Organizations prioritising identity management

Demonstrating the huge importance of securing and managing access to online systems, tools and portals; recent research has confirmed that IT security professionals in the UK and US are now prioritising identity and access management when improving security features. After surveying more than 239 industry decision-makers, global research firm, Decision Analyst, discovered that an astonishing 78% were increasing investment in IAM solutions.

As cyber-attacks grow more sophisticated and more dangerous, IT security teams have been forced to drastically rethink how they protect their company and customer’s data and privacy. An overwhelming majority seem to be leaning towards the employment of robust IAM solutions – providing multiple layers of protection against the potential threat of attack.

The research demonstrated that IT security professionals believe that sufficient protection should be the key focus when building online systems, tools and portals – significantly more important than costs and user experiences.

Delving further into the changing landscape of IT security, the research team uncovered the reasons prompting security teams to increase and improve their protective functionality. Almost half (49%) revealed that increasingly strict compliance and auditing requirements have contributed towards a drive for identity management solution as part of a security package.

The second most common contributory reason (44%) was the long-term savings provided by a more effective form of security. Following this, security breaches were the most common contributory factors – with security professionals influenced by breaches of their own systems, and the systems of competitors.

An impressive 79% of the respondents revealed that their companies already had plans to implement or improve their current identity and access management solutions. Almost half (47%) responded that IAM investment is a currently funded priority, and a further 32% document that IAM investment was planned in the next year.

Furthermore, 13% of respondents revealed that IAM investments were planned but a specific time frame had not been stipulated. Meanwhile only 8% of those asked admitted that they had no current plans to invest in IAM.

The surveyed individuals were restricted to those who operated as decision makers from UK and US firms, working for companies with at least 500 employees. The survey took place between 16 December 2015 and 11 January 2016.