Authorization as part of a customer identity and access management (CIAM) strategy

Matt Luckett   ·   Thursday, September 28th, 2023

Customer Identity and Access Management, also known as CIAM, is a great way to build a repository of everything you know about your customers and how they access your software.

Typically, these tools not only store information about who the user is and the level of access they can obtain, but also their geolocation, connection device, and more.

All of these data points are attributes that Axiomatics uses to create a better user experience.

CIAM in action

Let’s take a look at a great example of CIAM in action in a banking environment where the benefits of CIAM really shine.

As a bank customer I typically have full access to my mortgage, loans, investments and much more.

But what happens when I’m traveling?

Or what if I’m accessing information from a different device?

In these scenarios, should my level of access change because of these updated attributes?

Many of our customers come to us for this specific scenario–to right-size the level of access users have, therefore minimizing risk.

This gives your customers a customized user experience based on their current attributes while protecting them and their sensitive information.

The benefits of CIAM

We’ll go back to the banking example here.

When a bank shows commitment to using CIAM, they prove to their customers they are taking the time to protect the assets that customers have trusted them with, while prioritizing the overall customer experience.

Not only that, but when banks partner with Axiomatics for CIAM tools specifically, they are able to use Axiomatics’ advice and obligations to communicate with their customers as to why access has changed.

Collaborative or single use?

A CIAM-centric approach is great in and of itself, but there is no one tool that can enable this approach.

The best approach is to combine other processes and applications, including authentication and authorization.Infusing authentication into the CIAM process provides an understanding of exactly what data customers should be able to access through analyzing unique log-in credentials, multi-factor authentication (MFA), security questions, and other information inputted by the customer.

Leveraging authorization as part of the CIAM strategy enables the application to continuously verify that a customer has access without the customer having to manually analyze the data.

Additionally, as authentication processes mature across various organizations, a dynamic and external authorization strategy managed by identity leaders can prevent security gaps and complications for CIAM programs, creating a better user experience.

Orchestrated Authorization and CIAM

Axiomatics strives to not only help create a better user experience, but also a more efficient behind-the-scenes landscape for our customers.

In our more than 15 years of experience, our team has helped some of the world’s largest enterprises adopt an approach to CIAM that enables right-sized customer access without added friction, which achieves one of the most critical priorities for any enterprise.

It optimizes a positive customer experience while mitigating risk.

Our award-winning orchestrated authorization solution equips developers with the tools to meet CIAM requirements, while enabling them to focus on innovating the customer experience.

For CIAM programs, identity teams can work with developers to maintain a consistent authorization framework that translates into policies pulling from a central data repository of customer attributes.

Our solution is also compatible with policy-as-code initiatives, which is especially key for the management of customer data in delivering a customized experience for users.

Working with Axiomatics, organizations take a huge step towards embracing development priorities and enabling seamless CIAM processes, all while minimizing risk and providing an optimal experience for customers.

Request a demo with our experts to see what our solution can do for your organization.