What is Workforce identity?
At first glance, it might just sound like a synonym for IAM. And yes, Workforce identity is a form of Identity and access management, that much is true. However, it is laser-focused on your workforce, your employees, and how making their working day easier will benefit the entire organization, its security, and its future.
New expectations from employees
Remote working, BYOD, and similar practices have grown in popularity over the years. But when the pandemic hit, it became a reality, as everyone scrambled to enable their employees to continue working from home. At the same time, it quickly became apparent that all of this was very much possible.
Returning to the post-pandemic world, many employees expect to have the freedom of remote working, at least to some extent. It has become the new norm, and organizations now need a stable strategy moving forward.
On top of that, there is a steady flow of new and old security risks (with AI speeding up the process) and new regulations demanding risk management and secure authentication.
This is undoubtedly a challenge to piece together while keeping employees happy, product development moving forward, external partners involved, and moving profits in the right direction.
At the same time, your employees are working today, right? Then, there is little need to spend money on improving the infrastructure unless regulations demand it. Understandably, there might be some reluctance to invest in internal infrastructure.
Learn everything about Workforce Identity and how to make your users and administrators happier, increase your security, and increase operational efficiency across your organization.
Workplace identity and the modern workplace
Large organizations, especially those that have grown organically or through acquisitions, often struggle with a fragmented infrastructure. Critical data and legacy applications are kept safe in a data center on-premises, while other applications and services use the cloud. As many as 41 percent of organizations have separate management systems for on-prem and cloud environments.
This creates several silos of data and user identities that, more often than not, struggle to communicate with each other for maximum efficiency.
Also, employees come and go in an organization, creating potential holes in access rights, uncertainty about where data is stored, and waste as much as 32 percent of software licenses.
Workplace identity aims to bridge the gap and provide secure, user-friendly access for every employee—not to everything, but only to what they need to perform their work efficiently. Users should be able to easily log in to what they need for work without worrying about security, remembering which system uses which login method, or worrying about doing something wrong in general.
User authentication, access, and their entire lifecycle should then be managed from a central place, where any change affects the whole organization simultaneously. Many tasks could and should be automated or decentralized to make the entire organization more efficient. In short, that is how the modern workplace should work, and that is Workforce identity.
Adapt to what you already have
This is what Workforce identity is all about: creating a modern digital workplace. One where users and their digital identities are at the center. One where employees have easy access to everything they need in a secure and user-friendly way. One where everything can be managed from one place to avoid security risks, ease the administrative workload, and make compliance a lot easier.
At the same time, you do not need to throw everything old out and replace it with a new, shiny product. That process is usually very painful, costly, and takes more time than it is worth.
Instead, organizations should aim to connect all moving parts, not replace everything altogether. Not only is that process a lot cheaper, but it takes a shorter time to implement, can be adapted to the organization’s needs and current infrastructure, and can be grown organically from there. At Pointsharp, we help you connect all these moving parts, regardless of your infrastructure, to create a secure, modern workplace with happier users and admins alike.
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Experttalks - Workforce identity in practice
Identities are among the most important assets within any organization. They are the key to an efficient workforce, regardless of size, and an integral part of your security strategy. In Pointsharp's first Experttalk, we dive into Workforce identity which focuses on streamlining identities and access controls. So you can ensure that every user has access to what they need, wherever they are, with the security your organization needs.
Three experts presented their experiences and approaches to identity-first security in a European context.
Agenda highlights
Matthias Kess, Head of Product Management at Pointsharp, introduces you to Workforce identity and how Pointsharp can help your organization.
Thomas Nilsson, founder of Certezza, discusses electronic identification for organizations and individuals across Europe, with real-world examples from Sweden’s healthcare and educational sectors.
Andreas Mossnelid, Solutions Engineer at Pointsharp, presents a real-life use case of an identity-first work environment from the user perspective.
Meet our experts and guests
Do you want to know more about Workforce identity? Contact us, and we will tell you what we can do to help your organization
