Scaling to Meet Demand: Why Customer Experience Needs Modern CIAM

Throughout the pandemic, offline channels have been especially vulnerable to uncertain demand, shifting safety guidelines, and economic pressure—and as a result, customer experience (CX) now largely belongs to the virtual world. However, as customers and citizens rely increasingly on digital and remote operations, organizations will be challenged to provide more secure and efficient services that withstand high demand.

Previously in this series, we discussed the importance of deploying new and improved digital experiences at speed. Equally crucial is that your architecture scales to meet increased demands, keeping your customers engaged and secure through COVID-19 and into the future.

Handling traffic spikes and enhancing security

Increased traffic presents a challenge for organizations who weren’t prepared to rely solely on digital channels for customer engagement. And as long as in-person services remain closed or restricted, businesses must ensure their identity platform can manage spikes in activity across their digital properties—without disrupting access experiences. 

The pressure is most evident in industries that previously relied heavily on in-person interactions, like finance and healthcare. Customer support teams in banking, for example, are now largely remote—and financial volatility during the pandemic naturally gives rise to more queries and requests. Telemedicine, meanwhile, provides a way for people to access care regardless of their location. However, the fast uptick in patient adoption will test the industry as it manages the current health crisis while still developing its digital services.

And, of course, security is essential to the success of these operations.

Government provides another example. As agencies move online to interact with partners and provide crucial citizen services, they need to navigate new risks from broadening access permissions while delivering in-demand information and resources. Manufacturers must also scale securely to meet unpredictable demand, engaging with new customers via standalone online portals.

Providing seamless customer experiences at scale without compromising security is a difficult but necessary balancing act, particularly as phishing scams and cyber attacks evolve to take advantage of COVID-19 and an increased reliance on digital services. But no matter how the pandemic evolves, organizations need a scalable identity platform that can rise to the challenge.

Scaling your apps to the moment

Health and safety guidelines will continue to change as the pandemic progresses—impacting what your customers need and, inevitably, how much online traffic you need to manage. Legacy code and outdated identity mechanisms can only constrain your performance, and as more people rely on digital interactions, it’s important that you meet them where they are.

Customer identity and access management (CIAM) helps you scale appropriately. Look for a centralized identity solution that securely handles high volumes of users and spikes in traffic. Even when you reach peak workloads, your CIAM solution must serve your users dynamically without causing friction. 

More users, more security

Our CIAM platform runs on cloud architecture that automatically scales to support your growing business needs. Okta’s DynamicScale solution, for instance, is designed to power the most highly-trafficked apps and sites online; it can support unforeseen traffic bursts, large-scale performance testing, and up to 500,00 authentications per minute. In addition, we can help you automate authentication, authorization, and user management across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, freeing your developers to work on forward-thinking CX.

Okta is a customer identity partner that will grow with you, helping your business provide better digital experiences whatever the future holds. To learn more about how you can kickstart your digital transformation and create experiences that customers love, check back for the next post in our “Modernizing the Customer Experience” series or read our ”Evolving Customer Experience” whitepaper.