I.T. Automation: Identity Management Overview

Identity Management has received much - mostly bad - press over the past several years. It is not something to be taken lightly to be sure - and promises many benefits if implemented correctly. Potential benefits include:

• improvements in security / achieve cost reductions by automating activities associated with provisioning / deprovisioning
• improvements in security by reducing the number of passwords users have to remember across multiple applications
• improve help desk efficiency by automating password reset activities

While these benefits can be significant to many an organization, we must keep in mind, as this article points out, "there are many dead bodies along this highway". Identity Management initiatives are not to be taken lightly to be sure. They often require multi-disciplinary teams comprised of members of the I.T., Security, & Human Resources departments - to name a few.

This article by Network Computing is an excellent dissertation on the key issues, benefits and risks associated with Identity Management options.

What is your option? Please feel free to share your stories (both successes and failures) - as you are in a position to help others not make the same mistakes...