Catalyst: The Iceberg of Identity Management
Wednesday’s third Identity Management session in the Burton Group Catalyst Conference featured George Sherman – Managing Director, Morgan Stanley. His presentation was entitled, “Discovering the Iceberg of Identity Management in a Large Integrated Financial Services Firm” Key points include:
- Beware of the hidden cost and complexity of Identity Management.
- Morgan Stanley background:
- In business since 1935.
- 46,000+ employees in 600 offices around the world.
- Conducts business in 33 countries and over 70 regulatory jurisdictions.
- They have a complex technology stack in a highly changing environment.
- In identity management and regulatory compliance, Morgan Stanley must frequently seek a common denominator, which may be the most stringent requirement.
- Historical reference to Identities is essential, even after employees leave the company. A unique identifier is used. Once a person touches the firm, he or she is assigned a unique identifier that is never deleted.
- They have a complex technology stack in a highly changing environment.
- Main drivers for Identity Management were regulatory compliance and security
- A company should not focus on outside challenges until internal challenges are well in hand.
- Identity management needs to be foundational – people must trust it.
- Referential data integrity is needed.
- Two critical success factors include:
- Program Sponsorship Committed sponsors will “Pave the Road” through corporate baloney.
- Program manager needs to be good program manager, but highly technical
- Funding and cost justification takes more than spreadsheets an calculators it requires the trust and confidence of program champions
- Break overall plan into point releases.
- Be realistic about timeframes and the evolutionary nature of the process.
- Areas where the industry needs to imrove include:
- More maturity in security of provisioning engine
- More expert developers
- Integration of certification and provisioning tools
- Rules management
- Better understanding of roles and consequences
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