Leadership Compass

Business to Business Customer Identity and Access Management (B2B CIAM)

Business-to-Business Customer Identity and Access Management (B2B CIAM) is a specialized domain within the broader IAM and CIAM markets, addressing the distinct identity lifecycle, security, and administrative needs of external users representing partner organizations, suppliers, contractors, or channel customers. Unlike workforce IAM, which assumes centralized control and often simpler administrative hierarchies, B2B CIAM must accommodate federated trust models, decentralized administration, and heterogeneity in user management practices across organizations. B2B CIAM has evolved to the point of diverging from CIAM (consumer or citizen IAM). Consumer IAM will not be addressed in this report. Key drivers for B2B CIAM adoption include secure onboarding, role- and attribute-based access control, delegated user/group/role/attribute administration, and interoperability with third-party services for identity verification, HR and background checking services, and common business applications.
Confirm participation by:
Jul 11, 2025
Estimated publication:
February 2026
Download the Questionnaire
Confirm Your Participation
How to Book a Briefing
Your Benefits
John Tolbert

This research will run concurrently with our Leadership Compass on Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM.) It will share a questionnaire and briefing period with that report. Vendors can decide whether their solution should be evaluated for either this B2B CIAM report or CIAM or both.

To enable effective identity orchestration and data governance across organizational boundaries, B2B CIAM platforms must integrate with a broad range of external systems. This report analyzes:

  • Licensing models and costs
  • Deployment models supported
  • Solution architecture
  • Account and device registration methods
  • Account lifecycle management features
  • Support for decentralized identities and identity federation
  • Authenticators supported
  • Risk-adaptive and/or continuous authentication features
  • RBAC, ABAC, and/or PBAC for fine-grained authorization
  • Utilization of compromised credential and fraud reduction intelligence
  • Customer dashboards for managing account lifecycles and entitlements
  • Support for IoT device identity integration and management
  • Built-in identity analytics and reports
  • Connectors for HR/HCM, IDV, CRM, and B2B SaaS apps
  • Support for standards that facilitate interoperability with other components in the security and IAM architecture
  • Certifications and attestations of compliance with applicable security and cloud hosting programs, such as ISO 27001/27018, SSAE SOC 2 Type 2, US FedRAMP, CSA Star Level, etc., and other security standards for specific industries such as HIPAA, EU NIS2, and EU DORA.
How to Book a Briefing
  1. Go to the KuppingerCole Booking Tool.
  2. Under Select a Service, select Leadership Compass Briefing (45 mins).
  3. Under Select Staff select John Tolbert.
  4. Choose date and time between Aug 11th and Sept 11th that are convenient for your team.
  5. You will receive an MS Teams invite.
  6. Please prepare a slide deck and provide it to the analyst.

B2B CIAM recommended Briefing Outline

Company Overview (<10 minutes):

  • If not provided on the questionnaire, then please describe revenue and/or funding, number of employees, regional/global focus for sales/marketing, partner ecosystem, target audience for product
  • There is no need to cover B2B CIAM basics in this session
  • Roadmap and strategy

Key product/service topics to cover for demo:

  • Orchestration workflows
  • Authentication & authorization policy management, focusing on federation, application, and data access
  • Decentralized identity support (if present)
  • IGA and credential and account lifecycle management
  • Identity verification service provider and HR/HCM integrations
  • Identity & security analytics
  • IoT device identity integration
  • CDP, CRM, and other common business SaaS app integrations
  • Centralized console to manage key capabilities, dashboard, security alerts, threat detection and response, etc.
  • User portals
  • Support for audit, compliance, and reporting

Note: demo does NOT need to include registration or authentication examples, unless there are specific innovations to consider.

The demo can be live or recorded. If the demo is not recorded beforehand, we will request permission to record the demo during the meeting.

Please prepare a slide deck and send it to us before the call.

Book a Briefing
Your Benefits of Participation

Benefit from Third-Party Attestation

Receive an objective evaluation of your solution that you can easily integrate into your marketing strategy. Our vendor neutral approach ensures results are trustworthy and credible. Use this assessment as a powerful marketing asset to enhance customer trust.

Increase Brand Awareness

Share your cybersecurity expertise with the world. By participating in our analysis, you gain a platform to spotlight your company. Boost your visibility and establish yourself as a leading provider in the industry.

Get Insights Into Competing Solutions

Discover how your solution compares with others in the industry. Our analysis provides insights not only into your solution but also valuable information about competitors. Utilize this knowledge to strengthen your position in the market.

Gain Valuable Insights on Your Market Standing

Benefit from a thorough, complimentary evaluation of your solution. KuppingerCole Analysts will evaluate not only your product but also your positioning in the market. Seize this opportunity to receive valuable feedback and make your solution even more effective.

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