VP KuppingerCole US and Global Head of Research Strategy

Mike Neuenschwander

Mike has 25 years of experience in identity, access management, privacy, and security technologies, stemming from his time at Novell (now OpenText) where he introduced some of the first identity and access management (IAM) products and his tenure as VP and Research Director at Burton Group (now Gartner). He has since forged a career in consulting at Accenture, iC Consult, and Mycroft (now EY). Mike also worked in product management at Oracle, Domo, Trustle, and Anonyome to bring identity and security solutions to hundreds of organizations. With a well-rounded and deep understanding of the industry, Mike brings a pragmatic, yet visionary perspective to Kuppinger Cole research and advisory services. 

Roles & Responsibilities at KuppingerCole

As Lead Analyst, Mike contributes to and fosters research in the areas of IAM and cybersecurity, with particular emphasis in how artificial intelligence (AI) intersects with these categories. Mike also plays a leading role for Kuppinger Cole’s operations and growth in North America. 

Background & Education

Mike has spent nearly the entirety of his 28-year career in digital identity, privacy, and security technologies. He has alternately worked in product, analyst, and consulting roles, all of which have provided him with insights into futurism, market growth, and real-word deployment strategies for digital identity. Given his broad base of experience, Mike also enjoys close connections with an extensive network of identity and security professionals.

Areas of coverage

IAM

Cybersecurity

Professional Experience

In his various roles, Mike has gained experience in many industries (such as retail, insurance, manufacturing, and healthcare) and in several levels of focus (such as executive, customer, end user, vendor, security officer). 

Latest research

Mike joined Kuppinger Cole in August 2023 and will soon contribute research, webinars, blogs and other content.

Latest publications

Leadership Compass
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR): IAM Meets the SOC
April 22, 2024
The nascent identity threat detection and response (ITDR) market is gaining tremendous momentum in 2024. Cisco and Delinea recently jumped into the market with their recent acquisitions of Oort and Authomize, respectively. Top cybersecurity companies BeyondTrust, CrowdStrike, and SentinelOne…
Webinar Recording
Navigating Security Silos: Identity as a New Security Perimeter
April 10, 2024
Companies are grappling with countless challenges in the realm of identity security. These challenges range from dealing with the dynamic nature of identities, the rise of insider threats, the ever-evolving threat landscapes, handling the complexity of identity ecosystems to insufficient…
Webinar Recording
Road to EIC: What’s Next in Digital Identity Standards?
February 22, 2024
As the digital realm evolves rapidly, the importance of robust and secure identity verification mechanisms becomes paramount. Standards in digital identity help establish secure authentication methods and protocols to safeguard user information by offering…
Analyst Chat
Analyst Chat #198: 2023 Wrapped Up - Major Trends in IAM and Cybersecurity
January 08, 2024
Join Matthias with Martin Kuppinger and Mike Neuenschwander in this special year-end episode. They reflect on the significant cybersecurity challenges of 2023. The conversation delves into persistent issues, innovations, and an outlook on trends for 2024 in the realms of…
Blog
Reflections on the Okta Breaches: We All Live in Glass Houses Now
December 11, 2023
In my research for this blog post, I wondered where the proverb about glass houses and throwing stones originated. I'm unsure whether there will ever be a definitive answer, but this one appealed to my education as an English major: The proverb appeared in Chaucer’s Troilus and…
Blog
Why GPTs are a Relationship Store, Not an App Store
December 06, 2023
For anyone paying attention to the OpenAI DevDay announcements a few weeks ago, Gizmodo’s recent article “ Be Careful What You Tell OpenAI’s GPTs ” shouldn’t come as news. (To refresh everyone’s memory, “GPTs” were announced as…
Event Recording
Thanks to AI, the Future of Security Is Collaborative
November 15, 2023
AI actors are poised to eclipse the number of human users on the internet. Many industry observers have decried such growth, pointing to the immense risks that such a brave new world poses. How can security systems even keep up with the rate of expansion in AI technologies? How can…
Webinar Recording
A Foundational Data Layer: The Key to Value in Identity
November 08, 2023
Join identity experts at KuppingerCole Analysts and IndyKite as they discuss how to get more value out of identity data and address more use cases by thinking about the foundational data layer. They will also look at how to solve challenges such as availability of identity data and…
Advisory Note
How Enterprises Will Learn to Love Decentralized IDs: The Roles of Distributed and Sovereign Identities in Our Private Metaverse
October 30, 2023
Recently, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated in captivating detail a working beta version of photorealistic—or rather, video realistic—avatars in the metaverse. Zuckerberg also claims that this technology will begin rolling out this year (2023) and will be at a consumer price point by the…
Analyst Chat
Analyst Chat #191: The Second Law of AuthN Dynamics
September 25, 2023
Mike Neuenschwander, Vice President at KuppingerCole in the U.S. and Global Head of Research Strategy, recently had some thoughts about passwordless authentication and wrote a blog about it. Today, he joined Matthias for further discussion about that topic, delving deeper into entropy and…
Blog
The Second Law of AuthN Dynamics
August 28, 2023
Or, Passwordless as the 0th Factor of Authentication Passwordless authentication is kind of hot right now, even though “passwordless” predates the password — much like horse-drawn carriages predated cars (which were first known as “horseless carriages”).…