Identity governance and administration (IGA) is no longer optional—it’s mission-critical. The shifting landscape of cloud applications, hybrid infrastructure and remote or contingent workers has exposed the limitations of legacy IGA tools.Those older systems were designed for on-premises environments, rigid roles and manual access-review cycles. According to CyberArk, legacy IGA “was built primarily for on-premises environments, relying heavily on manual processes with slow, time-consuming deployments that leave organizations stalled.”
Why legacy IGA no longer suffices
Legacy IGA frameworks struggle under three converging forces: the explosion of SaaS and cloud apps, the growing number of non-human identities (e.g., machines, bots), and the velocity of workforce change. CyberArk notes that organizations in 2024 averaged over 112 SaaS applications, up from just 16 in 2017. Manual processes such as access reviews and joiner-mover-leaver provisioning still dominate in many places—despite being slow, error-prone and misaligned with modern hybrid infrastructure. These legacy shortcomings create visible risk: over-privileged users, orphaned accounts, delayed onboarding, audit bottlenecks and reduced visibility. In short, identity governance becomes a drag rather than a strategic enabler.The promise of modern IGA
Modern IGA flips the script by embedding automation, AI and real-time visibility across the identity lifecycle. According to CyberArk, modern IGA “combines complete and automated application integration, AI capabilities, a more comprehensive identity data model, and security capabilities to defend against modern threats.” Key features include:- Automated provisioning and de-provisioning: ensuring users (and machines) receive the right access at the right time and get stripped when no longer needed.
- AI-generated roles/entitlement profiles: instead of manually crafting and maintaining hundreds of roles, modern IGA uses AI to model job-appropriate entitlements and adapt as the environment shifts.
- Continuous access reviews and compliance workflows: rather than a once-a-year audit sprint, modern IGA automates review campaigns, evidence gathering and audit reporting.
- Unified visibility across cloud, SaaS and on-prem systems: providing a single system of record for entitlements and access state, enabling least-privilege enforcement and access risk detection.
Operational benefits and business outcomes
By shifting from reactive to proactive identity governance, organizations can reduce privilege creep, tighten compliance, accelerate time-to-value and free up IT/security teams for strategic work. For example, customers of one modern IGA platform experienced deployment speeds five times faster than legacy systems, access-review effort drops of about 80%, and provisioning ticket volumes cut by 60%. In practical terms, this means:- A joiner gets provisioned, with proper entitlements, in hours instead of days.
- Access reviews become ongoing and business-owner driven, not just year-end compliance chores.
- Audit evidence is automatically captured and packaged, reducing manual evidence collection.
- Hybrid application sprawl (cloud, SaaS, on-prem) is governed under a unified model.
What security leaders should do now
- Assess the state of your IGA program: Are you still dependent on spreadsheets, manual reviews and siloed provisioning?
- Define the “identity estate”: inventory users, applications, entitlements (including machines), and map risks such as orphaned accounts or excessive permissions.
- Shift to continuous lifecycle management: adopt joiner-mover-leaver flows that integrate with HR, ITSM and provisioning systems.
- Introduce automation and AI where human latency dominates: role mining, AI-based entitlement profiles and automated review campaigns deliver outsized gains.
- Ensure tooling is hybrid-capable: your IGA solution must address cloud apps, SaaS, on-prem systems and non-human identities. CyberArk highlights the need for “purpose-built for the cloud and app era.”
- Communicate business value: frame IGA as enabling agility, secure growth and regulatory readiness—not just a compliance checkbox.
