Digital Identity

Conclusion: Dispelling IMA Myths

I hope that this book has given you evidence of the benefits of proactively managing identity, information about the technologies available for doing so, and a methodology for building an interoperable identity infrastructure in your organization. Still, as you contemplate the work involved in creating an IMA for your organization, you may have some concern that it can really work. If so, you may still believe some of the myths about digital identity and enterprise planning.

The first myth goes something like, "This is great for a smaller organization, but we're too complex for this level of planning." The truth is, the more complex you are, the more you have to rely on interoperability to get strategic value out of identity. Without interoperable systems, you'll find that even the smallest of tasks become huge projects, because they have to be fit into the ad hoc infrastructure that has grown up. Fight this myth by creating a vision and piloting the IMA in a self-contained business unit.

The second myth is just the opposite: "This is great for a larger organization, but we don't have the staff or time to manage this effort." The IMA process can be adapted to even the smallest of organizations. This book has described a process that can be scaled to fit most situations. In small organizations, the IMA effort is made easy by the fact that there are usually a few recognized decision makers and the group arrives at consensus fairly easily because of shared ...