{"id":3610,"date":"2023-01-28T15:17:32","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T20:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indigoconsulting.ca\/?p=3610"},"modified":"2024-01-31T18:14:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T23:14:35","slug":"iam-vs-ciam-what-are-they-and-how-are-they-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indigoconsulting.ca\/fr\/blog\/iam-vs-ciam-what-are-they-and-how-are-they-different\/","title":{"rendered":"IAM vs CIAM: What are they \u2014 and how are they different"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Customers and employees generate significant data and require secure access to sensitive systems. So how can organizations provide the security and privacy to the modern world needs?<\/span><\/p>

Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) and Identity and Access Management (IAM) use the same technologies to accomplish different needs for managing internal and external identities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

CIAM focuses on managing external identities to provide a frictionless experience and retain customers without jeopardizing security. CIAM solutions prioritize scalability so that an organization can grow from a few thousand customers to millions of customers while still ensuring scalability.<\/span><\/p>

On the other hand, IAM in reference to internal identities, is focusing on the workforce with an emphasis on security, controls, and compliance throughout the entire infrastructure. Access and identities must be managed across different network boundaries, address joiner-mover-leaver use cases, all while providing controls to adhere to regulatory requirements.<\/span><\/p>

It\u2019s estimated that the combined (C)IAM market will grow from US$14.5 billion in 2022 to <\/span>US$25.6 billion by 2027<\/span><\/a>, representing a CAGR of 13.7%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Similarly, the CIAM market is expected to increase from US$8.6 billion in 2021 to <\/span>US$17.6 billion by 2026<\/span><\/a>, a CAGR of 15.3%.<\/span><\/p>

These figures indicate the growing concern among consumers about privacy, which coincides with organizations placing a renewed emphasis on security at all levels. Additionally, this growth represents the value IAM and CIAM provide organizations across all industries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

You\u2019ll be tasked with managing internal and external identities throughout the life of your business. The decision you\u2019ll need to make is to use problematic legacy tools or embrace leading-edge solutions to implement better identity and access management.<\/span><\/p>

Why are organizations investing in new ways to manage and secure users\u2019 access and data? This investment is due to both the rise in cybercrimes and the increased customer emphasis on privacy. It\u2019s become clear legacy methods are no longer sufficient, and it\u2019s time for an upgrade.<\/span><\/p>

Keep reading to learn how identity and access management adds significant value to organizations.<\/span><\/p>

What is Identity and Access Management in General?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>

Before diving into the differences between managing employee and customer identities, let\u2019s briefly discuss the practice in general.<\/span><\/p>

Identity management and access management are two long-standing practices in IT that have recently merged into the overall field of IAM.<\/span><\/p>

Access management<\/b> is a category of technologies that determine which IT assets a specific user is allowed to access, alongside what they\u2019re allowed to do within them.<\/span><\/p>

Identity management <\/b>describes systems and technologies that manage the life-cycle of an identity, also referred to as joiner-mover-leaver use cases. The concept of identity management leverages middleware platforms to take data from authoritative sources, apply business logic to transform the data and finally store the data in target repositories or systems. The data stored in an identity management system will vary based on an organization’s needs and often includes job titles, usernames, passwords, and direct reports. Subsequently, target systems will have application data that will be pulled into the identity system on-demand<\/span><\/p>

You can see how IAM solutions evolved from these two legacy concepts to provide increased security and data protection.<\/span><\/p>

What is Identity Access Management (IAM)?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>

IAM typically refers to managing internal identities, whereas CIAM refers to external identities. Internal identities have different requirements from external customer identities.<\/span> Therefore, IAM focuses on managing these internal identities, such as employees’ and managers’ information and access levels.<\/span><\/p>

Let\u2019s explore the technologies and benefits of embracing a leading-edge IAM solution, some of which vary regarding IAM vs CIAM.<\/span><\/p>

Core IAM Technologies\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

An IAM system is typically described as a single system, but in practice, it\u2019s a series of technologies that work together to accomplish the overall goal of IAM. <\/span>These technologies are typically provided by distinct vendors and consist of individual systems, and each contribute new functionality to IAM. Some of the core technologies involved are:<\/span><\/p>