The Client – an overview
One of the largest US-based banks faced challenges with the existing identity governance and administration (IGA) processes. Its sprawling digital ecosystem posed significant security risks and compliance challenges, as each digital identity could serve as a potential entry point into critical systems and sensitive data. The bank recognized the need to modernize its identity governance framework, which at the time relied largely on manual processes, to further support evolving security, compliance, and business agility needs.
Background and Key Challenges
Financial institutions in the United States process millions of transactions, including large volumes of financial and personally identifiable information, every day, and U.S. federal laws require these organizations to establish privacy and security controls. Automating and streamlining identity security with established compliance and security controls is essential as identity becomes the new perimeter. The US Bank aimed to transition to a modern, scalable, and secure SaaS-based Identity Governance solution that could simplify identity and access management, integrate seamlessly with critical legacy systems, and deliver a consistent, user-friendly experience across the organization. This transformation was seen as an initial step toward building a standardized, automated, and data-driven IAM ecosystem aligned with the bank’s long-term digital and security strategy.
◆ Manual Identity Governance Processes
Identity lifecycle management, including provisioning, deprovisioning, and access reviews, was manually-driven across user access.
◆ Integration with Legacy Applications
The legacy systems in the bank contained huge amounts of critical data. Integrating these systems with the modern IAM platform exposed vulnerabilities in the security architecture, creating both integration and scalability challenges.
◆ Security and Compliance Risks
Access control that was manual with limited automation could lead to data breaches, loss of customer trust, financial losses, and reputational damage to the bank. It also increased the risk of policy violation and non-compliance with stringent regulatory and audit requirements.
◆ Poor User Experience
The existing manual processes created scope for operational optimization, enabling the bank to improve turnaround times, operational efficiency, and user experience.
◆ Lack of Agility and Data-Driven Insights
Lack of automation and data-driven insights in the existing setup was limiting the organization’s ability to make informed, real-time access governance decisions, preventing it from responding rapidly to market changes.
◆ Replace manual identity governance processes with a modern, scalable, and secure SaaS-based IGA solution.
◆ Streamline identity and access management (IAM) across the organization.
◆ Ensure seamless interoperability with critical legacy and enterprise applications.
◆ Strengthen the bank’s security posture and regulatory compliance.
◆ Enhance end-user and stakeholder experience.
◆ Standardize the bank’s IAM environment to become more data-driven, automated, and agile.
The Solution: Inspira Enterprise Approach
To address its identity governance objectives, the client partnered with Inspira Enterprise, a global cybersecurity and risk‑management services provider with extensive experience in implementing large-scale IAM and security transformation programs. Inspira brings strong Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) capabilities and is recognized for its broader expertise across cybersecurity, data analytics, and AI-driven solutions. Its IGA approach is integrated into its broader Identity and Access Management (IAM) framework, emphasizing secure, automated, and compliant identity lifecycle processes. Leveraging a Converged IAM model, Inspira helps simplify complex IT environments by aligning IGA with complementary security domains such as Privileged Access Management (PAM) and Access Management (AM).
Inspira’s team of cybersecurity experts reviewed the bank’s existing security architecture for the successful rollout of a robust solution.
To address its identity governance challenges, Saviynt Enterprise Identity Cloud, a modern, cloud-native SaaS platform, was selected as the foundation for the bank’s IGA transformation.
Solution Highlights:
Inspira’s team designed and implemented a best-of-breed IGA solution using the Saviynt Enterprise Identity Cloud Platform. The implementation was done in a phased manner, ensuring incremental value delivery while minimizing business disruption.
The Saviynt platform was implemented, along with the core configuration done. Integrations were established with:
- Workday
- Active Directory
- Office 365
- ServiceNow (ITSM Ticketing Tool)
◆ The first set of nineteen applications, which were identified as SOX-critical, was onboarded.
◆ Governance controls and access certification workflows were then established.
◆ An additional thirty-four business-critical applications were onboarded.
◆ Extended governance and automation capabilities were established across the application landscape.
◆ Industry best practices were leveraged, and Saviynt’s OOTB/supported functionalities were used.
◆ Saviynt’s analytics capabilities were deployed to provide actionable insights into access risk usage patterns, and compliance gaps.
◆ Integrated access certification campaigns were implemented for:
- Application Owners
- Entitlement Owners
- Service Accounts
- User Managers
◆ Role-Based-Access-Control was deployed to automate access provisioning and deprovisioning.
Outcomes and Benefits
The engagement between the bank and Inspira Enterprise delivered significant improvements:
Enhanced and Streamlined User Experience was established across identity lifecycle events.
Increased Operational efficiency was seen with automation and reduced human interference.
Improved Security posture and Regulatory compliance, including SOX controls, was established.
Benefits of Accelerated onboarding and offboarding for employees and contractors were observed.
A standardized IGA scalable solution, capable of supporting future growth, was launched.
This engagement saw remarkable synergy between the bank and Inspira teams, allowing for seamless application integrations. It led to enhanced customer confidence in Inspira’s capabilities.
ROI Impact
- Automation lowered the cost per incident handled and deferred hiring needs for additional L1 analysts.
- Time saved meant more value-added work, reduced burnout, and improved job satisfaction.
- Avoidance of major incident costs, potentially saving the organization between USD100,000 to USD 1 million per breach, with proactive detection and response.
Customer Testimonial
Nelson Nasongo, Group Chief Information Security Officer, Financial Services Organization, said, “We deeply appreciate the outstanding cybersecurity services provided to our bank across Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda by the Inspira team, leveraging the integrated SIEM and SOAR Platform. The newly established centralized visibility and threat monitoring capabilities have been instrumental in protecting our financial systems and customer data from potential attacks.” He further added, “Our current ability to detect and respond to threats in real time has provided us with the peace of mind that our assets are safe. The Inspira team has been attentive to our specific needs and unique challenges in each country and has contributed to making our cybersecurity infrastructure robust and reliable.”
