Over time, organizations are using many terminologies for IAM, CIAM, and IDaaS platforms. This presentation clarifies the use of these terms, key features, and common use cases of IAM, CIAM, and IDaaS platforms.

1. IAM, CIAM, and IDaaS
Over time, organizations are using many terminologies
for IAM, CIAM, and IDaaS platforms. This presentation
clarifies the use of these terms, key features, and
common use cases of IAM, CIAM, and IDaaS platforms.
Know the Difference And Terms Used For Them
Presentation by - Archna Yadav
Get in touch - LinkedIn

2. Let's Get Started
Digital Identity and IAM Domain have been the talk of the
technology town for decades. There has been plenty of
research, innovation, and information around these two,
which led to many terminologies for the platforms
providing the relevant features. Some of these
terminologies are specific to the characteristics of the
platform, while others are used interchangeably.
In this presentation, let’s discuss the following commonly
used terminologies for the platforms providing the
relevant features:
● Identity and Access Management (IAM)
● Consumer Identity and Access Management (CIAM)
● Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM)
● Identity Platform
● Identity Management (IdM)
● Identity as a Service (IDaaS)
● SaaS-delivered IAM

3. This infographic categorizes these terminologies within these platforms

4. Know The Definition
IAM defines and manages the roles and access
privileges of network users and the cases in which
users are granted or denied them. The primary
purpose of IAM systems is one digital identity per
individual. The established digital identity is then
maintained, modified, and monitored throughout
users' access lifecycles.
CIAM is a subset of the broader concept of identity
access management (IAM). It explicitly focuses on
managing customers' identities who need access to
websites, web portals, and mobile apps.
IDaaS is an authentication infrastructure that is
built, hosted, and managed by a third-party service
provider. IDaaS companies supply cloud-based
authentication or identity management to
enterprises who subscribe. It allows enterprises to
use single sign-on, authentication, and access
controls to provide secure access to their growing
number of software and SaaS applications.

5. IAM Features and Use Case
IAM is used for employee/internal-facing identity and
access management solutions. The following
explains a typical example of the IAM implementation
within an organization:
John, a new employee, joins the organization, and
the application allows provisioning of his
organizational identity. John can then login to his
organization's portal, and based on the access
configuration, he is either authorized or denied
access to information or a resource.
Besides, the organization has multiple portals, and
John is allowed to access these portals using the
same credentials. Throughout the job tenure, John's
profile is maintained or updated from time to time.
Eventually, when John decides to move on, deleting
John's account from one portal revokes his access to
all other portals.
IAM has the following four components:
● Authentication: A user provides credentials
to gain initial access to an application or a
particular resource. Upon user authentication,
a session is created and referred during the
interaction between user and application until
the user logs off or session terminates.

6. ● Authorization: It is performed by checking the
resource access request against authorization
policies that are stored in an IAM policy store. It
is the core area that implements the access
controls based on data, including user
attributes, user roles, business rules, etc.
● User Management: It comprises Role
Management, User Profile Management, User
Activity Monitoring, User Provisioning, and
deprovisioning.
Organizations earlier used on-premises IAM software for identity and
access management. Now the identity management process is getting
more complicated as organizations add more cloud services to their
environments. Thus, as a logical step, the organizations adopt cloud-based
Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) and cloud IAM solutions.
● Central User Repository: It stores and delivers
identity information to other services. It usually
comes with a data synchronization service to
keep the data in synchronization with other
identity sources.

7. CIAM Features and Use Case
CIAM is used for customer-facing solutions. The capabilities of IAM are followed in the CIAM solutions; however, the
use cases and requirements vary. Common features of CIAM include:
● Self-registration for customers, usually via social network registration
● Consent mechanisms for users to control the use of their data
● Single Sign-On (SSO) across all digital properties
● Multiple authentications options for customers, depending on risks and policies
● Customer profile storage
● SaaS application integration
● Fine-grained access control to resources and data

8. The following explains a typical example of the CIAM
implementation in a customer-facing application:
Sarah, a new customer registers on the application. If
applicable, the application should request for Sarah’s
consent on business privacy policies and to get her
social profile data. The application must ensure the
security and privacy of the captured data during
registration, social login, or activities performed
during her life cycle. Besides, Sarah should be allowed
to manage access to her profile data and delete her
account from the application. On the other hand, the
business should be allowed to get insights on their
customer to understand and deliver their needs.
It is a common misconception that the technology required for CIAM is
the same for IAM. CIAM is far more challenging irrespective of the
similarities with the IAM, and it is recommended to have a CIAM solution
in place for your customers.
The core components of IAM remain the same across
areas like authentication, authorization, user
management, and central user repository. Thus, the
need for Single Sign-On, Authentication Protocols,
Access Management, Centralized and Universal
Directories, User Lifecycle Management and
Authorization, etc remains the same.

9. IDaaS Features and Use Case
The enterprises typically use IDaaS to
extend their existing IAM infrastructure.
Thus, enterprise IDaaS providers must
deploy solutions that can:
● Connect with existing user
directories (like AD) for
authentication.
● Provide role management to grant
permissions and resource access
to users.
● Enhance security by providing
ways of defining security for
critical applications.
The following are the critical features of IDaaS:
● Cloud-Based and Multitenant Architecture: To support the
immediate issuing of updates, security fixes, and
performance improvements to every enterprise customer.
● Provisioning: To sync user data with web and enterprise
applications through SCIM (system for cross-domain identity
management) support and integration with on-premises
provisioning.
● Authentication: To incorporate necessary means of
authentication such as multi-factor authentication via
passwords, digital access cards, or biometrics.

10. ● Single Sign-On (SSO) and Federation: SSO
capability to allow users to authenticate
themselves across multiple applications using
the same credentials.
Similarly, the federation capability allows the
organizations to manage secure authentication
for third-party cloud services accessed beyond
the control of internal IT departments.
The enterprises use several applications, mostly cloud-based services, while some of the
applications hosted on-premise. Managing the credentials and access to each of those
applications has become hectic.
Since IDaaS provides a single point of user and access management for all the applications,
granting or revoking access to users becomes very easy. Besides, it enables SSO to avoid
managing separate login credentials for different service providers.
● Directory Service: To integrate IDaaS with
enterprise existing user stores or a cloud
directory.
● Intelligence: To facilitate identity access log
monitoring and reporting.

11. Thank You!
Looking for information on more terminology around the platforms mentioned in this
presentation?
Add your request in the comments below and I will address them. You can also drop me a
message on LinkedIn.