.svg)
Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) tools are utilized to securely and efficiently manage user identity and access to business applications and assets. In today’s technology landscape, these tools are almost mandatory for the modern hybrid enterprise.
But while a vital part of most tech stacks, IGA tools are certainly not without their challenges.
Here are the top five IGA challenges that we see with our clients, and how managed services helps to solve them:
3) Lack of internal resources
When it comes to IGA tools, not only is there an industry-wide lack of resources but available resources are outpacing other market segments in rising costs. It is increasingly difficult to find and retain engineers with deep experience in specific IGA tools. A lack of in-house expertise can be detrimental to the success of an IGA program because the technology is only as good as the person operating it. If your resource lacks experience in your tool, there is a much greater chance of a misconfiguration or other issue.
Whether for one-off projects or for multi-year contracts, managed service providers help fill the gaps around in-house experience. Rather than spending time and money on recruiting, hiring, and training, these costs can be operationalized on an as-needed basis, allowing you to scale up or down as needed.
4) Difficulty justifying ROI
Measuring ROI and time-to-investment are vital when justifying the cost of an IGA program but can be difficult to ascertain. Without a clear ROI, it can be difficult to justify the IGA program to department making budgets. With ROI calculated, it is easier to align IGA program goals with the larger business and leadership goals.
One of the more common advisory engagements that MajorKey sees as a service provider is calculating the ROI of specific tools, including IGA tools. The process of determining an organization’s ROI for a tool varies from organization to organization. At MajorKey we utilize our clients’ specific business and information security goals to formulate the ROI, allowing our clients to gain internal support more easily for their initiatives.
[Start on the path towards a successful IAM program with our IAM Buyer's Guide]
5) Integrating with third-party identities
The landscape is rapidly evolving when it comes to managing identities. Modern enterprises must now contend with an increasingly greater number of external identities between partners, vendors, contract workers, and others. Remember the massive Target breach in 2013? That started after a third-party vendor, an HVAC repairman in this instance, was compromised. On a macro level, in 2022 more than 50% of companies reported a third-party breach according to a study from Imprivata.
A cybersecurity program is only as strong as the weakest link, and it’s easy to underestimate the importance of proper third-party identity management. Working with a managed service provider to integrate third-party identities, like HVAC providers in Target’s case, ensures that it is done correctly and quickly while being set up to ensure future scalability.
1) Automating manual tasks and processes
Introducing automation is one of the quickest ways to increase the value of an IGA tool. Common areas of automation include user provisioning/de-provisioning, automating non-starts, access requests and approvals, and other manual, repeatable processes. Depending on the size and scope of an organization, automating these tasks can save thousands of man hours every year.
Managed service providers have the expertise and resources required to identify opportunities for automation, develop the necessary workflows, and configure the IGA tool to support the automation. This helps organizations increase efficiency, lower the risk of errors, and free up internal resources for more important initiatives. Furthermore, because the MSP is managing the work, it’s in their best interest to establish workflows and automation that make tasks and the overall experience easier to manage and as accurate as possible.
We’ve seen a number of clients find success and considerable efficiency across industries by automating non-start governance, birthright access for new users, and new user processing. A national children’s hospital recently saved over 2,600 manual hours annually.
2) Onboarding applications at scale
One element that is often overlooked when planning an IGA implementation is how long it takes to onboard business-critical applications. A tool’s time-to-value is decreased drastically if it takes an additional 6-12 months, post-implementation to fully integrate with business applications. For larger organizations with large teams, it could still take years before applications get onboarded. We’ve seen queues of over 600 applications and 8+ year timelines. Organizations looking to onboard their applications should prioritize by risk and business value then break them up into manageable phases with 5-10 applications per phase.
Service providers can commit trained resources 24/7 to rapidly integrate applications, allowing organizations to realize value and scale up or down more quickly. This enables their internal resources to focus on additional training, set up, or other projects. Furthermore, service providers frequently onboard the same applications for different clients. With that familiarity comes a great chance for success.
With so many IGA platforms on the market, just finding the right solution can be difficult. We're here to help. MajorKey offers a rapid advisory assessment to help organizations select, integrate and manage IGA solutions. Contact us today to get started.
Discover how organizations can securely adopt AI tools like Microsoft Copilot by addressing identity security challenges. Learn about common risks, best practices, and a structured assessment approach to ensure responsible AI integration and compliance.
Discover how deepfake fraud and fake employees are reshaping remote work risks—and why identity assurance is critical. IDProof+, integrated with Microsoft Entra Verified ID, helps organizations prevent interview fraud, secure remote hiring, and protect against insider threats.
Discover how IDProof+'s advanced AI, biometric authentication, and deepfake detection protect organizations from fraud, streamline remote hiring, and ensure GDPR compliance.
MIM is now in extended support, but what's the right migration path for your organization? This blog series will examine the options and key considerations to help MIM users to determine their path to the cloud.
This three-part webinar series brings together leading voices to discuss transforming identity security through intelligent automation.
With machines now outnumbering humans by staggering ratios, unmanaged identities have become a critical, and often overlooked, attack vector that organizations can no longer afford to ignore.
Unlock operational insight with IdentityLens—MajorKey Technologies’ advanced reporting and analytics platform for managed services—empowering organizations with real-time identity data, automated compliance, and actionable dashboards for smarter, safer IT operations.
MajorKey’s HorizonID is a transformative solution that bridges the gap between legacy identity systems and modern cloud-based strategies.
Discover how MajorKey’s Managed Operations (MOps) empowers organizations to achieve secure, scalable, and outcome-driven identity management with expert guidance, automation, and 24/7 support. Learn how MOps streamlines operational efficiency, reduces risk, and drives measurable progress for modern identity programs.
NomadID by MajorKey Technologies is an Identity, Credentialing, and Access Management (ICAM) solution designed for Department of Defense (DOD) and federal agencies operating in Disconnected, Denied, Intermittent, Low-Bandwidth (DDIL) environments. It ensures uninterrupted authentication and single sign-on (SSO) capabilities even during network outages or hostile conditions, combining identity management, security monitoring, and governance locally at the edge to uphold security standards and maintain seamless access in challenging or disconnected scenarios.
Whether you're securing privileged access, enabling self-service recovery, or modernizing identity, MajorKey’s IDProof+ provides a proven defense against fraud and identity-based threats.
Non-human identities (NHIs) such as service accounts, bots, and API keys operate autonomously across IT environments but often lack proper provisioning, lifecycle management, and oversight, making them a critical security risk. Effective NHI management requires inventory and ownership clarity, strict access controls based on least privilege, automated lifecycle management, continuous monitoring, and executive alignment to reduce breach risks and ensure compliance.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) can be sold to business leaders effectively by focusing on business outcomes rather than technical jargon. Emphasizing benefits such as increased employee productivity through streamlined access, faster onboarding with automated provisioning, enhanced audit compliance with automated role management, improved customer loyalty via seamless and secure login experiences, and uninterrupted business operations by ensuring timely access to tools helps connect IAM to revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency.
A critical zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft SharePoint Server on-premises, tracked as CVE-2025-53770 and nicknamed "ToolShell," is actively exploited, allowing unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code remotely, potentially compromising entire servers and networks. Microsoft has released emergency patches and mitigation guidance, urging all users to apply updates immediately, enable advanced detection tools like Microsoft Defender, rotate ASP.NET machine keys, and strengthen access governance with Privileged Access Management (PAM) to protect against this severe threat.
Covering the latest thought leadership, events, and news about identity security
.svg)
.svg){kind=icon}
