Service Layers Managed IAM

Cloud adoption has made hybrid IT the prevailing reality, pushing IAM to evolve alongside critical workloads. Identity services cannot be split cleanly between “old” on-premises and “new” cloud environments; organizations need hybrid IAM that increasingly shifts toward cloud-based delivery while still supporting existing on-premises applications. Although many IDaaS offerings have entered the market, a large portion concentrates mainly on SSO and adaptive authentication, which is insufficient for comprehensive IAM governance. Effective IAM must also manage identities, entitlements, and authorization across diverse applications and deployment models.

Because the move from on-premises IAM to full IDaaS is a multi-step journey, managed IAM services can bridge the gap by combining enterprise-specific customization with service-based operations. The text argues that many IDaaS investments are tactical (adding connectors or SSO for new cloud services) rather than aligned to mid-term “cloud first/cloud preferred” strategies and the ongoing hybrid state. An “IDaaS first” posture is presented as a logical progression, but timing and approach matter; managed services can enable gradual modernization without sacrificing capability breadth.

iC Consult’s subsidiary Service Layers provides a managed IAM service built on ForgeRock and Ping Identity, supplemented with additional technologies and deployable across AWS, Azure, or customer on-premises platforms. The service emphasizes automation (“infrastructure as code” and “configuration as code”), microservices and containerization with Kubernetes, and DevOps practices including CI/CD and auto-scaling. A distinguishing design choice is dedicated customer instances with no shared runtime components, supporting data segregation while still standardizing operations and patching. Strengths include globalization (notably hosting in China and Russia), modern architecture, and best-of-breed foundations; challenges include organizational scale, limited customer base, and the need for clearer abstraction from underlying IAM products.

• Most organizations operate business systems in a hybrid IT reality.
• Many IDaaS solutions primarily focus on SSO and adaptive authentication.
• IAM includes identity and entitlement management, authentication, and authorization.
• Service Layers’ managed IAM service is based on ForgeRock and Ping Identity solutions.
• The service can be operated on AWS, Microsoft Azure, or on customer on-premises platforms.
• Service Layers uses dedicated instances per customer with no shared runtime components across customers.
• The architecture is based on microservices and containers orchestrated with Kubernetes.
• The service platform includes infrastructure, functional components, customizations, and defined operating processes.
• Operations locations are available in Germany/Switzerland/Austria, Russia, China, and the U.S.
• Customers include manufacturing companies, including some with DAX-30 firms among the customer set.

• “There is no way to split identity services into disparate services for the ‘old’ and ‘new’ IT.”
• “IAM is not done with authenticating a user.”
• “A comprehensive approach on IDaaS requires a broader coverage.”
• “Many of today’s investments into IDaaS don’t follow a well-thought-out strategy, but are tactical.”
• “Part of this approach is to start with a clear focus on and acceptance of the hybrid reality of IT.”
• “Moving to an ‘IDaaS first’ approach is a consequent in the shift to as-a-service models.”
• “Managed services are a viable option that balance the challenges of fulfilling organization-specific requirements, supporting complex hybrid environments, and allowing for a gradual step towards an easy-to-manage IAM.”
• “The Service Layer target and approach is to build on best-of-breed products, fully automate the infrastructure deployment and management (‘infrastructure as code’) and the configuration (‘configuration as code’), which allows for rapid deployment and customization.”
• “Unlike other IDaaS vendors' common approach, Service Layers uses dedicated instances for each customer, so no runtime components are shared across multiple customers.”
• “This would allow Service Layers to flexible change the underlying technology platforms, with little to no impact on customer implementations.”