One of the biggest hurdles to implementing new enterprise software is the disruption. The term rip and replace exists for a reason: Taking out a legacy system and putting something modern in its place is a substantial undertaking. IT teams are stretched thin as they install the new system while supporting the old one, while end users with years of expertise with the old system must suddenly learn a new one.
You don’t have to work in enterprise software very long before you encounter a prospect who loves your product and would implement it tomorrow — if not for all the headaches associated with getting rid of the legacy system. Retraining the entire business on a new user experience, new workflows, and new business processes has an adverse effect on productivity. That adds a drop in revenue to the cost of the implementation, and it’s enough to make most executives say “No.”
Identity solutions definitely fall into this bucket. Many companies have made significant investments in identity governance and administration (IGA) or identity access management (IAM), only to realize that these siloed, on-premises systems can’t meet the needs of a modern, flexible, cloud-centric, and digital enterprise. But with sunk cost making outright replacement of the IGA or IAM solution a sore subject, most enterprises opt to stick with the system they have, imperfect though it may be.
What if you could use a solution like Clear Skye IGA to enhance your existing program, while setting the stage for an impact-free alternative to rip and replace? One of our latest healthcare customers is doing just that.
This company is using Clear Skye IGA for Access Request. They are leaving their legacy solution in place for provisioning, while allowing employees to benefit from the modern user experience that ServiceNow provides. This represents a step in the right direction, as this company and its employees reap the benefits of a more flexible access request process without all the pain of a rip and replace.
We think it’s a valuable message for anyone who wants to get more out of their IGA program — which, if the latest Security and IAM Adoption Trend Survey from Gartner is any indication, is an eye-popping 76% of enterprises.
Let’s break down what makes this strategy work.
- By running natively on ServiceNow, Clear Skye IGA lets you extend your use of the familiar Now Platform interface. Putting access request and review on the Now Platform will increase user engagement and reduce significant friction. It means that any business flows you have designed within ServiceNow can now take advantage of Identity information.
- Your existing IGA or IAM solution can continue to serve as a fulfillment engine behind ServiceNow. This allows you to continue to get value from the years of work you have put in creating and configuring connectors.
- Over time, you can further leverage your investment in Clear Skye by migrating old or new fulfillment and policy work onto Clear Skye via the Now Platform. As you do this, the user experience stays the same. This dramatically lessens the impact of ultimately replacing a legacy IAM or IGA solution.
Rip and replace doesn’t have to be the only option for enterprise systems, and IGA is no exception. Clear Skye IGA offers an alternative to rip and replace because we run on a platform that our customers already own, which minimizes disruption across the enterprise. Users are already familiar with the ServiceNow UX; the more workloads an enterprise places on the platform, the more value the company realizes. It's a much better alternative to phasing in a whole new platform.
At Clear Skye, we continue to work with enterprises to make their current IGA program work better today, all while giving them a path to replacing it tomorrow. Contact us if that sounds like a strategy that would work for you.
