Innovation ignited: How to start your digital Identity management journey

Once a tactical requirement to govern who could access what information, digital Identity management is now a critical business enabler. Today's technology practitioners feel the brunt of this shift, especially in the way they facilitate authentication. But its effects are felt across organization sizes, from startups to enterprises.

The multifaceted challenges of managing digital identities

People leading development, technology, security, and product strategies collectively seek to drive innovation and improve customer and employee experiences. Aligning those teams while managing an increasingly complex technology and security threat landscape is easier said than done.

Without a unified digital Identity strategy, developers and product teams often experience problems balancing customer experience, security, and speed. These challenges create delays and slow product development cycles, from planning and coding to maintenance and scale out. Technology and security teams can also struggle to streamline access for employees in ways that don't create vulnerabilities.

The stakes to get Identity correct are so high that fear often creates additional blockers. No one wants to make a mistake that could jeopardize their career or end up being tomorrow's headline. An organization's reputation is now deeply tied to how well it protects customer data against rapidly evolving threats. So the bottom line is: Security breaches and regulatory compliance issues can result in devastating costs. In 2024, the global average cost of a data breach was $4.88 million, a 10% increase since 2023.

To meet today's (and tomorrow's) innovation, experience, and security requirements, organizations of all sizes must establish intentional digital Identity strategies and implement them into every product and service from the ground up.

Seamless experiences are driven by digital identities

Business efficiency and growth depend on seamless experiences for customers and employees. All of these experiences - from customer-facing digital services and AI-driven innovations to employee onboarding and business intelligence - are driven by scalable Identity and data access controls.

Achieving business efficiency and growth is easier when teams can take advantage of automation, no-code solutions, AI, and other technologies to eliminate rote work and focus on what drives the business forward. Along with equipping developers and product teams with intelligent, integrated tools for managing authentication, a unified digital Identity solution also empowers technology and security teams with flexible, scalable tools for managing customer and employee access. By implementing an integrated strategy for digital identities, organizations can:

• Infuse consistent Identity practices into agile development processes
• Implement critical changes like single sign-on and privileged access management faster
• Scale out solutions with less effort
• Help prevent risks associated with cloud usage, shadow IT, and anywhere collaboration
• Keep up with rapidly evolving cybersecurity challenges and regulations

A unified digital Identity approach makes it easier to drive innovation with data

Effective and easy-to-use digital Identity solutions can empower any organization to fearlessly innovate and readily adapt to changing markets and customer demands. With the right authentication and access management tools, teams can safely leverage data to develop differentiating experiences and products using technologies like AI.

Organizations that successfully implement a unified digital Identity strategy realize measurable benefits across multiple fronts through financial savings and by improving productivity throughout the organization. In a research study, IDC found that companies using CIAM solutions saved $4.3 millionthrough productivity improvements alone, and for every customer-facing application they saw >$166,000 in combined annual benefits. IDC also found team efficiency benefits throughout organizations, with a 33% time savings for IT and infrastructure teams, 23% for developer teams, and 13% for security teams.

Identity is everyone's business

When leaders spearheading development, technology, security, and product roadmaps understand how important a unified digital Identity strategy is, they can work together on a comprehensive strategy that equips everyone to achieve their goals.

Developers can quickly and easily build and maintain required authentication flows that don't break and keep customers happy. Security teams can see who has access to what, when, and under whose authorization - on demand and across silos.

Product teams can get to market faster while helping to ensure customers that their data is safe. Technology leaders can implement unified solutions that scale, lower risk, and ultimately improve the experiences of employees and customers.

Interested in learning how to implement a collaborative strategy for digital identities? Stay tuned for the next four blogs in the Innovation Ignitedseries covering Identity responsibilities that development, technology, security, and product leaders face and the outcomes they can realize with a unified digital Identity strategy.

• Create a culture of synergy with digital identities

This piece explains how development leaders can empower teams to overcome authentication complexity and focus on creating differentiating solutions that improve customer experience

• Ignite innovation with digital Identity

This piece explores how technology leaders can optimize Identity and Access Management and authentication to create a culture of alignment that fuels collaboration and continuous improvement

• How to keep your developers focused on development:

Identity management burdens often overwhelm developers and delay product launches, but leaders can streamline authentication through unified digital identity solutions, allowing teams to focus on core innovation

• Accelerate product workflows and adoption

Learn how product leaders can create ambitious and realistic roadmaps that include differentiating authentication capabilities - while accelerating the journey from ideas to market success

Accelerate your organization's growth

Improve user experience, security, and innovation with a unified digital Identity solution.

Read more from Okta thought leaders

Resources

Okta equips organizations with an intelligent, integrated digital Identity solution that makes it easier to meet security and business requirements - and drive growth, differentiation, and impact. To learn more about how Okta equips businesses of all sizes with the tools they need for unified digital Identity strategies, check out the following resources.

• Okta Named a Leader in 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Access Management for Seventh Consecutive Year
• Okta named a Leader in first ever Forrester Wave™️ for Workforce Identity Platforms
• Okta Recognized as a Gartner® Peer Insights™ Customers' Choice for Access Management

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