Cloud IAM (Identity and Access Management) is a crucial aspect of any organization's security infrastructure, especially in the cloud computing era. Cloud IAM enables businesses to control and manage access to their cloud resources and applications, ensuring that only authorized users can access them. The IAM market size is anticipated to grow larger with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.7% from 2022 to 2027.1 With the increasing growth in IAM market size, more businesses are enjoying the perks that come with adopting cloud IAM solutions. In this article, the features of cloud IAM solutions and their respective business values will be explored:
1. Reduce administrative burden
Cloud IAM allows businesses to centralize the management of access controls for all their cloud resources and applications. This means that access policies can be defined and enforced from a single location on cloud, which helps ensure consistent security across the organization. This can also simplify the management of access policies, reducing the administrative burden and potential for errors. As a result, time freed up can be spent on other critical tasks.
2. Minimize risk of data breaches
Cloud IAM enables businesses to define and enforce fine-grained access controls for their cloud resources and applications. This means that access can be granted at a very granular level, such as specific functions within an application or specific data sets. This can help businesses ensure that users only have access to the resources they need to do their jobs, reducing the risk of data breaches and unauthorized access. Additionally, fine-grained cloud-based access control can help organizations meet compliance requirements by ensuring that access is restricted to specific types of data or applications.
3. Increase security of access controls
Cloud IAM supports Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), which requires users to provide two or more authentication factors to access cloud resources and applications. This can significantly increase the security of cloud-based access controls, as it makes it much harder for attackers to gain unauthorized access to cloud resources. MFA can also help businesses meet compliance requirements for certain types of data or applications, such as financial data. Furthermore, MFA can help reduce the risk of phishing attacks by making it more difficult for attackers to impersonate users.
4. Enhance efficiency and security in the onboarding process
Cloud IAM allows businesses to manage the entire lifecycle of their users, from onboarding to offboarding. This includes creating and deleting user accounts, assigning, and revoking access rights, and monitoring user activity. This can help businesses ensure that users only have access to cloud resources for as long as they need it, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches. Besides, a great amount of time is saved during the process of automating provisioning access to new employees on the day when they first join your organization. Thus, with cloud IAM, organizations can improve productivity and efficiency in their onboarding process for new employees.
5. Meet compliance requirements
Cloud IAM provides audit trails that record all user activity related to access controls for cloud resources and applications. This can help businesses track and monitor user activity in the cloud, detect and investigate security incidents, and meet compliance requirements for auditing and reporting. Hence, with such features, businesses can benefit from immense financial value of avoiding hefty fines due to non-compliance. In addition, audit trails can help organizations identify areas where they may need to improve their security posture and access controls in the cloud.
In summary, Cloud IAM solutions offer several business values such as reducing administrative burden, minimizing the risk of data breaches, increasing security of access controls, boosting process efficiency, and meeting compliance requirements. Apart from improving the overall security posture of an organization, businesses can also save on hefty non-compliance costs. Evidently, the business values that cloud IAM solutions bring for your organization are beneficial in the long term. Speak with Adnovum’s cloud IAM strategists today on methods to craft your cloud IAM blueprint.
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