Identity Management - A necessary Evil?

Identity Management - A necessary Evil?

Off late I have been having conversations with customers and colleagues centered about the following - is identity management a necessary evil -from a compliance /security and governance perspective or can it actually stand-alone in value proposition (like CRM systems, HRMS etc). Usually, identity management software is implemented NOT because the business wants to achieve efficiencies first - but mainly because of the various audit requirements that current laws of the land requires. Will implementing an identity management solution still be useful - if ALL the security and audit requirements go away. If so, what is the ROI for a business post identity management rollout. I see the following as issues that will support a ROI model for identity management
Efficient on-boarding/off-boarding/re-boarding of users - productivity cost associated with these activities
Password management related activities -Self-Service password management, password resets etc - Cost associated with help-desk
Paperwork reduction based on electronic approval - very soft cost item
Rogue account detection that enables license management - Cost is a function of various application licensing matrixes
The questions that arise in my mind based on this issue list is:
Will this be ENOUGH justification for a CFO to go write a check for identity management deployment?
What should the vendors be doing in trying to ADD value to the identity management offering that it becomes more of an enterprise business software product and less of a Security software product?
I will post more on this shortly

Identity Management as a Service

Welcome to my corner in the world of identity management. This blog will explore an idea that is generating a buzz in the world of security and identity- "Identity as a Service".

First of some links to other sites that already are starting to talk about is in order.
http://blogs.oracle.com/identityasaservice/ is written by a colleague of mine - Derick Cassidy. It gives his view of how identity is evolving as a service.

More to follow.

Regards,
Girish