Why CIOs Are Moving from IAM to a Full Identity Governance Solution?

Traditional identity and access management (IAM) tools often fall short when it comes to handling the complexities of modern, dynamic IT environments. This is why CIOs are increasingly turning to Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) solutions.

IGA solutions go beyond IAM by automating user provisioning, monitoring activity, and ensuring compliance with regulations like ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA, and more. This not only eliminates manual processes and reduces errors but also significantly enhances security.

For easy IGA implementation, you can use CloudEagle.ai. It’s an all-in-one SaaS management platform that helps manage user identities and access with real-time monitoring, automated reviews, and audit-ready reports.

Let’s explore how CloudEagle.ai can help you with your organization's identity governance.

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TL;DR

• Traditional IAM tools are no longer enough to manage the complexity of today’s hybrid and cloud-first IT environments.
• Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) solutions go beyond access control by automating user provisioning, enforcing policies, and maintaining audit trails.
• IGA provides real-time visibility into user activity, allowing teams to detect and respond to suspicious behavior or compliance gaps quickly.
• These solutions are built to scale across cloud, on-premise, and third-party systems, making them ideal for large or rapidly growing organizations.
• With built-in access reviews and audit logs, IGA simplifies regulatory compliance, helping organizations stay secure and audit-ready.

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1. Understanding IAM vs. IGA

Managing user access and identities in today’s digital world is vital for security and compliance. While Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) both protect digital resources, they serve different purposes.

A. What is IAM?

IAM focuses on managing user authentication, access control, and provisioning within an organization’s systems. It ensures that the right users have access to the right resources at the right time. IAM includes features like single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and user provisioning/deprovisioning to streamline secure access.

B. What is IGA?

IGA builds on IAM by adding governance, compliance, and auditing to access management. It ensures that user access complies with policies and regulations, conducts regular access reviews, and maintains audit trails. IGA also automates processes to ensure that only necessary access is granted based on roles and predefined policies.

C. How IAM and IGA work together?

IAM and IGA work hand-in-hand to provide comprehensive identity management. IAM ensures secure, authorized access, while IGA ensures ongoing compliance, regular access reviews, and auditing documentation. Together, they create a more secure and compliant environment by managing both the operational and governance aspects of user access.

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2. Limitations of Traditional IAM Systems

Here are the limitations of traditional IAM systems:

a. Limited automation: Traditional IAM systems rely on manual processes for user management, leading to inefficiencies and a higher risk of human error. This results in slow and inconsistent access management, especially in larger organizations.

b. Weak access controls: Many IAM systems use basic role definitions or static access controls that don't adapt to changing environments, creating security risks by granting excessive or inappropriate access without considering factors like location or user behavior.

c. Lack of real-time threat detection: Traditional IAM systems often fail to detect or respond to threats in real-time, leaving organizations vulnerable to security breaches. Suspicious activities, such as accessing data after hours, may go unnoticed without continuous monitoring.

d. Inflexible provisioning processes: Traditional IAM systems are designed for static, on-premise environments and struggle with managing dynamic cloud-based applications. This can delay access and hurt productivity, especially in hybrid or remote work settings.

e. High admin overhead: Traditional IAM systems require significant manual effort, especially as organizations grow. IT teams must manually update permissions, manage accounts, and conduct audits, leading to inefficiencies and potential security gaps.

f. Compliance challenges: Traditional IAM systems often lack strong reporting and auditing features needed to meet compliance standards like ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, and HIPAA. This makes it harder for organizations to prove compliance and quickly adapt to regulatory changes.

Learn how Treasure Data enhanced access management and reporting with CloudEagle.ai.

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3. Why CIOs Are Moving to Full Identity Governance Solutions (IGA)?

CIOs are turning to IGA solutions for:

a. Enhanced compliance and security: IGA solutions automate access controls and provide detailed audit logs, ensuring regulatory compliance and early detection of security violations.=

b. Automation of identity and access processes: IGA automates tasks like user provisioning, deprovisioning, and access reviews, reducing manual work and errors while keeping access aligned with security policies.

c. Scalability for complex environments: IGA solutions scale across on-premises, cloud, and third-party systems, ensuring secure access control in large, hybrid environments to meet growing business needs.

d. Real-time monitoring and threat detection: IGA provides real-time monitoring of user activity, identifying unusual behavior and enabling quick responses to threats, minimizing risks and preventing unauthorized access.

e. Streamlined governance and access control: IGA integrates governance features to ensure access rights align with policies and automatically revokes access when no longer needed, enhancing compliance and security.

f. Improved user experience: IGA simplifies access with self-service portals and single sign-on, reducing administrative tasks and boosting productivity and user satisfaction.

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4. How CloudEagle.ai Supports the Shift from IAM to IGA?

CloudEagle.ai makes the shift from IAM to IGA easy with its AI-powered automation, real-time monitoring, and scalable architecture, ensuring secure and compliant access management.

A. Automated Provisioning & Deprovisioning

CloudEagle.ai automates employee onboarding and offboarding, ensuring users get the correct access to systems and apps when they join the organization. When employees leave, their access is automatically revoked, eliminating the risk of unauthorized access.

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By automating these tasks, the platform reduces the administrative burden on IT teams, minimizes human error (like orphaned accounts or outdated access), and ensures compliance with security policies and regulations.

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Explore this inspiring success story of how CloudEagle.ai helped Bloom & Wild streamline employee onboarding and offboarding.

B. Integration with Existing IAM Systems

With CloudEagle.ai, you can seamlessly integrate with over 500 systems, including your existing IAM (Identity and Access Management) platforms. This integration enhances the capabilities of your current infrastructure without requiring a complete overhaul.

CloudEagle.ai boosts your existing IAM systems with real-time monitoring, automated access reviews, and audit logs. This hybrid solution improves security, reduces administrative workload, and ensures compliance, all while keeping your current infrastructure.

C. Dynamic Role Management with RBAC

CloudEagle.ai enhances role-based access control (RBAC) by enabling dynamic role management. Unlike traditional IAM systems that require manual updates when a user's role changes, CloudEagle.ai automatically adjusts access privileges in real-time.

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This ensures employees only access what they need, reducing risks like over-permissioning and maintaining the principle of least privilege. CloudEagle.ai's dynamic role management improves security, flexibility, and efficiency for organizations.

D. Time-Based Access Management

CloudEagle.ai introduces time-based access management, granting users access to specific resources for a predefined period. This feature is ideal for temporary access needs, such as contractors or external collaborators.

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CloudEagle.ai limits access time, ensuring users only access resources when necessary, reducing the risk of unnecessary access to sensitive data. This helps enforce the principle of least privilege, improving security.

E. Enforce the Principle of Least Privilege

CloudEagle.ai enforces the principle of least privilege (PoLP), ensuring users only have access to what they need for their roles. By regularly reviewing and adjusting access rights, CloudEagle.ai minimizes security risks and protects sensitive data.

This proactive approach minimizes the risk of unauthorized access and ensures that the organization remains compliant with internal security policies and external regulatory requirements, such as ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, etc.

F. Real-Time Compliance Monitoring

CloudEagle.ai offers real-time compliance monitoring by continuously tracking user activity and ensuring access rights align with internal policies and regulations like ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2. It provides detailed audit logs, making it easier to stay compliant.

By monitoring access behavior in real-time, CloudEagle.ai can detect potential security risks or non-compliant actions right away. This proactive approach helps security teams respond quickly, preventing breaches and ensuring that compliance is always maintained.

G. Automated Access Reviews

Access reviews are a key part of maintaining a secure and compliant identity management system, but conducting them manually can be time-consuming and prone to human error. CloudEagle.ai automates access reviews to ensure user access is regularly assessed and updated without manual effort.

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With automated scheduling and notifications, managers can confirm or revoke access, and if no action is taken, access is automatically revoked. This process reduces admin overhead and maintains secure, compliant access controls.

H. Scalable Cloud-Native Architecture

CloudEagle.ai’s cloud-native architecture ensures that the solution can scale with the growth of an organization, adapting to an increasing number of users, applications, and systems. Unlike traditional IAM systems, which often struggle to scale efficiently, CloudEagle.ai is designed to handle the complexity of modern enterprises.

I. Self-Service App Catalog

CloudEagle.ai offers a self-service app catalog that lets employees request their preferred application access through an intuitive portal. This self-service model reduces the administrative burden on IT teams, freeing them up to focus on more critical tasks.

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Employees can easily request access to new apps through the CloudEagle.ai platform or Slack, track their request status, and get approval without manual work. CloudEagle.ai notifies IT admins, who can verify each user's eligibility based on their role and governance policies, ensuring secure and appropriate access.

To learn how automating employee onboarding and offboarding with provisioning and deprovisioning workflows can benefit your organization, check out Alice Park's testimonial from Remediant. She shares how she streamlined the process using CloudEagle.ai.

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5. Conclusion

As organizations grow and adopt more SaaS apps, CIOs are discovering that traditional IAM systems lack the flexibility required for modern IT environments. Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) improves IAM by incorporating governance, compliance, and auditing features, offering a comprehensive solution for managing user access.

With real-time monitoring, dynamic role management, and automated reporting, IGA ensures that users receive the right access at the right time. For CIOs looking to enhance security, simplify identity management, and maintain compliance, CloudEagle.ai is the smart choice.

Ready to transform your IAM practices? Schedule a demo with CloudEagle.ai today.

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