How Salesforce.com is providing identity for a connected world
21 October, 2013
category: Corporate, Digital ID
Salesforce.com’s new Salesforce Identity solution provides integrated identity services that can connect every employee, customer and partner to any app, from any device.
Built on the Salesforce Platform, Salesforce Identity breaks down identity silos, enabling CIOs to offer a simple and customizable user experience spanning web, mobile and on-premise apps. Salesforce serves a wide range of customers including New England Biolabs, Sierra Club and Varsity Brands who all centrally manage the proliferation of apps and devices.
Also weighing in on Salesforce’s new solution is Andy Kellett, principal analyst at Ovum. “Salesforce is a significant new entrant into the Identity and Access Management (IAM) market because it is looking to cover all aspects of the identity management lifecycle, and although provided as a cloud-based service is not restricting itself to just protecting access to cloud-based applications,” says Kellett.
Ovum’s 2013 Enterprise Insights survey reveals that IAM is valued resource across many business verticals, but the technology particularly thrives in highly regulated areas, with 60% of retail banking respondents planning a transition to or installation of new systems in the coming 18 months.
According to Kellett, the work that Salesforce is doing in the realm of identity services is as important as it is inventive; especially considering Salesforce Identity only recently entered the market.
“In becoming the latest new entrant into the already very crowded IAM arena, Salesforce has gone well beyond what would have been expected from a cloud specialist,” says Kellett. “The company is looking to cover all aspects of the identity management lifecycle, and although its identity management solutions will be provided as cloud-based services, it is not restricting itself to just protecting access to cloud-based applications.”
So inventive is Salesforce’s solution that Kellett believes that the company’s approach may actually be seen as disruptive to the identity management sector.
“Most existing platform vendors are categorized as performing within the enterprise space and looking out towards the cloud for future opportunities,” says Kellett. “Previous new entrants over the last two years have joined the IAM sector as cloud-only specialists. They want to provide simple to use and cost effective solutions without taking on the overheads of enterprise environments.”
Kellett explains that the cloud vs. enterprise divide over IAM was never a comfortable situation, but Salesforce has shaken things up. “Now Salesforce.com with its new release has changed all that with an approach that breaks the mould,” says Kellett.
Salesforce Identity is currently available and comes bundled with Enterprise and Unlimited Edition licenses for Salesforce Sales Cloud, Salesforce Service Cloud, Salesforce Communities, Force.com and Chatter Plus. Pricing for the service starts at $5 per user per month and includes Single Sign-on (SSO), Mobile Identity, Salesforce Chatter, User and Access Management, Cloud Directory, Multi-factor Authentication, Reporting and Dashboards, Brandable Identity Services and Social Sign-on.
