generate insights without unnecessary barriers.

Your resources are protected with a dynamic, risk-based identity security, so people can quickly access information they’re authorized to have. This streamlined access enables employees to contribute at their highest level while they spend zero time hunting down usernames and login credentials.

Newcomers are welcomed with an impressive onboarding experience

Fresh hires and new teams from mergers and acquisitions can be ready to contribute 50–70% faster with automated, no-code provisioning workflows. When everything simply works, employees can connect with colleagues, access resources, and get to work right away.

Help eliminate the new-hire productivity lag so your employees can focus on what they were hired to do. Competing companies start to look old school when it takes them all day to set up a new employee account or login.

Managers and leaders see more focus on business objectives

For those who believe leadership means mapping the goal and removing obstacles, managing identity is a path to accelerating innovation and focusing on bottom-line priorities. With a modern identity solution, you can eliminate days of ad hoc requests when employees need to access resources or data to get their jobs done. Access is granted only when needed, with the right approvals, all streamlined. No more email chains to track down individual approvals that end up on a floating spreadsheet.

Partners and contractors participate safely in seamless collaboration

Innovation means working across disciplines and with people inside and outside the organization. In healthcare, for example, patient data must be secured while also at the fingertips of those providing care. Educational institutions thrive on robust collaboration but have storehouses of research and records to protect.

A modern identity platform provides strong controls while helping assign appropriate access on an individual basis — controls that can be adjusted with the ebb and flow of work requirements.

IT teams can focus on strategic initiatives that drive real outcomes

When you automate identity, your IT team will spend considerably less time on tedious administrative tasks like creating usernames, provisioning accounts, and resetting passwords. Even with a fine-tuned initial account setup, many IT teams are burdened with access request tickets and the time it takes to track down the right approvals.

Automated workflows and compliance reporting means IT is free to focus on business priorities like data management, modernization, and AI implementation.

Shareholders and investors are reassured about organizational continuity

Preventing cyberattacks is about more than monitoring, tracking, and reporting threats. A breach can cause myriad consequences, including damage to productivity, service, financial stability, and reputation.

Forward momentum is lost if you have to halt productivity and recover. A modern identity solution stops internal and external malicious actors from accessing sensitive data and systems, so you can sleep at night.

Not everyone will be a fan

Malicious actors, cyber criminals, insider threats — whatever you call the bad guys —  aren’t fans of a modern identity solution. An adaptive, risk-based solution provides access only to trusted users, and only when they need it. Centralized governance provides visibility and control across the whole environment. On top of that, there’s one thing criminals really hate — passwordless access that makes their clever password hacks irrelevant.

Identity is security. When identity is at the core of your security strategy, it becomes a business accelerator. Teams inside your organization are empowered to move forward and innovate without obstruction; trusted contractors and partners add full value with highly secure, controlled connections.

Okta helps thousands of customers reduce risk, improve efficiency, and control costs. Companies are seeing the results in increased productivity and efficiency that translate to real bottom-line benefits. To learn more about the consequences of access friction and how identity breaks down barriers to workforce productivity and efficiency, read our new whitepaper: See clearly, build better with identity-based control.

Further reading:

• Learn about securing with identity: https://www.okta.com/solutions/secure-Identity/ 
• Reach out to learn more: https://okta.com/contact-sales 

This posting does not necessarily represent Okta's position, strategies, or opinion.