Enterprises are always looking to automate as many processes as possible, or at least simplify them, while maintaining security. ServiceNow is addressing this need by adding the ability to automate identity access using technology from vendor Centrify.
Centrify’s Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) and Privilege Identity Management (PIM) offerings are now integrated with ServiceNow to automate access fulfillment across both end-user applications as well as mission-critical IT resources such as server and network devices, said Shreyas Sadalgi, senior vice-president of business development at Centrify.
“ServiceNow has done a good job of being a service automation platform,” he said, and not just for IT, but also within HR, procurement and other departments. However, customers continue to look at how to get more ROI from ServiceNow, while it was looking to make itself “more sticky” and solve more problems, which led to the collaboration with Centrify, said Sadalgi.
He said the integration of Centrify enables ServiceNow IT fulfillers who use various ITIL applications daily for granting application and server access requests to increase security, reduce workloads and save time by speeding up process and workflow execution with complete automated fulfillment of role-based access requests. End users have got accustomed to being able to more easily interact with IT and other shared groups across their organization, added Sadalgi, including through self-service tools that allow them to connect to apps and services.
ServiceNow has done a good job doing workflow such as assigning users to resources, and essentially each of these users is a requestor, said Sadalgi. These requestors are taken care of by fulfillers. The three integration points with Centrify really simplifies the life of a ServiceNow fulfiller through automation.
By integrating with Centrify, ServiceNow can offer a full range of identity service automation through preconfigured policy, federated identity and automated user account provisioning, said Sadalgi. Reliance on the IT helpdesk is reduced through the ability for end-users to reset their own passwords through self-service, while IT can save time using Centrify’s single sign-on and provisioning of users through ServiceNow.
Integration with Centrify App Access allows requestors to request access to applications available in the ServiceNow Catalog and track progress of their requests. Once approvals are processed within ServiceNow, the platform will call upon the Centrify platform to grant access and provision the user into the application.
Sadalgi said it’s easy for a department manager to issue a service ticket to get an employee onboarded to an enterprise application or other service, but IT has to do the grunt work and put in the hours to provision everything and get that access to that employee, including mobile apps. By automating identity management within ServiceNow, he said, what used to take days can be done in a few clicks.