2019 SailPoint Identity Insider Magazine - Magazine - Page 17
ERIKA JARVI
Sr. Content Marketing
Manager, SailPoint
The Revolution Will Be Digitized
A time comes for every technology when it’s
outstripped by a newcomer. CDs brought about
the demise of floppy disks and cassette tapes,
just as streaming services like Pandora and
Spotify have now taken over CDs. But even in the
enterprise space, new technologies are taking
over the territories of long-standing denizens.
There’s a transformation happening in the world
today – and it’s digital.
For an enterprise, this digital transformation
takes many forms. Moving data centers from
on-premises to the cloud. Enabling users to work
from anywhere in the world on any device they
choose. Embracing newer technologies like AI and
software bots.
Taking on such a fundamental change to the
way we work means evolving processes and
policies that have long taken root – and we all
know change is difficult. It’s no wonder many
organizations fail their digital transformation and
simply go back to the way they’ve always done
things. A staggering 84% of enterprises fail at their
digital transformation, according to Forbes.
But we mustn’t give up. Cloud applications are
only becoming more prevalent. Advances in AI are
occurring every day. And someone, somewhere
will take advantage of those evolutions and bring
them to the masses. Bottom line: whether you
fight against it, actively help it or just accept the
inevitable, the digital transformation of the world is
happening. For our enterprises to continue to be
successful, we need to rise to meet its challenge.
Securing the Change
For many organizations, a problem occurs when
trying to catch up some of our processes that
may lag behind – such as security. Just as we had
to evolve over time from Walkmans™ to iPods™
and now to our phones, so we too must evolve
how we stay secure during a transformation
as large as this. And while it may not be strict
hardware changes, we must ensure our software is
evolving and can withstand the innovations of the
environment it is meant to safeguard.
The security of your organization rests upon the
access your users have to your resources. Yes,
there are still other security programs that are
important – network, endpoint, data, physical,
etc. – but the thing that is the easiest point of
entry for a hacker today isn’t governed by those
systems. The easiest point of entry is your users.
And now, those users include bots and RPAs,
in addition to the remote workers and those
who work on smartphones. No longer can the
legacy identity governance systems that simply
provisioned access do what needs to be done to
actually secure our enterprises.
Digital transformation requires innovation. We
must look at our organizations, recognize the
adjustments that need to be made and then
actually make those changes. It requires a
solution flexible enough to mold itself to how each
enterprise’s security environment is comprised:
• Supporting both the 10-year-old legacy
systems and the cloud apps being taken on
every day;
• Enabling and governing users whoever and
wherever they are;
• Extending your governance policies to
include all resources, including data;
• And utilizing AI to recognize patterns and
analyze behavior to assist IT in decisionmaking.
In order for your enterprise to be successful in
its digital revolution, you may need to start with
your security – and identity governance. Once
your foundation is in place, and you are able to
see everything, govern everything and empower
everyone in your organization, you can focus on
the change that needs to happen while being
confident and secure to take on whatever might
come next.
IDENTIT Y INSIDER SAILPOINT
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