Identity management practices now mission critical for businesses

Identity management is now a mission critical process, according to a recently commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of BT’s business continuity, security and governance practice. The research questioned respondents in various types and sizes of organisations in eight countries across Europe and the US on security and identity management practices. The results indicate that identity management is seen as critical to protect the organisation’s information assets and to meet regulatory compliance or privacy obligations.

The survey shows that identity management investment for 2005 was quite strong: 38 percent of organisations responding had management budgets at or over euro 250,000 and 12 percent of budgets were over euro 1million. Moreover, 41 percent of respondents expect identity management budgets to increase in the next three years while, only six percent expect to see them decrease.

The survey also found that many organisations are completing existing projects related to user account provisioning and strong passwords. One third of organisations surveyed stated that they plan to have strong authentication / two-factor authentication capability within 12 months, whereas the other two thirds will have to wait more than 12 months. The highly desired capability of employee single sign on for most organisations is still more than 12 months away, as is web single sign on.

In addition to identity management within the organisation, the survey also examined externally focused identity and access management initiatives. Less than half of the respondents had projects to apply identity management to their customers and business partners.

Another area highlighted in the research was the role that identity and access management has beyond security and compliance. The respondents highlighted a number of different business and IT areas that they felt it was critical for, including enabling companies to increase employee productivity and mobility; reduce help desk costs; automate security administration processes; and centralise the IT and security management of people and resources.

Ray Stanton, global head of BT’s business continuity, security and governance practice, said: “These results demonstrate just how seriously companies are taking identity and access management. As threats to information security escalate both from inside and outside the organisation, coupled with an increase in the number of regulations that companies have to comply with, many are realising the role that identity and access management can play in helping organisations address these issues. It is vital that companies look at their priorities, and make sure the right people are able to make the decisions that affect them.”

•Date: 25th April 2006• Region: UK • Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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