The global Identity and Access Management Market is expected to reach USD 18.89 Billion in 2023, growing 12.9%, surpassing $25.8 billion by 2026, and rising 18.2% during the forecast period 2021–2026. BYOD and cloud services will drive the market.

Market Challenges

• High Competition

The Identity and Access Management solution market is highly competitive, with numerous market leaders and frequent new entrants. Key players must consolidate their market position and provide innovative solutions due to the low entry barrier into the IAM market. The market's high competition helps companies that innovate security solutions survive but hurts those that don't. Identity and Access Management Market players use product launches, acquisitions, and Ramp; ForgeRock, SailPoint, Saviynt, CyberArk, Okta, Auth0, Ping Identity, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, One Identity, and Delinea dominate the Identity Access Management Market.

• Market Commoditization

Directory Service and Provisioning become interchangeable as Identity and Access Management solutions become commoditized. Directory Service technology became a commodity years ago, and Provisioning technology is expected to follow the same trend. Vendors are rushing to reduce the differences between Identity and Access Management Solution Market products. The commoditization of the Identity and Access Management solution market affects customer choice because the same products are sold under different names.

• Consumer data insecurity

Access to third-party data by the Identity and Access Management solution provider threatens consumer data security, especially in cloud-based solutions. Weak Authentication Protocols also endanger customer data. Authentication is a significant identity management issue. Password security is one of the authentication segment's security measures, but it needs more security layers to protect the enterprise. As a result, enterprises have adopted two-factor authentication, which uses SMS messaging, email confirmation, hard tokens, or biometrics as the secondary factor. However, hackers have found ways to bypass this. Thus, weak Authentication Protocols and consumer data security hinder Identity and Access Management solutions.

• Identity Provisioning/Deprovisioning Complexity

Keeping track of all network identities is a significant identity management challenge. Enterprises must grant each identity the permissions it needs to do business at creation (provisioning). When the user leaves the company, it must remove those permissions (de-provisioning). SMBs must provision and de-provision employees, third-party vendors, partners, and customers. The IT security team may need a solution in high turnover environments or businesses with more part-time or seasonal employees. IT teams must secure the network without affecting employee access. Mobile computing reduces IT teams' visibility into, and control over employees' work practices, making time-incentive processes like manual approval and provisioning challenging to manage. Identity administration functions remain in enterprise silos, resulting in inefficient processes, excessive access, and higher provisioning and de-provisioning costs.

• Distributed workforce management inconvenience 

A flexible work environment and no geographic restrictions can help companies attract and retain top talent. Remote work boosts productivity, cuts costs, and frees employees from the office. Enterprise IT teams must maintain a consistent experience for employees connecting to corporate resources without compromising security with employees worldwide. Mobile computing reduces the IT team's oversight of employee work practices. Identity and Access Management solutions need to be improved by managing distributed workforces.

• IoT collaboration issues

Due to the rapid growth of roles and policies in the IoT era, centralized access control models like Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Role-based Access Control (RAC) models have become obsolete. Access control solutions should consider more factors and parameters like time and location. Attribute-based Access Control (ABAC) model attempts to solve this problem, but its centralized identity providers still have scalability issues. Existing solutions require centralized administrative parties (administrators or identity providers) to assign access rights, roles, and attributes, making them unsuitable for scalable decentralized IoT systems and affecting the Identity and Access Management Market.

• Open-Source Solutions

ApacheDS, Central Authentication Service (CAS), FreeIPA, Gluu, Keycloak, MidPoint, OpenAM, and OpenDJ offer directories and provisioning services like paid Identity and Access Management Solutions. Free IAM solutions help Small and Medium Enterprises secure their cash-strapped operations. Small and Medium Enterprises benefit from open-source IAM software solutions because they provide the same services and products as paid vendors for free, allowing them to spend more on other software services. Open source Identity and Access Management Solutions offer cost benefits, making them the preferred choice of many SMEs and even larger companies. This challenges IAM vendors to provide innovative and value-added services at lower prices.

• Instability

Consumer's high price perception of Identity and Access Management solutions and the lack of compelling use cases and viable business models are the main factors affecting the uptake of Identity and Access Management technology as a viable business option. They are not concentrated by the major vendors, resulting in a highly fragmented market with a few market players coming up with feasible solutions. These factors and Ambiguous ROI from technology stack fragmentation across vendors make mass adoption of Identity and Access Management Solutions difficult.

• Skilled Professional Shortage

Due to a lack of knowledge of IAM technology and employer investment in upskilling their employees, there is an emerging trend of a shortage of skilled professionals in the Identity and Access Management segment, which is expected to worsen as demand outpaces supply.

• Poor Organizational Identity Standards

Poor regulation increases cyber threats and affects market growth. Advanced Identity Access Management solutions handle complex services. This costs organizations. A lack of identity standards, budget constraints, and high installation costs hinders Identity Access Management solutions.

Market Opportunities

• Rising Cloud and SaaS adoption

Due to its cost-efficiency and flexibility, cloud deployment is growing in all sizes of organizations. It lets an organization digitally transform its IT infrastructure to gain a competitive edge. Cyberspace networks are increasingly vulnerable to cyber and malware attacks. IAM simplifies compliance by unifying security policy and auditing. Cloud platforms like IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS have forced IT departments to improve IAM. Thus, improved IAM practices and processes should help cloud service providers deliver robust services and scalability to users. Cloud services have also raised IT security concerns for the company. To prevent advanced cyberattacks, enterprises should use IAM solutions.

• Hybrid cloud growth

Hybrid clouds combine public and private cloud benefits. It offers flexibility, scalability, and agility at a lower cost and higher security than the private cloud. The hybrid cloud model, which adds security to service provisioning and de-provisioning on-premise and in the cloud, drives growth in the Identity and Access Management market. BYOD and workforce mobility are also driving this growth. A hybrid cloud prevents users from having multiple identities because one identity can be used as a corporate credential, a single sign-on credential for company-sanctioned cloud services, and several consumer cloud service login credentials. Hybrid cloud gives workers a single identity, allows single sign-on across private and public networks, simplifies access credential management, and improves security with advanced intrusion detection like user and entity behavior analytics.

• IoT and Smart Device usage are rising

Consumer identity and access management solutions are needed as industries adopt IoT and smart devices. Data management in various systems has become more complex as enterprises use more mobile devices, increasing cybercrime risk. Thus, organizations are using advanced authentication security solutions to protect consumer data.

Market Drivers

• Government security spending rises: Government investments in security solutions to prevent identity theft and comply with regulations will drive growth. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requires healthcare providers to ensure patient privacy and coverage portability.
• Organizational security concerns are rising

Cybercrime has skyrocketed. Data breaches increased by over 80%. Data breaches drive demand for identity and access management (IAM) to verify users and manage their access to enterprise resources. IAM helps enterprises identify critical areas of concern and provides tools to defend against these attacks. Thus, global data theft will drive identity and access management market growth during the forecast period.

• Rising demand for mobility and connected devices

These new digital identities bypass the firewall and perimeter security model, forcing organizations to implement structured security solutions with identity and IAM fundamentals. IoT security requires new approaches focusing on the "identity" of things (IDoT) rather than user identities. The workforce will be demanding collaborative and connected work! Companies are adopting BYOD policies to support mobile and flexible work. As employees demand BYOD and CISOs continue to promote and anyone, any device, anywhere," the IAM strategy—the foundation of security—will change. Mobility and web-based applications have made it difficult for employees to stay connected to corporate resources without compromising security. Cloud-hosted critical applications require authorization and authentication for many web applications and organizational data. Thus, to keep up with enterprise mobility, organizations have increased their use of centrally managed comprehensive IAM solutions to gain visibility and control over a distributed workforce.

• Rapid Cloud Technology Adoption

Cloud IAM, which offers identity synchronization and provisioning, federation service, customer identity management, and SSO, is growing in end-use industries. Enterprises can now manage user access controls and compliance more cheaply and easily. Cloud IAM allows businesses to customize integrations with robust application interfaces.

New in IAM

• Microservices: Microservices components break IAM products into modules that address different aspects of IAM. ForgeRock developed token exchange, validation, authorization, and authentication microservices. Microservices can run without an embedded OS and manage user identity data more efficiently.
• AI: Another trend in IAM tools is AI and machine learning. Machine learning-based behavioural data analysis improves security for many IAM vendors. Machine learning can detect suspicious login attempts like password guessing. Ping Identity monitors API activity with AI.

How to get started

If you want to learn about IAM or are just starting out, SharpITS can help. Identity and Access Management is SharpITS's core service. Our team is made up of highly skilled engineers and consultants who specialize in Identity Governance and Administration, Enterprise Access Management, Privileged Access Management and Customer Identity and Access Management. Our team has a proven track record of providing end-to-end IAM services, from gathering requirements and making roadmaps to full implementation, training, and managed support. Don't be afraid to contact us right away for a free first meeting.