Call it cloud computing, call it pervasive outsourcing and telecommuting, the fact is that things have changed. In many ways, your network replaces your buildings. A widely dispersed collection of people with whom you never rub shoulders are in there, looking at files and installing software.
You need to know with a reliable measure of certainty just who those people are.
Identity used to be a rather simple matter. Personnel records from HR went into your LDAP or Active Directory and were managed by your identity management software. You knew who your people were because you saw them face to face every day.
Now, your users come from remote offices and suppliers and distributors and customers. Who checked the identities of these people? How sure are you that they are who they say they are?
Indeed, how sure are you that your competitors haven't taken advantage of the vague and variable ways that identities are claimed out there in the wild?
our free White Paper, Have Identities Before You Manage Them.