The CIO's guide to Identity:

10 strategic priorities for 2023

With hybrid working here to stay, your focus in 2023 will be on optimising productivity and security with technology that flexes with the demands of the business. Here are 10 priorities for your Identity investments.

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1  Invest with scalability in mind

For most businesses, some combination of remote and on-site working is here to stay. But prepare for your working model to constantly shift as market conditions and the needs of your business and employees evolve. Implement agile Identity technologies that allow you to quickly scale up or down, with minimal disruption to productivity.

 

 

42% of EMEA businesses plan to reassess their hybrid working model in the next 12 months1

2  Focus on the value of identity

Many businesses rely on homegrown Identity solutions or a patchwork of point solutions. These legacy systems are costly to maintain, may involve multiple vendor licence fees, delay time to market, and can stifle productivity and growth. Look to consolidate and modernise your tech stack with holistic solutions that eliminate routine IT tasks, improve efficiency and deliver long-term value.

3  Get set to automate

Manually provisioning and deprovisioning apps is a time and money drain. It distracts your team from core activities, keeps employees waiting for the tools they need, and can leave you paying for software licences you no longer need. Worse deprovisioning delays can leave ex-employees with access to your systems and data. Automate onboarding and offboarding to enhance productivity, strengthen security and free your team to work on business-critical tasks.
 

30 minutes saved on every application provisioning request with Okta Lifecycle Management

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4  Expedite cloud migration

The pandemic forced many businesses to migrate to the cloud at speed in the rush to enable remote working. However, retiring all your legacy systems may be unrealistic and a hybrid IT model is likely to be a reality for the near future. Now is the time to take stock and think strategically for the long term, with a cloudbased Identity solution that works with your cloud and on-prem solutions to secure workers across your hybrid environment, managed via a single control pane.

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5  Focus on a great UX (and productivity will follow)

As the Great Resignation intensifies the tech talent shortage, IT leaders must double down on efforts to improve their teams’ working experience. Employees expect a comparable experience whether they’re on-site or remote, with swift, frictionless access to the apps and tools they need. Invest in technologies that empower rather than hinder your employees, such as automated onboarding and Single Sign On for seamless login, and productivity gains will follow.

6  Build a digital collaborative culture

Collaboration is one of the biggest challenges for businesses adapting to hybrid working: 55% of larger organisations say facilitating it is among their top priorities for the workplace. Adopt an Identity-powered approach to security that allows remote and on-site workers to connect and collaborate quickly and securely, supported by best-of-breed apps you can integrate in minutes.

 

55%
of larger organisations say facilitating collaboration is among their top priorities for the workplace1

7  Centralise access management for every user, anywhere

IT often ends up being a bottleneck, keeping colleagues waiting while permissions are granted and revoked, or passwords reset. Centralising Identity management allows you to manage provisioning and access rights all in one place, via a single point of control that allows you to see exactly who has access to which resources, whether on-prem or in the cloud. Single Sign-On also give your users a better experience, giving them one set of credentials for all their apps and the freedom to reset passwords themselves.

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8  Free workers to use their own devices and apps securely

Adopting a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy frees your teams to choose the devices and apps they prefer to work with, helping to enhance efficiency, productivity and satisfaction, while reducing hardware spend and software licensing costs. However, it comes with obvious security risks. Implement strengthened security measures like Multi-Factor Authentication and adopt a Zero Trust approach to security to make BYOD work for your teams.

51% of businesses have adopted a Choose Your Own Device strategy1

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9  Be part of the ESG movement

Environmental sustainability is increasingly important to your customers, your investors and your board. IT leaders have a key role to play in this critical ambition by enabling the hybrid and remote working models that allow organisations to reduce workplace greenhouse gas emissions, and helping to track the organisation’s progress towards ESG targets. To calculate the impact of hybrid working on your company’s carbon footprint, see Okta’s guide: Achieving Your ESG Goals Faster with Hybrid Working.

10  Work with CISO to accelerate your Zero Trust strategy, founded on identity

Cybersecurity and collaboration are the biggest challenges for organisations as they adapt to hybrid working, necessitating a new approach that focuses on Identity as the new perimeter. Together with the security leaders in your organisation, develop an Identitypowered Zero Trust strategy that balances security with frictionless access and ensures the right people have access to the right resources, wherever they work.

45%
of European organisations have a defined Zero Trust initiative in place2

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1 Okta Hybrid Work Report 2023

2 State of Zero Trust Security 2022