Forrester Research’s expert identity and access management (IAM) analysts Merritt Maxim and Andras Cser discuss the growing business challenge of creating seamless and engaging customer experiences across channels and devices while maintaining security and compliance. The scalability, performance and security requirements of customer identities and data mean that traditional IAM systems are not sufficient solutions.
1. Market Overview: Customer Identity And Access
Management (CIAM) Solutions
S&R Pros Should Dump Home-Grown Approaches For Managing Customer Identities
by Merritt Maxim and Andras Cser
August 4, 2015
For Security & Risk Professionals
forrester.com
Key Takeaways
Customer IAM Is An Essential Ingredient For
Digital Customer Experience
Firms need deep customer insight to successfully
deliver new products and services that can
increase and sustain brand loyalty. While
marketing teams have traditionally managed
customer data, today’s complex IT environments
and multiple interaction points require a cross-
functional approach for managing and securing
customer data.
Scale And A Consistent Cross-Channel
Experience Are Critical For Success
Today’s customers expect services and apps to
be always available. Poor response times will
only increase customer attrition. S&R pros must
build a customer IAM solution that can handle
millions of dynamic users across mobile and
web channels with no perceived performance
degradation and with a common user experience
across these channels.
Customer IAM Balances Customer Experience
With Security
Understanding your customers must also be
coupled with an awareness of the security and
privacy requirements, which gives customers
confidence that you care about their data.
Customer IAM solutions help business leaders
and their security teams strike the appropriate
balance between usability and security.
Why Read This Report
Business leaders entrust their security teams
to protect customers’ privacy and shield them
from fraud and other malicious activities. To
do this, security and risk (S&R) professionals
must implement solutions that authenticate
customers’ identities across all channels — digital
and nondigital — and help the firm manage
their access to services and sensitive data.
Customer identity and access management
(CIAM) can significantly detract from customer
experience if it is overly burdensome; however,
if it’s not strong, it doesn’t provide enough
security. S&R pros often struggle to find the
right balance between a seamless customer
experience and good security. The unique
requirements of customer identity, especially
scale, performance, usability, and support
for seamless multichannel interactions, have
necessitated the development of CIAM as its
own market segment with competitive offerings
distinct from traditional solutions for employee
IAM. This report provides an overview of the
market, examines seven vendors, and offers S&R
pros recommendations and best practices for
successful implementations.
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