5 WAYS TO RUIN YOUR IAM PROJECT

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1. Start Big and Go Down the WaterfallDo not start your IAM project without any iterations in it. You may as well throw the money out of window.

The iteration should not be longer than 3-5 months. Each of the iterations should provide a tangible value. Each of them needs to pass its own ROI assessment.

2. Spend the Budget on Product

IAM products typically do not work out-of-the-box. They need to be configured, customized, extended, connectors, plug-ins, workflows and widgets need to be developed, etc. The cost of the product is only a part of the total cost.

The ratio of product to service cost needs to be at most 50:50 – and this is still a very risky endeavor. The ratio of 20:80 in favour of services is perhaps the most realistic one.

3a. Choose a Suite

All the big vendors offer technology suites: a set of products that are sold under the same brand. Such suites often create an impression that together they form one complete and integrated solution.

It does not make product integration considerably easier. Therefore there is usually no significant technological difference between buying a suite or buying several independent products.

3b. Choose Vendor Lock-in

Vendor Lock-in: The vendor that offers a complete suite has only a very little incentive to support integration of his products with another products from a competing vendor.

If you are going to buy a suite you are going to stay with that suite forever. This is a life sentence. And it is going to be very expensive.

4. Customize Extensively

Customization is a necessary part of any non-trivial IAM deployment. But it has to have its limits.Too much customization naturally means long and expensive deployment. The upgrades often ruin all the customizations

Therefore keep the amount of customization reasonably low. Avoid products that require you to make customizations to support the very basic IAM features.

5. Purchase an IAM Project

Many people believe that the IAM effort starts with analysis and ends with deployment. But that is definitely not the case. The real life of an IAM solution actually begins with a deployment.

Choose a delivery team that is able to work with you even after the system is deployed. Make sure that you can afford it.

Use This Bonus trick: Ask about the LogfilesIf you are evaluating an IAM product, have a look at the logfiles. Let the engineers show you logfiles from the actual deployment (e.g. a PoC deployment or a demo). Choose a random part of the logfile and ask the engineers to interpret the logfile for you. Let them explain what each line of the logfile means. If they cannot do it, then the team may not have enough skills to use the product.

5 Five Ways to Ruin Your IAM Project

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