Categories: Identity Governance & Administration (IGA)

Is dependence on AD holding back your provisioning & deprovisioning?

Active Directory is quite simply the most popular identity management solution for enterprises in the world. An incredible <a href=”https://ww2.frost.com/frost-perspectives/active-directory-holds-the-keys-to-your-kingdom-but-is-it-secure/#:~:text=Microsoft%20Active%20Directory%20(AD)%20is,provide%20seamless%20authentication%20and%20authorization.”>~90% of the Global Fortune 1000 companies use Active Directory</a> as their primary method of authentication!

Does your organization, like so many others, manage user identity with Active Directory (AD) too? If so, we’re guessing you have probably run into trouble with provisioning and deprovisioning for users across your environment. AD is great for identity management, but it was never built to act as a single sign-on (SSO) platform.
<h3>Challenges with AD for Provisioning & Deprovisioning</h3>
What this means is that either provisioning and deprovisioning would need to be performed for each application and user individually, or else, for Active Directory to be used to control access and permissions, each application would need to be integrated with AD separately.

<a href=”https://resources.netskope.com/cloud-reports/netskope-cloud-report-august-2019″>With the average enterprise running 1295 cloud-based applications</a>, both these options seem like pretty poor choices. The former option is a tremendous drain on productivity for both admins and users, while the latter presents a host of complexities and costs to integrate AD with each of your apps.
<h3>IAM to the rescue!</h3>
So how do you get over these challenges? The answer lies in deploying an Identity & Access Management (IAM) solution that includes single sign-on (SSO) functionality.

Essentially, the IAM would act as an intermediate layer between your AD and your applications. So the IAM solution would need to integrate with Active Directory on the one side, and with all of your organization’s applications on the other.

Through integration with your applications, the IAM can bring them all onto a single common platform and act as the Identity Provider (IdP) across your environment. Since most modern IAM solutions use SAML-based integrations with applications, these integrations are far less complex and expensive to implement than directly integrating AD to each application.

And secondly, integrating the IAM with AD would allow you to continue to manage identity – and now access permissions too – on AD itself.
<h3>Benefits of an IAM integrated with AD</h3>
At the end of this process, you would be able to control identity and access across your environment on Active Directory, giving you a familiar interface and process with enhanced functionality.

Single-point control for your admins, and single-point access for your users, mean simple, fast provisioning and deprovisioning for IT and HR teams, saving them a tremendous amount of time and effort.

Not to mention easy access to all permitted applications for users, helping to make them more productive too.

Akku is a powerful Identity and Access Management (IAM) solution by CloudNow that is built to play well with Active Directory, and also to integrate seamlessly with virtually any of your business applications. Call us today to see how Akku could enhance productivity and security at your organization!

Aravindh Ramachandran

Aravindh is the Chief Operating Officer at Akku, where he drives customer success and ensures world-class service delivery. With a sharp focus on outcomes and a passion for maximizing business value, he plays a central role in scaling Akku’s growth and strengthening customer relationships. Before Akku, Aravindh served as COO of CloudNow Technologies and Hornbill FX, and has held leadership roles at KrissCo, Incite Firebrand Consulting, and D&Z. He began his career in brand strategy and corporate communications, later expanding his expertise to operations, technology services, and consulting. His entrepreneurial journey, which started while still in college, has shaped his ability to guide companies through periods of transformation and exponential growth.