CIAM Platforms

Consumer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) is a specialized area within the broader Identity and Access Management (IAM) field, focusing on consumer-facing organizations. CIAM systems enable users to register, authenticate, authorize, collect, and store consumer information from various sources, managing millions to billions of identities and transactions daily. SaaS delivery is the norm for CIAM services, ensuring scalability and flexibility. Apart from traditional functions, CIAM systems must support regulatory compliance such as GDPR, enhancing user experience, and explicitly catering to diverse organizational needs, including for-profit, non-profit, and governmental use cases.

CIAM solutions differ significantly based on the target market segment, such as retail, finance, or government. They may include features like customizable onboarding workflows, identity proofing integrations, multi-factor authentication (MFA), robust privacy and consent management, and IoT device identity association. The ecosystem is growing with an increasing number of vendors offering innovative and comprehensive solutions conducive to regional and regulatory needs.

Leading CIAM vendors demonstrate excellence in product functionalities, innovation, and market leadership. They offer solutions that are often certified and compliant with global standards, ensuring high security and reliability. Features like integration with fraud reduction services, analytics, marketing tools, and advanced privacy management add value to their offerings.

• CIAM systems need to manage millions to billions of user identities and transactions daily.
• GDPR compliance for data consent is mandatory since May 2018.
• Both for-profit and non-profit organizations utilize CIAM systems.
• The Covid pandemic expedited digital transformation, increasing CIAM demand.
• Major players in CIAM include ForgeRock, IBM, LoginRadius, Microsoft, Okta, Ping Identity, SAP.
• CIAM solutions support digital identities for IoT devices like smart homes and wearables.
• MFA usage remains relatively low among CIAM customers.
• Account Opening (AO) fraud is prevalent, particularly in finance, mitigated by identity proofing services.
• Different CIAM solutions offer varied levels of consent management, from turnkey regulatory support to customizable DIY solutions.
• The market sees significant vendor acquisitions and new entries with each iteration.

• "CIAM systems must be able to manage many millions to even billions of identities, and process potentially tens of billions of logins and other transactions per day."
• "GDPR took effect in the EU in May of 2018, collecting clear and unambiguous consent from consumers for the use of their data has become mandatory."
• "Improving the consumer experience is often a goal in deploying or upgrading CIAM solutions."
• "The trend toward digitalization of consumer experiences was well underway in the late 2010s, and the Covid pandemic forced more businesses and other organizations to expedite digital transformation."
• "Account TakeOver (ATO) protection is required for all industries and use cases."
• "Consent collection and management requirements are expanding as more jurisdictions enact privacy regulations."
• "The Overall Leaders in CIAM in alphabetical order are ForgeRock, IBM, LoginRadius, Microsoft, Okta, OneWelcome, Ping Identity, SAP, Transmit Security, and WSO2."
• "Businesses in finance have AML and KYC requirements, which drives the technical need for higher identity and authentication assurance solutions."
• "Most new vendor solutions are built in the cloud, and most customers are looking for cloud delivered solutions."
• "Participating vendors indicate that MFA usage remains relatively low among their customers."