IDMWORKS has taken the concept of Managed Services and dedicated it solely to the Identity practice, providing managed identity as a service.
Identity Security is complex, and as technology continues to evolve, many companies are quickly moving over to Managed Identity Service Providers (MISP) to keep track, keep up, and keep focus on their core competencies.
While companies continue to shrink and expand at alarming rates, one of the few constants of the technology field is the Managed Identity Service. Organizations are now needing to make the decision of whether to “keep things in-house” or to outsource managed identity services. Whatever the reasons may be, we’re here to discuss the 10 reasons why you should choose a managed service provider (MSP) over trying to do it yourself in-house.
Why Do You Need Managed Identity Services?
1) Resource Shortage
1) Resource ShortageThe IAM market is hot and with so many candidates out there who know the value of their skills, resources are starting to become scarce. The cause and effect of these skilled workers knowing their value often means a higher turnover rate as they look to jump from company to company to increase their salary.
Recent studies show that for 2023, the median employee tenure in the US is about 4.1 years. This high turnover rate and competitive landscape means finding and keeping these people is difficult and can often lead to someone(s) being hired with lack of expertise.
This is where having a dedicated MISP can shine. Having a MSP/MISP allows you and your company to keep your resources with a field of expertise instead of dealing with loss and the threat of the mundane.
2) Cost Savings
Cost savings and lack of resources go hand in hand. Managed identity service providers are a fantastic way to save money, allow your company & team to grow, and give you the time & freedom to focus on expanding your business. For example, if you were to build a team in-house, you would be most likely paying more in salary and benefits just to deal with issues like lack of coverage outside of business hours. You’d have to hire more people to just cover the support hours, etc., and the cycle continues.
Remember that statistic about turnover? With an MISP, you don’t have to worry about extra costs around salary/benefits, as the MISP company will often have a dedicated team for you, with 24/7 coverage, and have a disaster plan already in place to make sure you and your company are well taken care of.
Let’s look at the following example for a Network Security Engineer, assuming you just need one and not an entire team.
a) Base Salary:
The salary of a skilled network security engineer can range from $80,000 to $150,000 or more per year, depending on their level of experience, certifications, and expertise.
b) Benefits:
typically include health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and other perks. On average, benefits can account for an additional 25-35% of the employee’s salary.
c) Recruitment and Hiring Costs:
includes expenses associated with advertising the position, conducting interviews, background checks, and onboarding. Recruitment costs can vary, but are typically around 20-30% of the employee’s first-year salary.
d) Training and Certifications:
Network security engineers need to stay updated with the latest technologies and industry certifications. Training costs can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per year per employee.
e) Overhead Costs:
These include expenses for office space, equipment, utilities, and software licenses required for the engineer’s work. Overhead costs can vary significantly based on the company’s location and size.
When considering these factors, the total cost of hiring a skilled network security engineer can range from $120,000 to $250,000 or more per year.
(Disclaimer: numbers vary depending on location, experience, and are rough estimates from around the country.)
3) Improved Security
3) Improved SecurityAren’t you tired of the constant wait and uncertainty when it comes to vendor security patches? It’s time to discover the game-changing benefits of MISPs. MISPs offer more than just convenience; they bring forth proactive measures and partnerships with other vendors to ensure timely security patches and best practices.
It’s the ultimate safeguard for your organization from the ever-present risks of cyber threats. Another giant advantage of partnering with an MISP is gaining access to their partnerships network with the industry’s leading vendors. MISPs maintain strong relationships with these partners with direct lines of communication, enabling them to obtain clear and concise timelines for security patch releases.
When it comes to best practices, MISPs specialize in security and have a deep understanding of industry’s ever changing protocols. By leveraging their expertise, organizations can implement robust security measures that align with the latest standards. A single point of failure can bring operations to a grinding halt, resulting in significant downtime and massive financial losses.
MISPs, like IDMWORKS, have stringent policies in place to prevent such prolonged outages. They implement redundancy measures, deploy backup systems, and establish failover mechanisms to maintain continuous business operations. By staying ahead of emerging risks, MISPs can proactively mitigate potential breaches, minimizing the impact on your organization’s security and reputation.
4) Focused Productivity
Using an MISP will allow for higher and more efficient productivity. Having an MISP in place allows for internal staff to focus on areas of higher value work, where their expertise can be exercised. By allocating efforts effectively, organizations will improve overall business.
5) New Technology Solutions
A Managed Services Provider has ties to the market that organization may not generally have access to. As previously mentioned, IDMWORKS utilizes their IAM vendor partnerships to stay abreast of the market with innovative products and solutions. IDMWORKS’ team of experts & architects are available and proactive in weaving products together. This allows the ability to look at the IAM environment as a program, an Identity Journey, rather than a project.
IDMWORKS is a vendor neutral Identity and Access Management services and solutions provider, we invest heavily in training our consultants on best-of-breed solutions. This provides us with the most up-to-date certifications and specializations needed to support, deploy, integrate, and configure our partner software products for our customers. Below are a few of the partnerships IDMWORKS holds with technology providers.
6) Team of Experts
By engaging a Managed Services Provider, such as IDMWORKS, an organization can reap the benefits of having a team of IAM experts at their fingertips, with architects having 10+ years of IAM-centric experience. This advisory can benefit the overall operations, modernization, and innovation of the organization’s IAM environment.
For IDMWORKS, IAM is all we do. Identity, Access Management, Privileged Access Management, everything under the IAM umbrella, that’s the sole focus of IDMWORKS’ services, which vary through implementation and resources, building a team of true IAM subject matter experts.
7) Reliance on SLAs
Having an MISP in place enables consistency by having a reliable source of Service Level Agreement (SLAs). Since an MISP provider will always be fully resourced, response and resolve is consistent. A Managed Identity Services Provider will supply full resource coverage to allow the client to fully rely on SLAs. Supplemental resources will always be provided by the service provider, so there is never a gap in coverage and support.
8) Maintaining Business Requirements
By utilizing an MISP, standardization can be achieved in maintaining business requirements. This will include activities such as audits, governance operations, maintaining compliance, and following best practices. Data reports can be generated on a real-time automated system, providing efficiency and consistency. This also enables lower audit exposure and supports governance, privacy, and auditing through regulation and control.
9) Disaster Management & Recovery
Managed service providers provide more than just the services that you are looking for; they also provide peace of mind, especially when the unexpected hits. When disaster strikes, MISPs are able to keep most, if not all, of your organization’s network items online. The preventative measures that an offsite MISPs offers allows everyone to continue with their jobs regardless of the disaster. You can’t put a price on the peace of mind that brings to your company.
10) Customized Reports
Partnering with a MISP like IDMWORKS, allows you to see reports that are customized to you, allowing you to proactively monitor everything that is going on around your organization. At IDMWORKS, we have an Insights Dashboard that allows our customers to see and receive alerts based on specific client needs. Using your data, dashboards generate reports, allowing your company to make the right decisions to further enhance your company’s needs in real-time.
Conclusion
Utilizing a managed identity services provider (MISP) like IDMWORKS can provide organizations with expertise and resources to help manage their identity and access programs. By partnering with an MISP, companies can benefit from a team of specialists focused solely on identity while allowing internal staff to concentrate on other high-value initiatives.
An MISP may also have established relationships with leading technology vendors and stay current on the latest solutions and best practices. Partnering with an MISP can offer advantages like 24/7 support, customized reporting tools, and disaster recovery capabilities.
Organizations should thoughtfully evaluate their management identity requirements and options to determine if engaging an MISP could be beneficial. With the complexities of today’s IT landscapes, the focused identity expertise and resources of an MISP may provide compelling advantages for many companies.
IDMWORKS is a trusted MISP providing comprehensive IAM solutions that go beyond cost savings, streamlining operations, and enhancing security and compliance. All while offering the comfort of adaptability for modernization & innovation. Set up a free Managed Identity consult to discuss your project scope. Book Now!
Authors: Tiernan O’Malley, NLWC and Carson White, IDMWORKS