An efficient, automated process saves IT, admins, and time and reduces risk. It also improves business agility.

Automated processes make it easy to provide access based on predefined settings. They can also de-provision access if users leave the company or don’t log in for a specified period.

Increased Efficiency

Automating low-risk access request approval and fulfillment processes is crucial to implementing an effective IAM solution. This eliminates a significant manual workload, accelerates approval times, and frees up available cycles for other projects. An automated process can also help mitigate risks by automatically recommending mitigating controls, and it ensures that the approval workflow includes the right stakeholders.

When IT and other teams no longer have to focus on manually handling password resets, providing new employees with access to the tools they need for their first day on the job, or revoking access as workers leave, they can spend more time on higher-value work that enables the business. In addition, automating these processes can lead to fewer costly errors and help the company avoid expensive lawsuits related to breaches.

In addition, implementing an automated system helps businesses enforce policies such as segregation of duties and least privilege by providing actionable audit trail documentation that can be used for compliance purposes. This can be vital in proving to auditors or clients that the correct security measures are in place, especially when handling sensitive information or restricted systems. Lastly, an automated IAM solution can continuously monitor data access and usage by user ID or IP address to detect anomalous activity, prevent breaches, and help reduce the risk of unauthorized access to critical applications.

Lower Costs

With global ransomware damage costs exceeding a billion dollars per year, it’s clear that protecting data systems and information assets is vital to your business. One of the best ways is to automate application access governance processes. In addition to improving security, automation reduces costs by lowering the risk of human error.

When IT teams don’t have to reset forgotten passwords manually, help users onboard with new applications or provide them with a full range of system permissions, they can focus on more critical technology and cybersecurity initiatives. Additionally, when automated provisioning uses policies that follow the principle of least privilege, the security team can rest assured that the system only provides what’s required by each individual’s role within the organization.

Finally, when the automation of user provisioning is complete, IT teams don’t have to deal with clerical errors in their records – an all too common occurrence in manual IAM systems.

Taking the time to audit, review and revise manual processes can be costly and confusing for IT departments. Using DPA to automate these processes saves valuable IT resources that can be better used on other projects and priorities for the agency. Additionally, DPA helps to uncover SoD conflicts that are hard to find in manual processes with spreadsheets and reduces unnecessary entitlement creep.

Better Security

User access management can be an enormous burden for IT and security teams. When done manually, granting and revoking access to applications, systems, data, and content can be tedious and error-prone. Automating access request fulfillment, provisioning, and de-provisioning helps to streamline these processes, minimizing human error and saving valuable time and resources.

Organizations can create and monitor audit trails by implementing automated access governance to prove compliance with domestic and international regulations such as PCI-DSS, SOX, HIPAA, and GDPR. These audit trails can be used to demonstrate that only authorized people have access to sensitive information and business-critical assets. Additionally, an effective automated solution will help to mitigate risk by enforcing policies such as segregation of duties and least privilege.

Manual processes such as access certification and periodic access reviews are time-consuming and can cause compliance gaps. Automated access management can eliminate these processes and allow IT and security resources to focus on other projects. It can also ensure that access to sensitive information is not allowed to lapse, leading to various risks, such as financial loss and damage to the organization’s reputation. It can also reduce the risk of entitlement creep, which can occur when employees are granted too many permissions and can be challenging to manage.

Increased Compliance

Regulatory compliance management requires tracking and proving that access is restricted and granted correctly. This can be challenging if manual processes are used since human error is expected. Automated access requests and fulfillment can eliminate a significant manual burden for admins and expedite the process. Additionally, it helps reduce compliance risk by ensuring that only appropriate people have access to data or resources.

It also improves compliance with regulations such as PCI, SOX, HIPAA, or GLBA because it reduces the need to manually compile digital identity tracking information and document the access granted to individuals and groups. This is especially critical when access is described in business terms that do not easily translate into precise technical detail. These confusions can lead to best-guess entitlements that fall short of the principle of least privilege and expose sensitive data or mission-critical resources.

Automated access request processes can also minimize IT troubleshooting and costs by reducing the time that IT spends assisting users in resolving issues or getting their applications back up and running. This allows IT to focus on more strategic initiatives for the organization. Finally, automated access requests ensure that the correct access is provided to users promptly so that they can get their work done efficiently.