An article we found useful penned by Forrester Research's Andras Cser that argues identity and access management (IAM) should remain a top priority regardless of the economic conditions.

His argument is that there are many cost savings that are demonstrable through IAM initiatives, in addition to the security, ease of use and management benefits.

If you are looking at IAM this article is well worth a read.  Regardless of whether you're implementing an aspect such as a provisioning system, enterprise single sign-on, authentication and so on, or reviewing where things are currently situated, there's some interesting thoughts. 

Click here to open the article in a new window.

There's also a non-hyperlinked URL at the end of the article that delves a little deeper (you'll need to register though).  If that sounds like a chore, here's an extract regarding enterprise single sign-on systems such as the one we represent from Imprivata:

"E-SSO is particularly useful for healthcare workstations, shared desktop workspaces, retail environments, and call centers. Since E-SSO solutions don't require application modification and provide simple password reset self-service, implementation is relatively painless and offers immediate end user benefits. Furthermore, E-SSO allows you to use strong authentication to protect a large number of legacy, thick-client applications rather easily. E-SSO solutions are also a great source of user-generated account linking and access-based role information, which can be used directly when consolidating user repositories in preparation for a provisioning project."

Related Information:

• Imprivata OneSign
• Study Finds Nearly 60% of Leaving Workers Steal Data