Identifying an opportunity

7/27/2019 Identifying an opportunity

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Identifying an opportunityBob Tarzey, Analyst and Director

Quocirca Comment October 2013

I denti fying an opportun ity http://www.quocirca.com 2013 Quocirca L td

Resellers looking to capitalise on the growing use of cloudservices need to look at both the direct and indirect

opportunities. The direct ones are the selling of cloud

services themselves, perhaps implemented by the reseller

or sourced from a cloud service provide or an aggregator.

The indirect opportunity comes from selling the

technologies that support the use of cloud services,especially those relating to security.

A recent Quocirca research report Digital identities and

the open businessshows that organisations that are using

lots of cloud services recognise the importance of security

for enabling this (Figure 1) and are spending a greaterproportion of their IT budgets on security than those who

hold back. One area of security stands out identity and

access management (IAM); 97% of cloud enthusiasts

have an IAM system compared to just 26% of cloud

avoiders (these terms are defined in the report).

One reason for this is that the single sign on (SSO)capability of many IAM systems have made it easier to

provision and de-provision access to multiple cloud

services. This ensures a given user has access the

resources they need via a single identity with strong

authentication (the user only has to go through the login

process once). Perhaps more importantly, when therelationship with a given user ends, IT managers can be

certain all access rights are removed quickly and

completely through a single update to the IAM system.

SSO also makes it easier to create granular access policies

for different types of users and to keep accurate audittrails.

This article has been careful to use the term user ratherthan employee. This is another benefit of many IAM

systems, the ease with which applications, cloud based or

otherwise, can be made available to external users. This is

the number one motivator for putting IAM in place in the

first place; 58% of the business interviewed for the latest

research had opened up applications to consumers, usersfrom business customers and/or users from partners.

Another recent Quocirca research reportThe mid-marketconundrumshows that that the average UK mid-market

business has 40 times as many external users as internal

ones.

SSO can also be used to allow access to multiple

applications for external users. Think of a travel agent

providing flights, hotel bookings and car hire or indeed a

reseller selling aggregated access to several cloud based

applications to a range of customers. A further benefit thatmany IAM systems provide here is federated identity

management.

Whilst the majority of businesses still rely on MicrosoftActive Directory as a source of identity for their

employees, they are often relying on other sources forexternal users. For users from business customers and

partners, this is most likely to be a given organisations

own directory system, but it could be a government

database or a membership directory of a professional body.

However, when it comes to consumers, one source of

identity is coming to dominatesocial media (Figure 2).


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Socials identities are those used to access online consumer

services such as Facebook, Google and PayPal. Usingsocial login avoids having to create and manage millions

of identities. A number of specialist providers haveemerged such as Gigya, Janrain and Loginradius. They

check the veracity of social logins, act as brokers between

multiple social media sites and those providing services

that want to use social login and enable a single view ofconsumer customers regardless of how they login. Using

such services it is possible to establish a high level of

confidence that a real person is being dealt with.

The social login vendors limit themselves to social

identities and maintain a consumer focus. Incorporating

users from other businesses alongside employees and

consumers requires the broader federated identity

management capability described earlier. The big identityvendors such as CA, IBM, Oracle and Intel/McAfee are

adapting their systems to address this requirement and new

vendors such as Ping Identity, Okta and Symplified have

emerged.

To come full circle, many of these are now provided as on-

demand services IAM as a service (IAMaaS). Indeed,

Quocircas research shows that 43% of IAM deploymentsare either pure on-demand services or a hybrid deployment

of a legacy on-premise system with a cloud service

(Figures 3 and 4). Needless to say, those making extensive

use of cloud services are the most likely to turn to

IAMaaS, with around two thirds using it in some form.

This makes sense, if the users and applications can beanywhere, why not the IAM system; cloud feeds and

cloud! Resellers preparing the future to make sure they

have the capabilities in place to capitalise on the both the

direct and indirect cloud opportunity.Quocircas report Digital identities and the open

business is freely available to CRN readers at this link:

http://www.quocirca.com/reports/855/digital-identities-

and-the-open-business

This article first appeared in CRN UK and on:

http://www.channelweb.co.uk
http://www.quocirca.com/reports/855/digital-identities-and-the-open-businesshttp://www.quocirca.com/reports/855/digital-identities-and-the-open-businesshttp://www.quocirca.com/reports/855/digital-identities-and-the-open-businesshttp://www.channelweb.co.uk/http://www.channelweb.co.uk/http://www.channelweb.co.uk/http://www.quocirca.com/reports/855/digital-identities-and-the-open-businesshttp://www.quocirca.com/reports/855/digital-identities-and-the-open-business


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About QuocircaQuocirca is a primary research and analysis company specialising in the business impact of information technology

and communications (ITC). With world-wide, native language reach, Quocirca provides in-depth insights into theviews of buyers and influencers in large, mid-sized and small organisations. Its analyst team is made up of real-world practitioners with first-hand experience of ITC delivery who continuously research and track the industry

and its real usage in the markets.

Through researching perceptions, Quocirca uncovers the real hurdles to technology adoption the personal andpolitical aspects of an organisations environment and the pressures of the need for demonstrable business value inany implementation. This capability to uncover and report back on the end-user perceptions in the market enables

Quocirca to advise on the realities of technology adoption, not the promises.

Quocirca research is always pragmatic, business orientated and conducted in the context of the bigger picture. ITC

has the ability to transform businesses and the processes that drive them, but often fails to do so. Quocircasmission is to help organisations improve their success rate in process enablement through better levels of

understanding and the adoption of the correct technologies at the correct time.

Quocirca has a pro-active primary research programme, regularly surveying users, purchasers and resellers of ITCproducts and services on emerging, evolving and maturing technologies. Over time, Quocirca has built a picture of

long term investment trends, providing invaluable information for the whole of the ITC community.

Quocirca works with global and local providers of ITC products and services to help them deliver on the promisethat ITC holds for business. Quocircas clients include Oracle, IBM, CA, O2, T-Mobile, HP, Xerox, Ricoh and

Symantec, along with other large and medium sized vendors, service providers and more specialist firms.

Full access to all of Quocircas public output (reports, articles, presentations, blogs

and videos) can be made athttp://www.quocirca.com
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