Idenhaus: We are an award-winning Identity Management and Cybersecurity services firm based in Atlanta, GA

Digital transformation has grown immensely. With the rise in use of cloud, big data, mobile, IoT, and artificial intelligence in ever more areas of business and society and the growing connectivity of everything come greater challenges on the level of security, compliance and data protection and regulations such as the GDPR that want to make sure organizations effectively tackle them.

Whether we like it or not: security and digital or cybersecurity in specific can’t be afterthoughts and can’t be addressed with just traditional ad hoc and limited point solutions.

Idenhaus are experts in solving your cybersecurity issues and identity management problems so that you can continue developing without turning back.

The company makes sure it understands the pain points and accordingly uses a mature methodology to guide your team right from initiation to implementation. 

“Our holistic approach looks at your operational, physical, and industrial infrastructure and wades through the chaos so that you see the value right away,” says the company.

How is Idenhaus unique?

The firm is highly focused on providing quantifiable results and creating a positive environment. Google is not the savior always; Idenhaus consultants are highly skilled and use apt strategies and protocols that have been polished since 15 years. “We have long-term client relationships because we have earned our clients’ trust…again and again.”

Idenhaus quotes, “We know how to balance security imperatives with usability. In other words, we don’t make recommendations that are technically perfect but paralyze your users from doing their job.”

The company added, “We are technology agnostic. Whether you have an existing IAM or cybersecurity platform or need a recommendation, we can help operationalize a plan that works.”

How companies are benefitted with Idenhaus?

Idenhaus is highly skilled in executing complex Identity and Access solutions for big enterprises. Companies that associate with Idenhaus will be guaranteed with proven delivery methodology, minimizing risk, and increasing favourable results.

IAM- your friend in need

• Developing IAM Requirements and Solution Design
• Implementing your IAM solution 
• Integration with HRIS systems – align process, policy, and data models
• Integration with Active Directory and Applications
• Federation
• Multi-factor authentication
• Privileged Access Management
• Role Based Access Control

Latest post (In company’s words)

Working in the trenches in HR and IAM operations, it is very easy to lose sight of the big picture. When dealing with events on a daily basis, every event and decision is usually assessed individually, only weighing its immediate effects. This often leads to losing sight of the relationships between process improvement work and system/service delivery. There are many elements needed to make an Identity Management solution work properly, and one of the most important is agreeing on how the HR system and processes will integrate with IAM to accomplish the user management and security objectives of the organization. The best way to achieve this is through Systems Thinking.

While traditional analysis focuses on the individual parts of the solution, like the HRIS system and the IAM system, Systems Thinking takes a broader view on how the individual parts interact with each other to help identify the cause of a problem. The real value of Systems Thinking emerges when used as a holistic perspective on your HR processes and IAM systems. It allows us to pinpoint the root cause of the actual problem, while also understanding the extended context that surrounds it. 

Let’s look at an example. What happens when your HR system cannot consistently send a given transaction to IAM?

We have seen situations where the HR system is not always able to successfully pick up a transaction to send it to the IAM system. These errors can be caused by a number of factors and should ultimately be addressed in the HR integration itself. However, when organizations are short-staffed and don’t have the HR resources to resolve the underlying issue, they need a stop-gap solution to address the situation. 

The question is what is the best way to resolve the issue?

Generally, there are three options:

Option 1: Do Nothing – Have the HR system send transactions and continue to rely on manual error resolution.

Option 2:  Shift the Burden to IT – Stop sending the HR transactions and have the IAM system process all the transactions (e.g. run a script).

Option 3: Systems Thinking – The HR system sends the transaction AND the IAM system processes the missed transactions.

When these situations arise, we often see the HR team try to punt the entire problem to the IAM team. “We can’t get the integration to work. You own the user account, so you deal with it.” On the IAM side, there are other considerations, such as Audit Findings, that can occur when the user account is active in one system (IAM) but inactive in the other (HR). If we have a script that is relying on stale data, the odds of throwing an Audit Finding are high. Thus, a combination of security and audit concerns make Option 2 difficult for the IAM team.

If we have a 10% error rate from our HR integration, then 1 in 10 transactions fail and someone must manually re-process them. Not good. Running a script on the IAM side to process these transactions has a lower error rate, which is better, but still not ideal.

However, if we take a step back and examine our system using Systems Thinking, we can see that the best solution is clearly a combination of Options 2 and 3. By combining these two approaches, we can drive most of the errors out of the system. HR will continue to send the transactions. When 10% of those transactions fail, a script on the IAM side processes the users that were missed in the integration. The combined error rate is a small fraction of either approach as a standalone solution.

When we are stuck on a problem, it often helps to step back and look at the bigger picture – the overall system. We see things from different perspectives (HR, Security, IAM) and can discover new solutions that bring together disparate ideas into a more coherent whole. When we look at problems holistically, we can find opportunities for change that were previously hidden. The result is improved performance and better overall outcomes.

In an ideal world, your HR system will send all transactions to your Identity Management solution without error and IAM will effortlessly grant access to your users. Workers will show up on their first day of work with network access, an email account, and a set of applications to start doing their jobs. It’s important that we know how to address problems from a holistic perspective when they occur instead of relying on workarounds. 

Howdy Hanno Ekdahl!

Hanno is the Founder and CEO of Idenhaus, which has clients in financial services, CPG, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and local and federal governments. Hanno and the Idenhaus team excel at helping organizations design and implement effective Identity Management and Cybersecurity programs by focusing on the importance of leadership and the linkage between business strategy and the organization’s security goals.

Prior to Idenhaus, Hanno was the co-founder of a management consulting firm where he received the US Army Commander’s Award for Public Service in recognition of his efforts that revolutionized and transformed the Army’s security clearance process. 

Hanno received his Masters in International Business from the Moore School of Business and an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. 

“Our consulting offers high quality consulting services in the areas of strategy, analysis, requirements, and design of IAM solutions.”

“Idenhaus specializes in Cybersecurity and Identity Management (IAM) Consulting.”

“We help our clients solve their most challenging IT security problems and avoid the most common pitfalls.”