The power of digital identity in education
Technology and education have always gone hand in hand. But for a long time, advanced enterprise technology has been out of reach of a many educational institutions because of the cost, complexity and commitment of integrating it on-site.
Fortunately, the cloud has changed all that. Now institutions of all shapes and sizes have access to a huge range of the latest and best technology ‘on demand’ through the cloud.
Problem solved! Or is it?
The missing link, in many cases, is the technology that allows your IT team to effectively manage the space in-between your organisation and the cloud. This technology is called identity and access management (IAM), and it acts as an enabler for cloud services.
In a sense, an identity and access management system is a large automated machine that sits in-between your users and all of your applications, and intelligently controls all of the processes required to give people seamless, secure access to all of the resources they need, when they need it, where they need it, and on whatever device is most appropriate.
Without an effective identity and access management system, your organisation is unlikely to be making the most of cloud technology – which can have a detrimental effect on student experience - or have full control of your security. Managing IT without an IAM system is also likely wasting a large amount of time and money on menial repetitive processes.
Here are some critical areas that can be substantially improved by identity and access management:
• Cloud compatibility
• Identity provisioning and application onboarding
• Single sign-on, access management and security
• Management of student and staff lifecycles
• Improving engagement with prospective students
• Building stronger relationship with alumni
• Better password management
• User engagement and process compliance
• Data quality / System migrations / File storage
Digital identity can have a transformative effect on an educational institution.
Dundalk Institute of Technology are utilising IAM Cloud for their authentication of Office 365, and as IAM Cloud is a full identity and access management platform, they are now maximising the use of other features available in the platform such as TouchPoint to intelligently message staff and students and smartlinks to allow seamless access to federated cloud resources.
The Royal Irish Academy of Music are using IAM Cloud to provide Single Sign on for Office 365, Moodle and their Music Room Booking System, ASIMUT. The latter is linked to a kiosk booking system with smartcards that allows students to book rooms as needed whilst verifying and securing their identity.
For a long time, identity and access management was a dark art, hidden away in the depths of the IT department, but the cloud has brought its salience sharply into focus.
With the increasing threats of cybercrime and growing importance of data protection, contrasted with the great potential benefits of the cloud - it’s time that everyone working in IT and learning technology in the education sector developed their understanding of identity management.
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