Applications come and go, but the task of maintaining multiple information technology environments and supporting business functions like ERP, CRM, and HRMS will always exist. To remain competitive your organization needs to focus on business while maintaining customers, partners, suppliers, consultants, contractors, and other vendors, all in support of the company’s strategic business vision. Managing who accesses what resources within these complex environments is the foundation of Identity Management and is being influenced by a number of trends and facts.

Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory Compliance is the largest driver for our customers when considering an Identity Management solution. Legislated compliance like
Sarbanes-Oxley in the US, the European Union Directive on Data Protection, Freedom of Information and Protection (FOIP) Act in Canada, Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and other industry specific requirements for protecting the privacy and confidentiality of information, has demanded a more rigorous approach to who has privileges to access what information. Additionally the need to audit and report on access information is
stronger now than ever before.

User Flexibility

User Flexibility on how, when and from where we access information and applications is also driving the need for more stringent control and auditing of access information. Gone are the days of grouping users into a few categories, or providing shared access credentials. The user community has grown to include contractors and vendors, access points are from both inside and outside the firewall and more granular management of access privileges is driving the need for precise and accountable solutions to manage the flexibility that users are demanding. The workforce is also changing constantly: people change roles within the organization, partners could become the competition, plus there is a constant change requirement for identity information as people come and go, move, change marital status and similar activities.

Provisioning users

Provisioning users across multiple systems and applications has been a perennial issue within most organizations. Variance in naming conventions, user identity collisions, and manual processes can be overwhelming. This coupled with the inevitable human element that inputs the same data differently in disparate systems, or more commonly, is forced to enter the same data differently, has created a situation that is very difficult to undo. When you add in the need to provision users quickly because of a special project, merger or acquisition, the need to gain tighter control of the provisioning process and workflow is especially apparent. As equally important is the need to have an effective de-provisioning process to protect the information resources within the company. These are just a few of the considerations when looking at a potential Identity Management Solution. Some others are increasing information security, more efficient processes, improving quality of service, and, ultimately, reducing expenses.

Identity Management Business Drivers

Often IT investments in the area of security management are considered much like insurance policy, and the return on investment is only considered from a perspective of the potential cost of a security or data beach, of the negative publicity that may be associated with such an occurrence. Identity Management however does have a measurable benefit beyond the avoidance of “what might have happened” scenarios. There is a balance that needs to be maintained in IT environments between the ever increasing demands to open the business up, make information more available anyplace, anytime and the need to control costs, complexity and conform to the growing demands of regulatory compliance. Identity Management solutions help in managing this imbalance while delivering a very compelling ROI model.

Operational Efficiency

The ability to effectively provision, maintain and de-provision users and their associated information and security in a typical enterprise where the average user requires access to six applications, and who not only needs to be provisioned as a new employee but also when they change roles and responsibilities is not a small task, even though it may only take five minutes to provision one new user. Add to this external access for partners and contractors and this relatively simple sounding process can occupy hours of IT time each month. Identity Management can automate and simplify these processes, and provide a consistent authoritive source for user information to the enterprise. The cost savings associated with this consistency varies from company to company but the positive impact on operational overhead is unquestionable.

Security Benefits

It is important to stress that the gains in increased operational efficiency do not compromise information security. Identity Management lessens the risk associated with many of today’s well known security risks including identity theft, insider and disgruntled employee security breeches, regulatory requirements for improved security, extended enterprise access and even cyber terrorism. Gartner Group estimates that 70 percent of unauthorized information access is not from external intruders like hackers but from employees. Add to this the legislative and regulatory requirement for tracking and auditing access to information and applications, the need for a well managed Identity Management solution becomes even more obvious.

New Business Initiatives

Whether the requirement is to provide authorized remote access to an application by a customer of partner, or allowing employees to more effectively work from a home office or hotel room, Identity Management provides effective administration of access privileges while maintaining security in any successful virtual enterprise.

Ciberspring Idenity Management Services

Ciberspring has over eight years of experience in the technologies that have become known as Identity Management. We offer consulting services in several areas that will assist our customers in realizing the importance and benefits of a well established Identity program.

A typical Ciberspring Identity Management engagement takes 3-4 months. Ciberspring provides a fixed cost product “Jump Start” that includes the following components:

• Single Sign-On and Web Access Control
• Content Access Control
• Identity Administration
• Identity and Access Governance
• Federated Identity
• Fraud Detection
• Directory Services
• Strong Authentication
• Web Services Security
• Security Toolkits
• Fine Grained Entitlements

For more information and pricing please contact a Ciberspring representative today.

The newly designed website, located at www.ciberspring.com, allows current and prospective clients easier access to information of new services like Enterprise Content Management, Compliance and Validation, Collaboration and Messaging, Social Media Consulting, and Web and Cloud Development as well as a more user friendly and interactive layout. The new website also features their new services that include Master Data Management, Strategy and Enterprise Integration, and lots more. In order to continue to provide superior customer service for its clients, the new website has also been designed with a customer portal to provide easier access to invoices, service tickets, and tech-notes for more convenient communication between Ciberspring, LLC and its customer base.

An additional aim of the new website is to give full access of service related information to prospective clients. “We changed our website to be a more convenient tool for defining what IT and Computer Support really means and how it can help small businesses save thousands every month. Not only that, but we have also cleaned up the look, provided more service information, and made it really user friendly!” stated Tim Rogers, Managing Partner and founder of Ciberspring, LLC. The new website also highlights and defines the company’s Fixed Cost–Unlimited Support plan in one easy to understand chart. Furthermore, for the convenience of its clients, Ciberspring’s predictable and unlimited support plan also includes onsite maintenance, vendor management, reporting, and budget planning. Because managing a project can be a complicated hassle for many companies in regard to understanding what they truly need, the new website gives clear insight on hassle-free solutions based on the unique needs of each client for protection and support, not dependent on a certain number of hours
each month.

About Ciberspring

Ciberspring is a leading international system integration firm that designs, architects, and implements information
technology to deliver business advantage for its Mid-Market clients, including divisions of Global 2000 companies.

Ciberspring was established in 2003 on the foundation of delivering innovative, cost-effective solution on time and on budget. Based upon this foundation, Ciberspring has become a customer-focused, forward-thinking leader in the delivery of Enterprise Content Management, Portal, and Service Management Solutions focused on leading technologies.

Our Mission

Our mission is to design and deploy technology solutions that make our customers more efficient, completive and profitable.

Ciberspring has earned a reputation as a unique firm in a fast-paced marketplace. Let us focus on the technology while you focus on the business.

In order to address these concerns and drive overall implementation success, Ciberspring has developed a comprehensive approach to deploying SharePoint that leverages our Ciberspring Methodology™, experience and best practices developed over many implementations.

SharePoint Jump Start™ 

In just 4 weeks we will Create a Portal and Framework that will become an effective Solution including:

• Standard 4 Server Farm Implementation
• Baseline Governance
• Baseline Information Architecture
• Baseline Metrics for Performance Analysis of your sites

Our approach is specific to SharePoint and includes the following components:

Strategy: The deployment begins with a comprehensive analysis of your business objectives in order to develop the strategy for the solution. The strategy provides guidance and direction for the implementation team and your organization throughout the lifecycle of the solution – not just the implementation.

Architecture: The architecture represents the physical and logical structure for the solution. Since the physical and logical architecture are interrelated and critical to solution adoption, we typically focus on this directly after developing the strategy to ensure alignment.

User Engagement: User engagement includes both how users will interact with the solution such as the interface and overall look and feel as well as the management of change within the project. In our experience, projects are successful when there is a strong partnership with the users and our approach is to begin building this partnership at the inception of the project.

Execution: The execution focuses on developing a detailed plan for achieving project objectives. We leverage the tools, templates and processes included in our Ciberspring Methodology to ensure that a plan is developed that will move in the direction dictated by the strategy and achieve project objectives.

Governance: Governance relates to the processes used during the project execution as well as the ongoing processes developed and deployed for the management of the overall solution. Governance represents the framework for the project and is a critical component to the success of the solution after deployment.

Microsoft: Ciberspring sells, delivers, implements and integrates premium Microsoft services and software solutions to clients within multiple industries. Our Microsoft partnership is a global consultancy focused on providing technology and business solutions based on Microsoft’s enterprise platform. Ciberspring is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, which means we have proven our technical and business skills, and expertise to deliver Microsoft solutions. With our Gold Certified Partner status we have access to the most up-to-date products, services, training and information, along with 24×7 technology support.

Key Components for a SharePoint 2010 Upgrade can include:

• Identifying content for upgrade or migration
• Evaluation of physical hardware needs
• Configuring Service Applications appropriately
• Identifying Third Party tools to assist with the Migration

When looking for a partner to help your organization continue down the path to a SharePoint 2010 Upgrade, Ciberspring has the experience to make your project successful. We understand the obstacles and pitfalls that cause issues with an upgrade and how to best avoid these. An effective plan for upgrades will contain the proper planning for upgrading any custom developed solutions including branding and third party components and also contain a post upgrade review and testing procedure to ensure that your system is performing at optimum levels.

• Prioritize and Organize Tasks
• Eliminate Unwanted Notifications
• Streamline Your Approval Process
• Display Information Users Want and Need
• Reduce Unneeded Trips to Your Docbase