It has been said that a guitar is easy to play and hard to play well.

Implementing Identity Management systems is something like that. It is relatively easy to give a great demonstration but much harder to configure and deploy a production system. Why? Identity Managements systems have many moving parts that must work in harmony. Many identities, many managed systems, many data sources and repositories and many applications that require both access and protection.

Enterprises that implement such systems have many stakeholders, often with conflicting interests and motivations. For example, the marketing department is motivated to make it as easy as possible for millions of customers to do business with the enterprise, while the security department wants to make sure that no bad guys get in.

Just like coaxing beautiful and intricate melodies and harmonies out of a guitar requires the expert touch of a master's hand, getting all the moving parts of an Identity Management system working in harmony with all the stakeholders in an enterprise can require the skill and experience of a master implementor. And what does that require? Much like the guitarist: knowledge, passion, skill, practice, dedication and motivation.

It's not easy, but the results can be extraordinary.

Tags: Identity Digital Identity Identity Management Guitar