Market Overview: Customer Identity And Access Management (CIAM) Solutions

Business leaders entrust their security teams to protect customers' privacy and shield them from fraud and other malicious activities. To do this, security and risk (S&R) professionals must implement solutions that authenticate customers' identities across all channels — digital and nondigital — and help the firm manage their access to services and sensitive data. Customer identity and access management (CIAM) can significantly detract from customer experience if it is overly burdensome; however, if it's not strong, it doesn't provide enough security. S&R pros often struggle to find the right balance between a seamless customer experience and good security. The unique requirements of customer identity, especially scale, performance, usability, and support for seamless multichannel interactions, have necessitated the development of CIAM as its own market segment with competitive offerings distinct from traditional solutions for employee IAM. This report provides an overview of the market, examines seven vendors, and offers S&R pros recommendations and best practices for successful implementations.