Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics

COVID-19 Catalyzes the Cloud Computing Era Across Enterprises Worldwide


The corona virus pandemic has accelerated adoption of cloud computing with cloud first and cloud only becoming mainstay IT approaches for companies of all sizes and types. The pandemic confined people to homes, closed down offices, halted transport, and virtually brought social and economic life to a grinding halt. To cope with the abrupt cessation of all operational activities, the world shifted gears to a remote working mode almost overnight. A key technology playing a crucial role in enabling remote operations like cloud computing. The technology has witnessed massive increase in adoption in the 1st quarter 2020. Desperate companies to ensure business continuity in the face of unprecedented crisis have seized cloud computing along with mobile technology to enable employees work from any location with internet access, via a virtual desktop or remote infrastructure. Cloud provides a virtual environment where employees can access all the information they normally do in a physical office. Documents and data can be safety accessed from any location. The technology is best loved for its ability to enable shared access to information centrally located on a single server. In addition to agility and flexibility, cloud also offers greater levels of security for remote working. From user-specific passwords to encryption of files, cloud offers a wide variety of security tools. Other benefits include enablement of true mobility; easy update and maintenance of cloud-based systems; effective backup and easy retrieval of lost or damaged data which is especially important when separated teams have access to just basic forms of home IT tools. Connected computers can automatically backup files, emails or digital records to cloud-servers.

It's the Cloud that Allows Dynamic Scaling to Accommodate X Times Increase in Remote Working


Over the last three months,88% of IT companies worldwide migrated their employees to work-from-home (WFH) during the pandemic. 92% of teams in Asia-Pacific have implemented WFH since the outbreak highlighting the need to flatten the curve in countries with less than adequate healthcare resources. 45% of employees cite COVID-19 as the trigger for rapid adoption of remote working strategies. 72% of companies plan to shift a portion of their staff permanently to a WFH model. This massive exodus of workforce to remote working is enabled by the cloud. Since the cloud represents nothing but a server connected to internet, it requires no additional hardware or supporting infrastructure. Any number of employees with their own laptops or PCs can be added to the WFH pool, eliminating the challenges posed by social distancing and quarantine and hassles of restricted office space and on-premise IT infrastructure and hardware. In a traditional IT environment, adding additional employees to the local network will require extend the LAN or WLAN network by running more cable, installing directional antennas, increasing internet bandwidth, adding WAN connectivity hardware, among others. The transition to remote work in this massive scale would not have been possible on a server-led infrastructure of 15 to 20 years ago.

It's the Cloud that Makes Remote Collaboration a Breeze for IT Departments Worldwide

It's the cloud that is now enabling remote teams to work closely and seamlessly. Cloud-based videoconferencing systems have stormed into the spotlight. Exemplified by Zoom Video Communications, Inc., cloud based videoconferencing solutions are today a roaring success supported by benefits such as increased efficiency, simpler management and usability, high-quality video and audio; meeting recording and sharing; ability to Join from browser without needing application downloads and installations; greater security and complete elimination of interoperability issues and universal compatibility among multiple users and their preferred devices i. e. video systems, laptops, PCs, tablets and smart phones. The cloud in short has given businesses the opportunity to survive the current COVID-19 crisis and live to fight another day in the corporate world.

How Much Then Will Cloud Security Technologies Grow? Cloud IAM to Reach US$16.1 Billion by 2027


With enterprise CIOs prioritizing their spending on public cloud, demand for Cloud IAM is spiraling as security in the cloud rises in parallel importance. The global market for Cloud IAM estimated at US$3 billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$16.1 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 26.7% over the analysis period 2020-2027. User Provisioning, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 27.3% CAGR to reach US$7 billion by the end of the analysis period. IAM is an essential part of security for enterprises and industries, given its inherent association with productivity. IAM systems are also essential for ensuring that an added layer of protection is given for organization networks in order to ensure that users access rules and policies are consistent all through the enterprise. By using central management capabilities, IAM systems are designed to cut down cost as well as complexity associated with protecting user credentials and access. IAM also facilitates productivity improvement in a secure manner, when working from office, home or while on the move. Organizations need to ensure their employees have unique access to resources to prevent potential attacks. With Cloud IAM, organizations can efficiently resolve radius issues. LDAP represents database for the users, systems and applications that require authentication. However, managing LDAP servers that are on-premise can be challenging, as it requires much effort and time. Cloud IAM, with LDAPaaS (LDAP as a Service) is emerging as an answer to this problem. Also, a cloud based directory would enable organizations to establish multi-factor authentication, which constitutes a major step for preventing unauthorized access. Another important advantage with cloud IAM is the flexibility it offers in user management. Also, organizations that are cloud-forward have several web tools and applications and it is important that the directory they use is able to utilize all of these tools and applications. Cloud IAM allows such integrations. Single sign-on constitutes another beneficial feature of cloud IAM. Cloud IAM can also be integrated with MFA (multi-factor authentication) or 2FA (two factor authentication). Username & password credentials constituted the approach followed by legacy directory services.

Competitors identified in this market include, among others:

• CA Technologies, Inc.
• Centrify Corporation
• Dell Technologies
• EMC Corporation
• IBM Corporation
• Intel Corporation
• Microsoft Corporation
• Okta, Inc.
• Onelogin, Inc.
• Ping Identity Corporation
• Sailpoint Technologies Inc.