The
May Edition of Sun’s Executive Boardroom featured Sun Identity
Management Vice President Sara Gates encouraging corporate leaders,
“Don’t
Sacrifice Growth for Security”

Sara proposed, “Many folks think
that identity management is fundamentally about security, but it is a
business solution as well. The question I pose is, ‘Why do cars have
brakes? It’s not so they can stop. It’s so they can go fast …
Security is becoming the brakes on the car. You put it in place not
only to keep things secure but to go as fast as you need to, to drive
your online business and partnerships … Ten years from now,
security in the corporate world won’t be driven by fear. It will be
driven by a need to accelerate the business at new speeds.’”

The traditional view of information security placed it at odds with business operations. On one hand, information security strategies favored locking the business down – making it very difficult for intruders to penetrate available defenses. On the other hand, business operations strategies favored a much more open view – make it easy for customers and partners to reach us so we can do business together.

Viewing Identity Management as a business enabler rather than just
a cost-reduction vehicle or compliance assistant allows us to think
beyond the constraints of how we do business now. Just think of how many more customers you could serve, how many more services you could deliver and how many more partner relationships you could leverage if you knew that identities of all participants were highly secure but highly connectable!

By the way, while reading Sara’ article, I found Sun’s Identity
Management Resource Center, a great resource for reports, white
papers, case studies and more about Sun’s Identity Management
products. Enjoy!

Tag: Identity