Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) is an emerging trend, as these cloud-based deployments are gaining traction and are accelerating the realization of identity & access management benefits. The identity & access management market is expected to grow from USD 8,094.8 million in 2016 to USD 14,822.6 million by 2021, at a CAGR of 12.9% during the forecast period.

Rise in awareness about compliance management Compliance management is expected to continue to be a major driver in the adoption of identity & access management solutions due to huge costs associated with non-compliance with regulatory mandates. A report by the Security Industry Association estimates that large organizations spend around 13.1% of their net revenue on compliance. Rules and regulations such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and others are expected to increase in the coming years, due to the increasing authenticity requirements and emerging security issues. In addition, severity of threats and huge financial losses have led governments and regulatory bodies such as the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) to introduce an assortment of mandatory guidelines and protocols for security and privacy of the business data. Regulatory Acts such as Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), HIPAA, and Personal Information Protection and Electronics Document Act (PIPEDA), and standards such as PCI-DSS and SOX necessitate businesses to meet the terms of these standards. This trend, in turn, will drive organizations across multiple verticals to adopt identity & access management solutions.

Lack of knowledge about identity and access management Nowadays, handling user identities while accessing identity & access management services via cloud or on-premises is one of the critical issues faced by several organizations. Organizations or end users lack the knowledge of identity & access management solutions and its implementation. Furthermore, there is lack of trust and transparency related to data locations, accessibility of servers, and extensibility and flexibility of solutions offered by the identity & access management service providers, along with privacy issues related to these solutions. Moreover, security policies and issues related to implementation of roadmap are restraining the growth of identity & access management market. Successful identity & access management solution deployments ensure integrity of identities used to access potentially sensitive resources and reduce the risk of breaches; however, privacy issues still remain a major concern for the identity & access management solution providers and thus, this factor is expected to restrain the growth of the identity & access management market in the coming years.

Complex integration due to diversified IT system From the past five years, companies are constantly growing through M&A creating complex and heterogeneous IT environments. New operating platforms and business applications are added to legacy systems with too many identities, inconsistent password policies, and diverse and time-consuming processes. This, in turn, creates problems for users, and identity & access management solution to maintain efficiency, security, and compliance. Moreover, several applications that organizations use are provided by third parties and are accessed remotely. This has led to rapid increase in cyber-attacks and complex entitlement processes. Hence, to avoid any discrepancy in the identity & access management project within an organization, vendors are providing identity & access management solutions to continuously evolve their plug-ins or technologies that must be compatible with multiple devices and provide seamless scalability with minimum investment.

Increasing cloud and SaaS adoption With rise in use of cloud, management and securing multiple accounts via cloud is increasing. This has resulted in increased adoption of identity & access management solutions. Earlier, organizations used to consider identity & access management technologies as capital expenditure, which was purchased and implemented on-premises of an organization. There was a huge cost structure associated with successful implementation of identity & access management projects, which required months of rigorous work. This trend is changing continuously with the growing cloud market, as implementing, and accessing identity & access management services (via-cloud) is becoming easier due to limited capital required for its initiation and less time of implementation. With the growth of SMEs, the adoption of identity & access management solutions across organizations has also increased.

April, 2015 New Product Launch - IBM launched its QRadar Security Intelligence technology to the cloud. The technology will enable companies with the ability to prioritize real threats and free-up sensitive resources to fight cyber-attacks. August, 2014 Acquisition - IBM acquired Lighthouse Security Group LLC, a cloud security services provider. This acquisition has helped IBM to combine its identity & access management offerings with the Lighthouse Security Group. Furthermore, it has helped IBM to provide full suite of identity management software and services. July, 2014 Acquisition - IBM acquired CrossIdeas, the provider of identity governance and analytics software. CrossIdeas joined the developments under IBM Security Systems. This has helped IBM to strengthen its position in the advanced identity analytics and intelligence solutions market. June, 2014 Expansion - IBM opened a new IT security operation center in Costa Rica. This opening enable IBM to address the increasing security requirements of its clients in this region.