Tenet #5 - Concentrate on Immediate and Near-term ROI Benefits

Here's tenet #5 from my whitepaper "Tenets of Identity Management". Part #1 of the "Tenets of Identity Management" podcast is posted on the Quest web site. Part #2 is also now available.

Concentrate on Immediate and Near-term ROI Benefits

Too many identity management projects have failed because they took too long to deliver benefits or the benefits they delivered weren’t leveraged. It is key that you prioritize delivering significant end-user benefits as quickly as possible so you can show immediate progress and benefit to your management. Determine which part of your project will benefit your end-user population the most and implement that first. Not only will your company start seeing immediate return-on-investment (ROI), but the projects (and you) will be seen as "on the road to success". This will help eliminate or alleviate both political and funding issues.

Generally, the best area to concentrate on for immediate or near-term ROI is self service. Self service can be highly leveraged if you can significantly reduce or eliminate some of the end-user pains and the associated help desk costs regarding password management, password reset, group management or identity data updates (e.g., mobile phone number and work address). Another area to consider that is not as leveraged but is highly valuable is regulatory (e.g., SOX, GLB, HIPAA) compliance reporting. If your identity management project can provide specific regulatory reports that are more comprehensive or delivered faster than before, your company can benefit significantly. This will also provide great exposure to, and support of, your senior executives.

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