Enterprise Identity Management

According to P-synch.com, Enterprise Identity Management can be defined as a combination of business processes and technologies used to manage data on IT systems and applications about users. Managed data include user objects, identity attributes, security privileges and authentication factors.According to P-synch.com, Enterprise Identity Management can be defined as a combination of business processes and technologies used to manage data on IT systems and applications about users.  Managed data include user objects, identity attributes, security privileges and authentication factors.

A good place to start understanding what that means is by considering this: when creating an online profile, whether on a site for “recreational” purposes like Yelp.com or on a site for “necessary” reasons like WellsFargo.com, you do not get immediate access to all the information you need or want simply by browsing. 

There’s a reason.  The company (or enterprise) needs to find out who you are first.  This is just one of the main functions of enterprise identity management.

Divulging a wide variety of information, such as full name and birth date, e-mail address and more, is now considered normative when constructing an online profile for a given website.  It allows companies to make sure you are who you say you are, monitor the tracks of information to which you are trying to gain access, examine whether you are attempting to commit an illegal act and even determine the types of products/services in which you might be interested (that’s where advertisers come in).  It has become a pre-requisite for being able to navigate more fully many of the websites we need and enjoy today.

Once you enter in the information for which you are asked, however, where does it go?  Does it simply float around in cyberspace? While individuals can take a host of steps to ensure the safety of their personal information, such obtaining their credit report and shredding their personal documents, companies large and small have to find ways to protect and synthesize the information of their users, too.

What they do, therefore, is create digital repositories in which user information is stored securely and accessed when needed.  Sometimes the information needs to be accessed for relatively simple reasons: a woman wants to change the name listed on her profile from her maiden to her new married name or a man who discontinued use of one web mail service in favor of another wants to indicate that change such that he continues to receive the company’s e-bulletins and so forth.
 
Other times the change is a bit more complicated.  Say a woman who used to work for a company as its secretary earns a law degree and then gets hired as the same company’s in-house counsel.  Surely she will need access to different and greater information about the company.  Parts of it she never had need to review before, such as sections with financial or accounting records, will now become integral to her executing adequately her new position’s duties; she must be able to access the website often and with ease.  Having to log in repeatedly, sometimes with differing user names and passwords, is an inefficient, frustrating, destructive process that will ultimately detract from the company’s ability to maximize profit. 

What a successful enterprise identity management service will do is to find a way to allow her to make her transition as smoothly as possible.  It will enable her to access more parts of her company’s website with less effort, all the while protecting her personal, individual information as well as the sensitive information of the company.
 
To say that enterprise identity management requires some fancy electronic footwork is an understatement.  But companies would be hard-pressed to do without it.  With all the information on your average website today, leaving it unattended to would have catastrophic consequences.  Companies want to limit their exposure to legal liability, protect their brand name and reputation and reduce the likelihood they will suffer a data breach that will compromise their bottom line.  Investing in advanced enterprise identity management, tools, therefore, has become a necessity.