Streamlining Identity Governance at Scale with Identity Confluence
Industry:
SaaS
Organization Size:
5,000+ employees
Headquarters:
Dallas, Texas
Overview
As businesses expand globally and adopt more SaaS tools, managing user identities and access becomes increasingly complex. A fast-growing SaaS company faced rising challenges with manual user provisioning, delayed onboarding, and inconsistent access management. These inefficiencies led to security gaps, compliance risks, and added pressure on IT teams already stretched thin.
To address these issues, the organization adopted Identity Confluence , a powerful Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) platform. By automating user lifecycle management and integrating seamlessly with HR and business systems, the platform eliminated manual tasks, accelerated onboarding, and ensured real-time compliance. The result was a secure, scalable, and efficient identity governance framework that supported the company’s rapid growth.
Challenges
As the organization grew from a regional player to a global SaaS powerhouse, its identity and access management processes became increasingly fragmented and difficult to maintain. The key challenges included:
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Manual User Provisioning & Deprovisioning:
New hires were often left waiting for 2–3 business days before getting access to essential systems. Similarly, exiting employees sometimes retained access to critical applications for weeks, leading to orphaned accounts and compliance red flags.
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Ineffective Access Control:
There was no central policy framework to determine who should access what. Access was granted on an ad hoc basis, leading to excessive privileges, inconsistent entitlements, and elevated security risk.
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Audit and Compliance Readiness:
The organization faced difficulty preparing for audits. Lack of automated access logs and certification processes led to significant time and effort in meeting GDPR, SOC 2, and HIPAA requirements.
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IT Team Overload:
IT support teams were inundated with identity-related tickets — from provisioning requests to access revocation and role changes. This not only consumed valuable engineering resources but also slowed down internal operations.
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License Waste:
Without visibility into user activity, many SaaS licenses remained assigned to inactive or departed users — leading to substantial cost leakage.
Solution Overview: Identity Confluence
To tackle these challenges head-on, the client deployed Identity Confluence, a cloud-native Identity Governance platform purpose-built for agile enterprises. The platform was selected for its scalability, speed of implementation, rich integration library, and ability to automate the entire user identity lifecycle — from onboarding to offboarding.
Key Features Implemented
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Automated Lifecycle Management:
Identity Confluence was connected to the company’s HRIS (Workday) to automate joiner-mover-leaver processes. As soon as a new employee record is created or updated in Workday, Identity Confluence automatically provisions, updates, or revokes access across all connected applications.
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Dynamic Role & Policy Engine (RBAC + ABAC):
The platform supports both Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC). Access policies were defined based on a combination of department, role, geography, and business unit — ensuring only the right people access the right resources at the right time.
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200+ Pre-built Connectors:
Identity Confluence came with out-of-the-box integrations for key SaaS systems: Google Workspace, AWS IAM, GitHub, Salesforce, Slack, Atlassian, Zoom, and more. These integrations enabled real-time provisioning and deprovisioning with zero custom coding.
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Segregation of Duties (SoD) Policies:
The company was able to enforce separation-of-duty rules to prevent risky combinations of access (e.g., provisioning + financial approval). Identity Confluence automatically flagged policy violations and prevented improper access from being granted.
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Self-Service Access with Approval Workflows:
Employees can now request additional access through a centralized portal. These requests trigger policy-driven approval workflows, routed to appropriate managers or application owners for review — eliminating the need for manual IT intervention.
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Comprehensive Auditing & Reporting:
Every access grant, change, and revocation is logged with a full audit trail. Dashboards allow compliance officers to view current access rights, historical changes, and system access trends, ensuring readiness for audits at any time.
Implementation Phases
Phase 1: Planning and Design (Weeks 1–4)
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Stakeholder workshops with HR, IT, Security, and Compliance
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Assessment of existing identity processes and gaps
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Definition of access policies and lifecycle flows
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Integration scoping for key applications and systems
Phase 2: Pilot Rollout (Weeks 5–10)
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Connected Workday, Google Workspace, and Salesforce
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Deployed Identity Confluence to a pilot group of 100 users across three departments
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Collected feedback and fine-tuned policies and workflows
Phase 3: Enterprise-Wide Rollout (Weeks 11–18)
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Rolled out across all departments and geographies
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Enabled self-service access management and certification workflows
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Trained IT, HR, and end-users on platform usage
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Established SLAs and governance metrics for identity operations
Quantifiable Results
Below is a snapshot comparing operational metrics before and after the deployment of Identity Confluence:
Metrics | Before Identity Confluence | After Deployment |
|---|---|---|
Provisioning time for new users | 2–3 business days | Under 30 minutes |
Deprovisioning time | Days/weeks | Instant (automated) |
IT support tickets (identity-related) | 100+ per month | 40% reduction |
Manual access grants | 100% | <5% |
Compliance audit prep time | 2–3 days per audit | <3 hours |
SoD policy violations | Undetected | Real-time alerts & remediation |
License waste | High | Savings of ~$250K/year |
Business Impact
Enhanced Productivity
New employees now have access to all the necessary tools on their first day. This reduces ramp-up time and increases early-stage productivity.
Reduced Operational Risk
Automated deprovisioning has eliminated orphaned accounts, reducing the attack surface and mitigating insider threats.
Audit & Compliance Readiness
Access logs and certification reports are always up to date. Compliance audits are completed with confidence and minimal effort.
IT Team Efficiency
IT teams are no longer spending hours on repetitive identity-related tasks. Instead, they can focus on higher-value activities like security hardening and infrastructure optimization.
Cost Optimization
By reclaiming unused SaaS licenses and eliminating shadow IT, the company is saving over $250K annually — funds that are now redirected toward innovation and customer success.
Use Case Flow: Employee Lifecycle
Identity Confluence automates identity actions throughout each stage of the employee lifecycle:
Stage | Automation Actions by Identity Confluence |
|---|---|
Onboarding | Triggers from Workday initiate auto-provisioning for Google Workspace, Jira, Slack, Salesforce, AWS, etc. |
Transfers | Access rights are automatically adjusted based on new role or department |
Promotions | Elevated access granted upon approval through policy-based workflow |
Offboarding | Instant access revocation across all systems upon exit trigger from HR |
Access Reviews | Periodic access certification campaigns ensure continued policy alignment |
Why Identity Confluence?
Identity Confluence stood out from other IGA solutions due to its:
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Cloud-native architecture: Built for scalability, elasticity, and zero downtime
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Fast time-to-value: Live in under 8 weeks, without disrupting existing systems
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Intelligent access decisions: Powered by real-time context and policies
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Rich integrations: 200+ ready-to-use connectors for SaaS, IaaS, HRIS, and more
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Security-first design: Supports MFA, zero trust, and least privilege enforcement
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Compliance by design: Automated reports and audit trails aligned to SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR
Conclusion: Identity Governance Transformed
Through Identity Confluence, the client achieved a secure, streamlined, and automated identity governance program that scaled with the business. The implementation not only solved immediate operational and compliance challenges but also created a foundation for zero-trust security, digital agility, and continuous audit-readiness.
Identity Confluence didn’t just fix identity management — it modernized it.
Next Steps: See Identity Confluence in Action
Ready to simplify identity and access management in your enterprise?
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Automate provisioning
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Enforce policies at scale
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Prove compliance in minutes
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Empower IT to focus on strategy
