Business Connexion has launched an identity and access management (IAM) value proposition with the goal of establishing itself as the preferred IAM supplier in South Africa. This is in response to clients` growing awareness of the importance of providing legitimate access to their systems and information, while protecting them from unauthorised access.
Marthinus Wissing, Business Connexion`s group executive: professional services, says: "It`s a business imperative for employees and other authorised partners to be able to access mission-critical systems and information independently of their locations and access devices.
"In today`s information economy, people, applications, transactions and data must be able to cross many types of borders via multiple connections. As a result there`s a significant requirement for robust and secure digital identities that are portable across the continuum of business processes."
IAM aims to simplify the management of these `identities`. It consists of the processes and supporting infrastructure used to create, maintain and manage the digital identities of the people, devices and systems that access an enterprise`s information and applications.
One of the fastest-growing segments of the IT market, IAM enables organisations to provide their customers, staff and business partners with seamless access to the services and information they need without comprising security or flexibility.
IAM streamlines the complex set of processes involved in authorising and authenticating user access to company resources. This delivers a range of benefits including a reduction in operational costs through managing identity and user entitlements; improving account policy enforcement; reducing the attack surface; and providing a single point of administration for policies.
Wissing expands: "Perhaps most importantly, IAM helps organisations to become agile enough to keep pace with a rapidly changing business environment. This is because it facilitates the secure sharing of information with partners, suppliers and customers."
Companies can even develop `virtual companies` by providing for cross-security domain authentication, authorisation and identity sharing with partners and suppliers.
IAM also facilitates quick adaptation to changes in partner relationships or as a result of mergers as it makes it simpler to provide new users with access to information and systems or to remove access rights for those who should no longer have them.
Companies with large groups of users requiring identification and/or authentication, such as financial institutions and telecommunications companies, can capitalise on managed identities. "IT administration becomes simpler and more cost-effective since the IT department can control the management of identities and access rights from a single point over their lifecycles," explains Wissing.
IAM boosts information security by plugging holes in the IT infrastructure that the IT department may have missed before.
Wissing adds: "IAM also smoothes the path to regulatory compliance by allowing companies to implement the internal controls that regulators and auditors demand, particularly in areas such as access control and segregation of duties in proximity of financial data."
Business Connexion`s value proposition covers an end-to-end suite of IAM solutions, from IAM compliance assessments and the design of IAM architectures, through to the deployment and management of IAM solutions.
The group`s product-agnostic methodology for the delivery of IAM conceptual architectures, which is licensed for exclusive use in the South African market from Navit, is a clear differentiator.
This methodology focuses on helping clients to leverage their existing IT assets and to build solutions that are tightly aligned with their specific needs. It also aims to identify quick wins along the path to a full IAM deployment so that clients enjoy ROI every step of the way.
Wissing concludes: "We`re excited about taking our IAM solutions to the South African market. We feel we have a strong competitive advantage in our methodology combined with an in-depth knowledge of legal requirements, industry best practices and standards. Access to a deep pool of skills and alliances with the world`s leading IAM solutions vendors place us in a strong position for growth."
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