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1. HR package changes

Companies face a significant choice when their multi-year contract with their HR system supplier lapses. That’s because many HR package suppliers now also offer their software in a cloud version, and organisations need to evaluate whether such a hosted environment has value for their company. Choosing a hosted environment also impacts on the organisation’s user management. When an HR package is on-premises, for most system administrators it’s fairly easy to retrieve information from the HR system and to deploy it for user management. However if the HR system is in the cloud, organisations become dependent on the HR supplier to retrieve this type of information, for example using a reporting module which needs to be built. To not be dependent on an HR supplier or on manually-generated reporting, it’s also possible to deploy a solution for auto-provisioning, which offers a certified connection with both on-premises and cloud versions of various HR packages. Using such a connector means it no longer matters which HR package is utilised, or whether it is on-premises or in the cloud.

2. Self-service for authorisations

Many organisations introduced HR self-service last year. This type of self-service lets employees arrange their own HR affairs themselves through a 24/7 self-service portal. So for example, employees can schedule their days-off on their smartphones, or can report sick, and managers can enter a new employee into the HR system themselves, can keep track of progress interviews and can set or adjust the salary of a staff-member. Most HR processes can be handled online in this way rather than by the HR department. And that makes a difference to HR staffing.
Facilitating HR self-service is also often a starting point for organisations to take control of managing authorisations. This will take off in 2015. A self-service portal will grant employees access to applications and network shares, for instance, and will let then request official mailboxes and distribution lists. The manager who has to approve a request receives a notification (often by e-mail) that an application has to be approved. And after that approval, Identity Management software can ensure that the request is processed in the network immediately.

3. Access Governance

In 2015 even more organisations will perform a so-called risk analysis for information security per position. A buyer with access to a financial package, for example, has a higher risk than a receptionist. When someone is within a specific risk factor, it can then be determined that an extra approval step is needed when that person requests authorisations and resources. Or that a security officer receives a notification when an employee’s risk profile is raised.

4. Identity Vault

Even more systems will be interlinked in 2015, and data will be exchanged between these systems. Ultimately many organisations would like to use just one source system for all identity-related data, so that data doesn’t keep having to be re-entered in different systems. This will even include systems outside the network, or belonging to external parties. If all systems are interlinked, in principle the rights and resources associated with every individual can be discovered. To be able to achieve this quickly and easily however, it’s necessary to have a complete overview (a master overview) across all the linked systems. This is possible by storing all data in a so-called Identity Vault. The identity vault is one central data warehouse containing all personnel details and user IDs. The vault will store who someone is, what that identity may do and what he or she has. Because the data in the vault is searchable, a security officer could search for a person, for instance, and then see immediately which systems that person occurs in, under which identities, and what he or she is permitted. The security officer can also see who is using which rights per department and team, so that any divergences can quickly be revealed.