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Ian Leu
ServiceNow Employee
ServiceNow Employee

Wikipedia describes identity and access management (IAM or IdAM, also known simply as Identity management) as a framework of policies and technologies to ensure that the right users (that are part of the ecosystem connected to or within an enterprise) have the appropriate access to technology resources.

 

IAM Challenges

Many organizations typically begin their identity management using readily available tools such as spreadsheets and email. Over time, this approach evolves into a more mature system where individual departments purchase specific solutions to address their unique challenges. However, these solutions often lack a comprehensive, enterprise-wide strategy.

 

While these department-specific processes may function well on their own, they often require significant manual effort, including the use of email, spreadsheets, or even expensive external consultants, to integrate into end-to-end value streams. Moreover, Identity and Access Management (IAM) risk data is frequently isolated, necessitating manual processing to integrate and contextualize it within the broader business impact.

 

Today, many organizations are shifting towards a strategic, integrated approach that considers the entire organization. Instead of asking, “What’s best for a specific department?” they are now asking, “What’s best for the entire organization in terms of serving the business?”.

 

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Cyber Risk Control Tower

ServiceNow offers a comprehensive platform that brings together all components of Identity and Access Management (IAM). This integration simplifies processes, reduces complexity, and bolsters security. With ServiceNow’s workflow capabilities, organizations can automate various IAM processes. This includes everything from user onboarding, managing ongoing access requests and approvals throughout the user’s access journey, to user offboarding, all while preserving essential audit records.

 

Furthermore, ServiceNow’s Common Service Data Model (CSDM) enables organizations to keep track of entitlements for customers, employees, and vendors. This visibility facilitates the governance of access controls and compliance with automated user certifications, thereby minimizing unauthorized access.

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For assistance, contact your ServiceNow Account team, Impact team, or implementation partner(s). We appreciate your feedback & questions! Share your thoughts below.

Comments
Jens Riska FI
Tera Contributor

Great that you highlight the importance of identity and access management, as it is crucial for companies to thrive efficiently and securely! I work as a Senior IAM consultant at Appmore, and through our customer IAM implementation projects, I've witnessed the struggles some companies face before implementing a comprehensive identity and access management solution to cover the whole organization. For example, with the leaver process; before we automated that, everything was scattered and we discovered numerous active accounts for offboarded identities.

kaushal_snow
Mega Sage

Great Post !!

Kevin Clark1
Tera Contributor

Is there an actual product for this on the platform?  or is this just a reference architecture for something that is possible?

KatariinaE
Giga Explorer

@Kevin Clark1 Yes, there is. Check out the IAM Application on the ServiceNow Store!

Ian Leu
ServiceNow Employee
ServiceNow Employee

Hi @Kevin Clark1 

 

The corresponding recommended products are listed at the bottom.

 

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Thad Smith1
Tera Contributor

FYI, Clear Skye is a native IGA solution, built on ServiceNow, not silo'd and integrated. Being on platform, it opens up a huge amount of "better together" use cases.

https://store.servicenow.com/store/app/e88923221b246a50a85b16db234bcb7a

Kevin Clark1
Tera Contributor

Thanks for the response!   I'm aware of Clear Skye (#1 CJ and the Duke fan right here - I hear sponsorship messages from Rob) and when I'm proposing options I'll definitely be including third-party store options.  I just thought given there's this thread it might be implying that there are some appropriate tables or features OOTB for my immediate need to store entitlements. 

Kevin Clark1
Tera Contributor

@Ian Leu  I see you updated the diagram, and now I look a bit closer I the colour coding is clearer to me.  I'm reading this to imply that the IAM access right repository (which is my immediate concern) is not on-platform and is "in the purple".  This is very helpful.  Thank you.  That was my belief and understanding of the current state of play for this area.

 

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Last update:
‎08-07-2025 07:14 AM
Updated by:
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