If you’re leading IT, security, or SAP architecture, few things cause more concern than the risk of privilege misuse or “access sprawl.” As your enterprise accelerates cloud adoption and connects ERP systems like SAP, traditional access management just can’t keep up. Implementing Identity Governance and Administration Software helps close these gaps by centralizing and automating access controls. Without it, you’re left vulnerable to cyber-attacks, failed audits, or—worse—internal fraud. When your business processes depend on rock-solid data integrity and compliance, relying on manual spreadsheets or legacy tools is a genuine threat to your organization’s security and reputation.
This pressure is mounting: according to Gartner, by 2026, 90% of organizations will be using some form of cloud-delivered identity and access management to address security challenges in hybrid and multi-cloud environments—a major jump from just 60% in 2022. Gartner research also shows that organizations implementing IGA software achieve, on average, a 45% reduction in inappropriate access risks and can cut the time required for access changes by half, dramatically improving their operational efficiency and compliance posture. Security leaders increasingly view identity governance not as a compliance checkbox, but as the new control plane for digital business.
This is where identity governance and administration software (IGA) becomes essential. Rather than fighting fires caused by legacy software or scrambling to pass audits, modern IGA lets you implement automated, policy-driven controls for user access management. It enforces fine-grained segregation of duties and provides real-time audit readiness—giving your team the confidence, transparency, and operational control it needs in the face of mounting complexity.
Below, learn how the top 7 benefits of policy-based identity governance and administration software directly enable you to secure your enterprise, streamline operations, and prepare for the constantly evolving digital landscape.
Benefit 1.
Strengthen Security Through Centralized Access Controls
Imagine having a single dashboard where you can clearly see who has access to what and why—across your entire organization, from on-premises legacy tools to cloud apps. That’s the central pillar of modern IGA. Instead of being handicapped by “blind spots,” you gain the ability to manage every digital identity, role, and permission. Advanced Identity Governance software integrates seamlessly with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, and Workday, and other core systems such as Salesforce and Coupa, and offers analytics-driven capabilities like role mining. You can analyze past access, optimize permissions, and spot privilege creep before it ever exposes you to risk.
Example in Action: A manufacturer cut down thousands of orphaned and inactive accounts across both legacy and SaaS tools. By aggressively centralizing access controls, their IT security team reduced the potential attack surface and made internal audits far more manageable. For your ERP environment, this ability to aggregate access and automate reviews is especially critical, closing the door on insider threats and staying aligned with your audit and security expectations.
Benefit 2.
Achieve Compliance and Audit Readiness—Automatically
If you work in a regulated industry, you know the pain of compliance audits: the hours spent gathering evidence, the anxiety of failed controls, and the financial “tax” of endless documentation. Policy-based IGA software addresses this head-on for you. With continuous monitoring, automated access reviews and certifications, and real-time audit reporting, you can quickly demonstrate compliance with SOX, GDPR, HIPAA, and frameworks such as NIST and COSO.
Your Competitive Advantage: By mapping your access reviews directly to frameworks and supporting automated evidence collection, you can respond to auditor requests in minutes—not days or weeks. You can achieve compliance savings and fully eliminate process gaps simply by automating “who has access to what and why” reviews with policy-based IGA software.
Benefit 3.
Enforce Segregation of Duties (SoD) in SAP and Other ERP Platforms
If you’re running SAP, for example, you understand how easy it is for permissions to overlap—making it possible for a user to both submit and approve payments, for example. This is a massive fraud risk. With policy-based IGA software, you no longer need to rely on periodic spreadsheets or time-consuming manual SoD reviews. Instead, the software continuously checks for SoD risk and conflicting permissions across hundreds of systems, applications, and complex ERP systems, referencing built-in and customizable risk libraries tailored to your environment.
Real-World Proof: Integrate SAP into a centralized IGA environment. Almost instantly, you can spot potential access policy violations, proactively fix SoD conflicts, and create a clean, auditable trail on demand for external auditors. This isn´t just best practice—it is a best-in-class standard for an enterprise risk and compliance program.
Benefit 4.
Boost Operational Efficiency & Deliver Real Cost Savings
Gone are the days when your IT department spends hours resetting passwords, provisioning new users, or cleaning up after employee departures. With policy-based IGA software, you get comprehensive automation of your identity lifecycle, from onboarding and access provisioning to offboarding and entitlement removal. Self-service workflows let your users submit requests or manage passwords securely, while you maintain oversight through approval logic and policy enforcement.
Operational Examples
- Michelin adopted identity governance and saw boosted productivity across business units, faster permission management, and far fewer manual requests to IT—freeing up staff for more value-driven projects.
- Automated provisioning also cuts licensing costs and eliminates orphaned accounts, which can otherwise lurk as security liabilities if not managed.
Benefit 5.
Improve Risk Management and Enterprise Visibility
How well do you really know your risk? With IGA, you gain organization-wide oversight of all access activities, presented in business-friendly dashboards. Every access request, change, and escalation is tracked and flagged if suspicious—allowing you to spot and fix issues before they become incidents. Analytics–powered risk scoring lets you prioritize review of high-risk user accounts and focus on what matters most.
Example: Use IGA software to gain a complete, 360-degree view of all identities and permissions, strengthen threat detection, and align user behavior audits. For you, this means that even in the most complex cloud or regulated environments, you’ll know exactly where the vulnerabilities are, and you’ll have the tools to address them with a closed-loop approach to risk and access governance.
Benefit 6.
Supercharge User Lifecycle Management and Productivity
Your organization is only as secure as your weakest identity process. Modern IGA lets you automate and streamline every aspect of the user lifecycle. When a new employee joins, they automatically get the right access based on business role; when someone changes departments or leaves, their permissions are updated or removed instantly. Every entitlement change is securely logged, so you can always show why and how access was modified.
Results to Expect
- Companies that deploy Policy-based IGA can grant or revoke access in hours, not days—closing security gaps and getting workers productive faster.
- For most enterprises, automated lifecycle management means less “backlog” for IT, fewer security incidents, and dramatically better audit outcomes.
Benefit 7.
Get Scalability & Future-Readiness for Business Change
Businesses can’t afford identity processes that stall growth. Modern IGA software is designed to scale with your needs—whether you’re onboarding hundreds or millions of identities, adding new cloud services, or merging with another organization. Advanced Identity Governance software integrates with ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, ITSM systems like ServiceNow, and most major SaaS applications, so you stay in control even as your environment evolves.
Forward-Thinking Innovation: To revamp your IGA strategy, unified access control across ERP systems and cloud applications will reduce licensing costs and simplify the user experience for thousands, all while enhancing security. With IGAsoftware, you’ll ensure that your security, controls, and compliance can keep up with every wave of digital transformation, market shift, or regulatory mandate.
Turning Complexity Into Your Enterprise Advantage
By adopting policy-based identity governance and administration software, you go far beyond just “cleaning up” access; you create new velocity, resilience, and business confidence for your entire enterprise:
- Defend against privilege creep, insider threats, and access sprawl with centralized controls.
- Make compliance and audit readiness a continuous, effortless reality.
- Slash operational workload and costs by automating routine identity tasks.
- Fuel digital transformation with future-proof, scalable, and integrated identity processes.
Technology leaders across healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and the public sector are already seeing the benefits—better audit results, fewer security surprises, and faster time-to-value for their technology and people. Now, it’s your turn.
Ready to turn identity complexity into a competitive advantage?
Explore the latest SafePaaS resources, request a tailored demo, or benchmark your current identity program against industry standards. With policy-based IGA as your backbone, you’re ready to drive security, efficiency, and confidence—no matter what comes next.
