What is Identity and Access Management (IAM)?

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is the set of people, processes, and technologies used to ensure that the right users and machines can access the right systems and data, at the right time, for the right reasons, while preventing unauthorised access.

At its core, IAM defines how identities are created, authenticated, authorised, and managed across an organisation’s IT environment. It answers a simple but critical question: who or what is allowed to access which resources, under which conditions, and how is that decision enforced and recorded?

IAM sits at the centre of modern IT because identity has become the primary control for access. Employees work remotely, applications are distributed across multiple clouds, and partners and third parties require controlled access to shared systems. In this reality, access decisions are no longer based on network location, but on identity, context, and policy.

Why do organisations need IAM?

Most organisations adopt IAM to solve two problems at the same time: reducing security risk and reducing operational friction.

From a security perspective, identity is a primary attack path. Techniques such as phishing, credential stuffing, token theft, and session hijacking are commonly used to gain initial access. Once an attacker controls a valid identity, they attempt to expand access, move laterally, and escalate privileges. IAM limits this by strengthening authentication, enforcing least privilege, and ensuring access changes are controlled and traceable.

From an operational perspective, poor identity management creates inefficiency. Slow onboarding, duplicated accounts across SaaS applications, inconsistent approval processes, and manual access requests place a continuous burden on IT and security teams. Without a clear lifecycle, access tends to accumulate. Former employees retain access longer than intended, role changes are not reflected everywhere, and temporary exceptions quietly become permanent.

IAM addresses both challenges by creating consistent answers to four questions:

1. Who or what is requesting access?
2. What are they requesting access to?
3. Under what conditions should access be allowed?
4. What needs to be logged for audit and investigation?

What IAM includes in practice

IAM is often described as a framework rather than a single product. A complete IAM capability typically includes several closely related functions.

Authentication

Authentication is the process of proving an identity at sign-in. This commonly includes multi-factor authentication (MFA), passwordless methods, and risk-based checks. Many organisations also incorporate device signals so access decisions reflect whether a device is managed and compliant.

Authorisation and access control

Authorisation determines what a user or machine is allowed to do once authenticated. This includes role-based access control (RBAC), least privilege, and increasingly attribute-based access control (ABAC), where decisions consider context such as role, location, device posture, or application sensitivity.

Single sign-on (SSO) and federation

SSO centralises authentication and access policy across applications. Federation allows identities to be trusted across organisational boundaries. Together, these reduce password sprawl and provide consistent enforcement across SaaS and internal applications.

Provisioning and lifecycle

Lifecycle management ensures identities and access rights are created, updated, and removed as people join, change roles, or leave the organisation. Reliable joiner, mover, and leaver processes reduce orphaned access and ensure permissions reflect current job function.

Visibility and auditability

IAM systems log authentication events, access requests, approvals, and changes. This visibility supports security investigations and provides audit evidence for compliance. Clear terminology, ownership, and process design are as important here as the technology itself.

Identity as a Service (IDaaS)

Identity as a Service (IDaaS) is a cloud-delivered model for IAM. Instead of operating identity infrastructure themselves, organisations consume IAM capabilities such as authentication, SSO, federation, and conditional access from a cloud service.

IDaaS aligns well with modern environments where users authenticate directly to SaaS and cloud platforms. It simplifies scaling and centralises policy enforcement, while integrating with other identity controls such as identity governance and privileged access management.

IAM, PAM, and IGA: identity as the control plane

IAM rarely stands alone. In most environments, it works alongside Privileged Access Management (PAM) and Identity Governance and Administration (IGA).

• IAM focuses on how identities authenticate and request access, and how access is enforced at sign-in and during use.
• PAM focuses on privileged access, such as administrative roles and high-impact permissions, where misuse or compromise has outsized consequences.
• IGA focuses on governance, including access approvals, reviews, segregation of duties, and auditability over time.

These domains are often supported by different tools, but they need to operate together. When they are disconnected, access becomes inconsistent, exceptions multiply, and audit effort increases. When they are aligned, access decisions are clearer, easier to manage, and easier to evidence.

Why IAM matters now

IAM is no longer just a supporting system for authentication. As identity becomes the primary boundary for access, IAM determines how users, machines, and applications interact with systems and data across cloud and hybrid environments.

Organisations that treat IAM as a foundational capability gain clearer access control, better security outcomes, and lower operational overhead. As identity continues to shape access decisions, IAM remains central to how modern IT environments are secured and managed.