Until recently, cybersecurity was mainly the domain of IT managers and technology department leads. It was viewed as a support function that wasn’t a part of the core business. But all of that has changed dramatically and across almost all private and public sector organisations.
Cybersecurity is now a board-level discussion
Today, digital transformation, cybersecurity and digital identity are board-level discussions driven by the C-suite. Chief Digital Officers, Chief Information Officers and Chief Technology Officers are steering discussions at leadership and policy levels, developing roadmaps not just for digital transformation, but business transformation. They’re discussing risk management and revenue streams, all of which are shaped by their organisation’s security posture and technological maturity.
The evolution of the C-suite becomes clear when you step back and look at the bigger business and operational environment. With the rapid decentralisation of customers, workers and partners in recent years, combined with the rise in remote and hybrid work, customer and citizen behaviour has changed. Boards and executives are asking if they have the tool sets to transact and serve their customers, their business and their employees in their current environment.
For business leaders considering their digital transformation strategy, a better question to ask is: what is my security posture? How mature is our cybersecurity? Organisations need to be able to benchmark and measure their cybersecurity maturity and have a clear goal to strive towards.
Digital identity as a business enabler
In an increasingly complex cyber risk environment plagued with breaches and hacks, customers and communities want their data to be held safely and responsibly. They are more likely to trust organisations that respect data, privacy, and security. For organisations in the middle of their digital transformation journey, this means taking a deeper look at digital identity systems.
Digital identity is much more than a set of credentials. For a user, digital identity is the cornerstone of identifying who or what they are and what can you access. This identity can vary from person, to persona, or to an avatar, but whatever the case, it will play a very big part in our world of digital transformation.
Digital Identity will therefore be a key enabler of digital commerce because in the untested waters of Web 3.0, commerce will only take root if people know that their data is safe. This is a huge leap of trust for any user. Individuals would have to let a company store large volumes of metadata about who they are and their attributes, in order to use the system. Companies that can give customers the confidence to transact safely and securely will have a powerful edge over the competition when it comes to winning their customer’s trust. To do that securely, zero trust principles become essential.
Secure by design
The fundamental concept of Zero Trust is accepting that there is no such thing as 100% bulletproof security. Any network, platform, or environment, no matter how secure, can be hacked. To ensure an organisation is its most protected, it is essential every app, node, device and access point on the network is independently secured.
Any user trying to access a node will need to prove their identity, even if they’re already logged into the network. For those organisations in the middle of their digital transformation, this means making special considerations for security. Although your cloud environment may be secure, it is important to also consider every app running on it as they exchange data outside the network through APIs. Zero trust was developed for exactly this kind of situation, and relies on Digital Identity systems to work effectively.
Digital Trust and decentralisation
With the rapid digital transformation companies are undergoing, company assets have become distributed and decentralised. As people now work and collaborate from many separate locations, intellectual property is held in a distributed cloud, and often across multiple networks.
This is where digital identity becomes an enabler: it enables a decentralised operational model to work safely and securely. This impacts your organisation’s bottom line, future plans, and how you grow in this new ecosystem. It is a business consideration as much as it is a technical one, and how you leverage it can reap great rewards for your organisation going forward.
DXC’s approach to Digital Identity
Every organisation is unique, and so is its digital transformation. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to security, which is why we consider all aspects of technology and security maturity before developing a plan.
Only after doing a thorough assessment do we advise clients on the best way to architect, design and deploy these Identity systems. Our offerings are diverse, covering Identity and Access Management Advisory Services, Identity Management as a Service, Privileged Account Management and more. But the first step for us is always to have an advisory discussion with our customers to uncover their needs.
A case in point is a project DXC carried out for a large Australian insurance company. In today’s insurance market, insurers must not only navigate the increasing burden of regulatory oversight and reporting, but also need to find ways to minimise compliance costs and improve cybersecurity. Especially now, given the rise of remote work and decentralised ways of working, they needed a secure and automated way to manage their system users and keep identity management information up to date.
We started by conducting discovery workshops with the organisation’s business management and system users to unpack their long-term goals, technical and business requirements.This deep-dive helped us develop a plan that would connect their identity management systems with service ticketing and automate the process to minimise the risk of human error. Ultimately, we were able to orchestrate their transition from a legacy-based model to a modern automated and orchestrated solution that enabled, faster, more efficient and more secure identity management.
Of course, this is just one example of how Digital Identity can transform an organisation’s approach to cybersecurity and set them up for success in the future.
Digital transformation and Digital Identity are two sides of the same coin
Even the most advanced digital transformation project can turn into a lost cause if cybersecurity and Digital Identity aren’t baked in at the most fundamental level. For organisations looking to manage their risk profile and strengthen their security posture, consulting with specialists in the space is a powerful first step that can set you on the path to realising the true power of your digital investments. If that sounds like you, then we should definitely sit down and have a conversation.
Get in touch with us and let’s talk about your Digital Transformation goals, and how Digital Identity can help you achieve them.