TL;DR
Access governance gives organizations structured control over who can access what data and when. By combining identity governance and administration (IGA), data access governance (DAG), and compliance reporting, businesses can reduce security risks, cut costs from unused accounts, and stay ahead of evolving data privacy regulations — all from a centralized platform.
Why do businesses need access governance?
In today's digital landscape, enterprises are tasked with ensuring that their employees have access to a comprehensive suite of applications to help them do their job effectively. But the work doesn't stop there. To maintain visibility into their workforce, businesses have deployed user access management (UAM) systems designed to authorize and authenticate users across those applications.
The trouble with many UAM systems is that they are often limited when it comes to managing multiple identity types such as employees, customers, partners, and developers—especially when these users need to be provisioned across hundreds of enterprise applications. To manage these complexities, businesses need an access governance protocol that determines who has access to what, when. In this way, user access is mandated by built-in controls and policies.
What are the benefits of access governance?
The goal of access governance is to support businesses as they become larger and more complex by keeping the oversight and control of user accounts simple.
How does access governance reduce IT admin burden?
With automated processes and policies in place, access governance helps to minimize the burden on IT admins. With the right identity and access management (IAM) solution, access governance also provides them with a broader level of insight from a centralized platform. This way, IT can easily view:
- Who has access to which systems
- When accounts were last used
- Who has administrator access
With these tools, IT admins can get a granular view into each employee account and application while also having a birds-eye view of the organization as a whole.
As a result, the organization becomes more agile in pinpointing vulnerabilities and identifying unused accounts and licenses. And that, in turn, saves money and time that can be put towards more strategic initiatives.
What is identity governance and administration?
When we combine access governance protocols with identity administration, we get identity governance and administration (IGA) systems. These systems have become essential as internal and external threats to an organization's security continue to grow in both number and complexity. In fact, according to the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Access Management report, offering IGA through a Software as a Service (SaaS) model is now emerging as the industry standard.
What capabilities do IGA systems provide?
From a governance perspective IGA systems allow businesses to:
- Prevent over-privileged access: Create rules to stop users from receiving excessive access to sensitive data.
- Access review: Conduct periodic access review functionalities.
- Role-based management: Implement role-based access controls.
- Activity logging and reporting: Deploy tools that log activities and generate reports on authentication and authorization.
What is data access management?
Yet another key area of access governance is data access governance (DAG). Like its name implies, DAG provides oversight of unstructured data—information that can't be easily stored in spreadsheets or other simple databases—found within emails, client files, and other company information.
According to International Data Corporation (IDC), unstructured data accounts for 80% of the world's information. To grapple with this unprecedented amount of unstructured data, DAG helps organizations determine who has access and permissions to given files. Unsurprisingly, DAG is crucially important in healthcare, finance, and a wide cross-section of other industries.
How does access governance support reporting and compliance?
Why does compliance reporting matter for modern enterprises?
One of the most important roles for access governance is in supporting an organization's reporting and compliance processes. By offering a comprehensive view across applications, IAM platforms paired with access governance protocols make it easier for businesses to audit their systems. Enterprises enabled by these systems can easily provide compliance reports that outline user access and permissions across the network. This is particularly important in an age where data privacy laws are becoming much more sophisticated, making it costly—both financially and reputationally—to be found in defiance of these regulations.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between user access management and access governance?
User access management (UAM) focuses on authorizing and authenticating users across applications. Access governance goes further by adding built-in controls and policies that determine who has access to what and when — providing a structured oversight layer on top of UAM.
How does access governance help IT administrators?
Access governance automates processes and policies that reduce the manual burden on IT admins. Through a centralized platform, IT teams can view who has access to which systems, identify unused accounts and licenses, and get both granular and organization-wide visibility — saving time and money.
What is identity governance and administration (IGA)?
IGA combines access governance protocols with identity administration. It enables organizations to prevent over-privileged access, conduct access reviews, implement role-based management, and generate reports on authentication and authorization activities — all critical as internal and external security threats grow in complexity.
What types of data does data access governance (DAG) manage?
DAG focuses on unstructured data — information that cannot be easily stored in simple databases, such as emails and client files. With unstructured data projected to account for 80% of the world's information by 2025, DAG helps organizations control who has access and permissions to these files.
Why is access governance important for regulatory compliance?
Access governance enables organizations to audit their systems and produce compliance reports that detail user access and permissions across the network. This is especially critical as data privacy laws become more sophisticated, since non-compliance can result in significant financial and reputational damage.
Which industries benefit most from data access governance?
While data access governance (DAG) is valuable across many sectors, it is especially critical in healthcare and finance, where strict regulations govern how sensitive data is stored, accessed, and shared.
