Integrating Clear Skye for Enhanced IAM Processes
- Adiom Group
- Apr 18
- 7 min read
Updated: Apr 19
In today's digital landscape, managing identities and access is more critical than ever. Organizations face increasing challenges in ensuring that the right individuals have the right access to the right resources at the right time. This is where Clear Skye IGA comes into play, offering a robust solution for Identity Governance and administration (IGA) built natively on the ServiceNow platform. By implementing Clear Skye, you can enhance security, streamline operations, and improve user experience by integrating into your existing IT and business processes in ServiceNow.
Understanding IGA and Its Importance
Identity Governance & Administration (IGA) refers to the policies and technologies that ensure the right individuals have appropriate access to technology resources. IGA is essential for several reasons:
Security: Protects sensitive information from unauthorized access.
Compliance: Helps organizations meet regulatory requirements.
Efficiency: Streamlines user access processes, reducing administrative overhead.
User Experience: Provides a seamless experience for users requesting access to additional application access.
As organizations grow and evolve, so do their IGA needs. This is where Clear Skye's capabilities can significantly enhance IGA processes.
IGA Should Not Live in a Silo
IGA should not live in a Silo
"Joiner, Mover & Leaver" or JML is the industry buzz-term for the complex process of managing user's access as they join, move about and eventually leave the organization. From an IAM perspective, JML focuses on automating the provisioning and de-provisioning of user's application and system access per their role and ad-hoc needs. The big problem that the industry ignores is that these processes are part of larger IT and business processes to ensure that user's are able to be productive. For example, once a new employee is ready to be hired, their onboarding process typically involves:
Sending welcome email/package with first-day instructions
Identity validation
Collecting documentation and agreements
Provisioning birthright and role-based access
Credential delivery
Synchronizing identity information such as email addresses and telephone numbers
Requesting additional access and gathering approvals
Creating a badge and assigning physical access
Assigning a desk or workspace
Configuring laptop and mobile device
Installing software and apps
Ordering business cards
Enrolling in training
As you can see, the IGA process (4-7) is part of a larger process that spans HR, IT, Physical Security, Facility Management, Corporate Training and other departments. This is why Adiom Group specializes in integrating IGA into ServiceNow where organizations run these other processes.
Why ServiceNow?
Most know ServiceNow as a cloud-based ITSM & ITOM solution. While these are popular modules, ServiceNow is a full business-application platform that organizations can leverage to automate any business and IT process. It provides all of the building blocks for creating and managing business applications including:
Workflow Studio - No-code/low-code Workflow Engine
UI Builder - Complex User-interface configuration
IntegrationHub - pre-packaged integrations for popular applications
Now Assist - Generative AI
Virtual Agent - Teams/Slack integration
And many more...
What is Clear Skye?
Clear Skye is a cloud-based IGA solution that integrates seamlessly with existing systems. It leverages the power of ServiceNow, providing a user-friendly interface and robust functionality. Key features of Clear Skye include:
Identity Warehouse: Provides a single "pane-of-glass" of all users across the organizations (identities), their relationship to the organization (profiles) and their accounts and access across infrastruture and business applications.
Identity Lifecycle: Delivers the ability to automate complex joiner, mover and leaver processes.
Connectors: Enables the Clear Skye IGA application to automate identity-related operations for popular applications and infrastructure.
Access Requests: Provides end-users the ability to request additional application and/or role-based access with an intelligent approval engine that ensures the proper review is performed on each request before access is granted.
Access Reviews: Enables organizations to automate and streamline review processes, such as quarterly access reviews.
Separation-of-Duty: Provides the ability to detect, manage and reduce complex identity risks over time, such as toxic access combinations which if granted would allow a single person to perform fraudulant or harmful activities.
Audit and Reporting: Provides insights into access patterns and compliance status.
By utilizing Clear Skye, organizations can address common IGA challenges effectively by integrating them into
Benefits of Integrating Clear Skye
Integrating Clear Skye into your IAM processes offers numerous benefits:
Enhanced Security
Clear Skye provides advanced security features that help protect sensitive data. With its identity governance capabilities, organizations can ensure that only authorized users have access to critical resources. This reduces the risk of data breaches and enhances overall security posture.
Streamlined Operations
The integration of Clear Skye simplifies IAM processes. By automating access requests and approvals, organizations can reduce the time spent on manual tasks. This allows IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives rather than administrative overhead.
Improved User Experience
Clear Skye's self-service capabilities empower users to manage their access requests in the same place that users are submitting other IT requests, in the ServiceNow portal. This not only enhances user satisfaction but also reduces the burden on IT support teams.
Compliance and Reporting
With Clear Skye, organizations can easily track and report on access activities. This is crucial for meeting compliance requirements and conducting audits. The platform provides detailed reports that help organizations understand access patterns and identify potential risks.
Clear Skye and ServiceNow "Better Together"
To fully leverage the benefits of Clear Skye, it's essential to understand the possibliities of running IGA processes inside of your business application platform. The following are a sample of the possible "better together" use cases that Clear Skye enables:
IT Service Management
ServiceNow ITSM is the cornerstone module enabling organizations to manage incidents, probles, and service requests. Clear Skye IGA can be integrated with ITSM to provide:
Trigger service requests and other tasks automatically based on identity lifecycle events such as a new employee joining the organization.
Automatically provision and de-provision on-demand access to senstive resources such as a server when incidents are generated.
IT Operations Management
ServiceNow ITOM provides visibility into IT infrastructure and services and change management to ensure that they are managed properly. Clear Skye IGA can be integrated into ITOM to provide:
CMDB integration for sending approvals and reviews to application owners, eliminating the need to maintain ownership information in multiple systems.
Automatically provision and de-provision on-demand access to senstive resources during approved change windows.
Automatically disable service accounts and other "non-human identities" when a server or business application is retired.
HR Service Delivery
ServiceNow HRSD modernizes routine HR operations by acting as a central hub for employee requests, onboarding and cases. Clear Skye IGA can be integrated into HRSD to provide:
Integrate automated access requests into user onboarding process.
Automate Separation-of-Duty (SoD) checks when reqeusting additional access.
Automatically disable access during leave-of-absence events.
IT Assest Management
ServiceNow ITAM provides the ability to track, secure and optimize IT assessets such as hardware, software and cloud-based resources. Clear Skye IGA can be integrated into ITAM to provide:
Trigger hardware and software requests automatically during joiner and mover (e.g., transfer or promotion) events.
Ensure users are not over-licensed for SaaS-based applications and infrastructure.
Automated asset retrieval process when users leave the organization.
Strategic Portfolio Management
ServiceNow SPM (formerly ITBM) helps align IT projecst and investments with business strategy. Clear Skye IGA can be integrated with SPM to provide:
Automatically provision project-based access when users are assigned to a specific project.
Integrated Risk Management (aka GRC)
ServiceNow IRM (formerly GRC) enables organizations to manage their regulatory (e.g., SOX) as well as industry standard (e.g., ISO 27001) compliance requirements. Clear Skye IGA can be integrated with ServiceNow IRM to provide "automated indicators" which provides a real-time view of the health of your identity program to your auditors based on the configured regulations and standards.
Security Operations
ServiceNow SecOps connects security data with IT workflows, enabling organizations to manage the process of identifying, responding and reducing security events over time. Clear Skye IGA can be integrated with ServiceNow SecOps to provide:
Automatic disabling of affected accounts when security incidents are identified.
Automate access reviews for accounts that have identified issues such as compromised or leaked passwords.
Vendor Risk Management
ServiceNow VRM provides organizations the ability to manage vendor onboarding and offboarding, enabling data collection directly from the vendor. Clear Skye IGA integrates with VRM to provide:
Automatically provision new access for Vendors as they identify new users to the organization.
Automatically disable and review vendor access when the vendor reports a security incident.
Implementing Clear Skye in Your Organization
Integrating Clear Skye into your IAM processes requires careful planning and execution. Here are some steps to consider:
Before implementing Clear Skye, assess your current IAM processes. Identify pain points, inefficiencies, and areas for improvement. This will help you tailor the integration to meet your organization's specific needs.
Define Your IAM Goals
Establish clear goals for your IAM strategy. Consider what you want to achieve with Clear Skye, such as improved security, streamlined operations, or enhanced user experience. Setting measurable goals will help you evaluate the success of the integration.
Engage Stakeholders
Involve key stakeholders in the integration process. This includes IT teams, compliance officers, and end-users. Gathering input from various perspectives will ensure that the integration meets the needs of all parties involved.
Plan the Integration
Develop a detailed integration plan that outlines the steps required to implement Clear Skye. This should include timelines, resource allocation, and potential challenges. A well-structured plan will help ensure a smooth integration process.
Train Your Team
Provide training for your team on how to use Clear Skye effectively. This includes understanding its features, navigating the interface, and managing access requests. Training will empower your team to maximize the benefits of the platform.
Monitor and Optimize
After the integration, continuously monitor the performance of Clear Skye. Gather feedback from users and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement. Regularly optimizing your IAM processes will help you stay ahead of evolving security threats and compliance requirements.
Real-World Examples of Clear Skye Integration
To illustrate the effectiveness of Clear Skye, let's look at a couple of real-world examples:
Case Study 1: Healthcare Organization
A healthcare organization faced challenges in managing access to sensitive patient data. By integrating Clear Skye, they implemented role-based access controls based on multiple authoritative sources for their worker and student populations, ensuring that only authorized personnel could access specific information. This enhanced security and compliance with healthcare regulations and streamlined IT costs by eliminating manual provisioning.
Case Study 2: Financial Institution
A financial institution struggled with manual access requests, leading to delays and inefficiencies. After implementing Clear Skye, they automated the access provisioning process, significantly reducing the time required for approvals. This streamlined operations and improved user satisfaction.
Conclusion
Integrating Clear Skye into your IAM processes can transform how your organization manages identities and access. By enhancing security, streamlining operations, and improving user experience, Clear Skye provides a comprehensive solution for modern IAM challenges.
As you consider implementing Clear Skye, remember to assess your current processes, define your goals, engage stakeholders, and provide training for your team. With careful planning and execution, you can unlock the full potential of Clear Skye and create a more secure and efficient IAM environment.
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