ISG Research is happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Buyers Guide, an assessment of how well software providers’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The Identity and Access Management: ISG Research Buyers Guide is the distillation of a year of market and product research by ISG Research.
Chief Information Officers (CIOs), Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and
ISG Research defines Identity and Access Management (IAM) as a comprehensive approach aimed at ensuring that the right individuals have the appropriate access to technology resources at the right time. IAM strategies play a pivotal role in the cybersecurity framework of an enterprise by managing user identities and access permissions across IT environments. They facilitate user provisioning, which includes the creation, management and deletion of user accounts and roles, ensuring users have the least privilege necessary for their job functions. IAM approaches often incorporate advanced authentication methods, such as single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA), significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
In addition to providing secure access, IAM tools support regulatory compliance by maintaining detailed logs of user activities, which are essential for audits and investigations. They also enable enterprises to implement role-based access control (RBAC), ensuring policies align with business needs while mitigating security risks. Furthermore, IAM approaches often integrate with other security technologies like Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems, enhancing overall enterprise security posture by providing contextual understanding during potential security incidents. For enterprises managing a diverse user base—including employees, contractors and third-party providers—effective IAM is crucial. In summary, IAM is indispensable for safeguarding resources, protecting sensitive data and promoting a secure, efficient operational environment. ISG asserts that by 2027, over two-thirds of enterprises will have adopted identity and access management platforms to protect enterprises’ intellectual assets and resources.
IAM is integral to enhancing an enterprise's security posture by ensuring that only authorized individuals have access to critical resources. By implementing robust IAM practices, enterprises can mitigate risks associated with unauthorized access and potential
Furthermore, IAM supports compliance with regulatory obligations, such as GDPR and HIPAA, by providing detailed audit trails and reporting capabilities. By effectively managing access control through role-based access management, enterprises can limit exposure of sensitive data by enforcing the principle of least privilege. This alignment with business objectives fosters trust among customers and stakeholders, as they can be assured that their data is protected. Additionally, IAM approaches enhance user experience through self-service features, allowing employees to perform tasks like password resets without involving IT, thereby improving productivity. Overall, a robust IAM approach fortifies the enterprise’s security framework while supporting the broader business goals of trust, efficiency and compliance.
Generative AI (GenAI) is transforming enterprise cybersecurity software by automating complex processes and enhancing decision-making. By leveraging GenAI, enterprises can streamline threat detection, optimize resource allocation and proactively identify vulnerabilities, leading to improved operational performance. Additionally, GenAI enables teams to extract valuable insights from extensive data, fostering informed strategic planning and collaboration. As enterprises navigate digital transformation, integrating cybersecurity software with GenAI capabilities becomes crucial for maintaining a competitive edge and enhancing organizational resilience.
GenAI can significantly enhance the productivity and efficiency of security personnel within IAM by automating routine tasks, enhancing security policy management and improving user experience. AI models can analyze user behavior to enable dynamic access control policies that adapt in real time, reducing manual overhead. Automated provisioning and de-provisioning of user accounts can streamline the onboarding and offboarding processes, minimizing errors and enhancing compliance. Additionally, GenAI can streamline user authentication processes through intelligent risk assessment, leading to more reliable and user-friendly MFA methods. By automating alerts for suspicious access patterns and providing comprehensive insights into user access trends, GenAI allows security teams to focus on higher-priority tasks, thus increasing overall operational efficiency.
In the future, the integration of agentic AI functionalities into IAM systems could improve identity security by enabling fully autonomous management of access controls and user identities. In this envisioned scenario, agentic AI could not only monitor user behavior and access patterns but also proactively adjust permissions and access rights based on emerging threats or changes in user roles without human intervention. It could facilitate real-time policy adjustments and implement context-aware access control measures that adapt as situations evolve, thereby enhancing both security and usability. Furthermore, in cases of detected anomalies, agentic AI could autonomously escalate or restrict access as needed while initiating investigations into potential security breaches. This forward-looking integration would allow enterprises to maintain robust identity security in a seamless and adaptive manner, significantly reducing their risk exposure.
CIOs and security leaders should approach cybersecurity software incorporating GenAI, large language models (LLMs) and future agentic AI capabilities with enthusiasm and caution. While these technologies offer significant benefits, they also come with unique challenges and prerequisites. A holistic evaluation must include technical aspects and business, ethical and strategic considerations. Other areas of focus include risk awareness, critical infrastructure, organizational readiness, governance and compliance, and a long-term perspective on the sustainability and scalability of AI approaches.
Our Cybersecurity Buyers Guide research is designed to provide a comprehensive view of a software provider’s capability to enhance the effectiveness, performance and governance of cybersecurity measures within an enterprise. Separate Buyers Guide research reports are available for SIEM, EDR and Data Recovery software.
ISG believes a methodical approach is essential to maximize competitiveness. It is critical to select the right software provider and product to improve the performance of your enterprise’s people, process, information and technology components.
The insights gained from understanding current cybersecurity software providers are invaluable for enterprise CIOs, CISOs and VPs of InfoSec who aim to align their technology investments with organizational goals, enhance security workflows and cultivate a culture of resilience. By investing in the right cybersecurity tools, these leaders can unlock new avenues for protection and transformation, positioning their enterprises to thrive.
The ISG Buyers Guide™ for Identity and Access Management evaluates products based on a variety of capabilities, including access management and governance, the use of GenAI and machine learning (ML), APIs and application connector integration, auditing and reporting, identity verification, MFA, RBAC, self-service functionality, user provisioning and the ability to migrate the enterprise to a managed service provider using the existing IAM product. To be included in this Buyers Guide, software providers must meet or exceed the inclusion criteria and have commercially available products.
This research evaluates the following software providers that offer products addressing key elements of IAM: BeyondTrust, Broadcom, CyberArk, Delinea, Entrust, Eviden, Fortinet, Fortra, Google Cloud, IBM, JumpCloud, ManageEngine, Microsoft, Okta, OpenText, Oracle, Ping Identity, RSA, SailPoint and Thales.
This research-based index evaluates the full business and information technology value of identity and access management software offerings. We encourage you to learn more about our Buyers Guide and its effectiveness as a provider selection and RFI/RFP tool.
We urge organizations to do a thorough job of evaluating identity and access management offerings in this Buyers Guide as both the results of our in-depth analysis of these software providers and as an evaluation methodology. The Buyers Guide can be used to evaluate existing suppliers, plus provides evaluation criteria for new projects. Using it can shorten the cycle time for an RFP and the definition of an RFI.
The Buyers Guide for Identity and Access Management in 2025 finds Microsoft first on the list, followed by IBM and Oracle.
Software providers that rated in the top three of any category ﹘ including the product and customer experience dimensions ﹘ earn the designation of Leader.
The Leaders in Product Experience are:
The Leaders in Customer Experience are:
The Leaders across any of the seven categories are:
The overall performance chart provides a visual representation of how providers rate across product and customer experience. Software providers with products scoring higher in a weighted rating of the five product experience categories place farther to the right. The combination of ratings for the two customer experience categories determines their placement on the vertical axis. As a result, providers that place closer to the upper-right are “exemplary” and rated higher than those closer to the lower-left and identified as providers of “merit.” Software providers that excelled at customer experience over product experience have an “assurance” rating, and those excelling instead in product experience have an “innovative” rating.
Note that close provider scores should not be taken to imply that the packages evaluated are functionally identical or equally well-suited for use by every enterprise or process. Although there is a high degree of commonality in how organizations handle identity and access management, there are many idiosyncrasies and differences that can make one provider’s offering a better fit than another.
ISG Research has made every effort to encompass in this Buyers Guide the overall product and customer experience from our identity and access management blueprint, which we believe reflects what a well-crafted RFP should contain. Even so, there may be additional areas that affect which software provider and products best fit an enterprise’s particular requirements. Therefore, while this research is complete as it stands, utilizing it in your own organizational context is critical to ensure that products deliver the highest level of support for your projects.
You can find more details on our community as well as on our expertise in the research for this Buyers Guide.