As businesses expand, they often find themselves dealing with an overwhelming number of applications—some cloud-based, others on-premise—each requiring unique management and access controls. What once started as a streamlined digital ecosystem can quickly turn into a sprawling maze of applications, making it increasingly difficult to track and manage user access effectively. This complexity can slow down operations, increase security risks, and create bottlenecks in the integration process.
These applications operated in silos, each with its own security model and governance structure, which not only created integration headaches but also made their IAM system difficult to manage. The reliance on manual processes exacerbated the situation, leading to inefficiencies and a heightened risk of security breaches. Adding to the complexity, the company’s existing IAM system was significantly underutilized.
Without streamlining and automation, their IAM practices were unable to effectively review, monitor, or manage user access across their various applications.
Compliance became increasingly difficult as the team struggled to maintain visibility over user access, while integrating applications from different technology stacks proved cumbersome and time-consuming. This growing complexity and the lack of a unified, automated approach made their digital ecosystem both inefficient and vulnerable.
The Turning Point: Enter the Factory Model
At Avancer, we understood that adopting the factory model—much like an assembly line—promised to automate and standardize repetitive integration tasks. However, simply implementing the model wasn’t enough; applying best practices was crucial to its success.
Here’s how we at Avancer helped the company achieve seamless integration.
As the company’s challenges continued to grow, it became evident that a more structured and scalable solution was required to handle their expanding ecosystem of applications. This is where Avancer’s Factory Model came into play. Inspired by the efficiency of an assembly line, the Factory Model is designed to automate and standardize the repetitive tasks involved in integrating multiple applications. By creating a repeatable and structured process, it streamlines onboarding, reduces errors, and ensures consistency across the board.
However, adopting the Factory Model wasn’t just about automation—it was about leveraging best practices to ensure long-term success and scalability. Yet, implementing the Factory Model alone wasn’t sufficient. We customized it to align with the company’s unique requirements, integrating industry best practices at every step. From evaluating their application landscape to automating critical workflows, the tailored model provided a robust framework for seamless and scalable integration.
Here’s how we at Avancer helped the company achieve seamless integration.
Best Practices in Action
1. Assessing and Mapping the Application Ecosystem
CHALLENGE:
Our initial challenge was gaining a clear understanding of the organization’s vast app ecosystem. With hundreds of siloed applications spread across various departments, the integration landscape was fraught with complexity and potential pitfalls. Without a thorough assessment, any integration would be inefficient and prone to errors.
OUR APPROACH:
We began by conducting a comprehensive audit of the applications, identifying overlaps, dependencies, and the most critical integration points. This detailed mapping allowed the company to gain deep visibility into their digital infrastructure. It also provided us with the foundation to create a phased integration roadmap, ensuring an efficient, agile, and structured process tailored to the company’s needs.
Best Practice: Start with a detailed assessment of the application landscape to identify key integration needs and challenges. Map dependencies, prioritize critical applications, and create a roadmap for phased implementation.
2. Standardizing Processes for Consistency
CHALLENGE:
The existing integration processes were inconsistent across teams, leading to errors, rework, and wasted time. Without uniformity in the approach, the lack ofstandardization caused delays and inefficiencies.
OUR APPROACH:
We implemented standardized processes across the board, ensuring that every integration followed the same protocols. We created reusable components and templates that made each integration smoother, regardless of the application or department. To further streamline and align the process, we introduced the T-shirt sizing model, assessing them based on complexity and integration requirements.
Division of apps in T-shirt size model At Avancer, we also assess the applications as per its size. Such a concept of application sizing based on data source footprint, business unit usage, internal and external applications, and varying degree of complexity. We categorize the apps using the metaphor of t-shirt sizes. Additionally, feel free to define your own set of parameters to simplify the process of integrating the number of apps you may want to bring to your IAM platform.
Division of apps in T-shirt size model
At Avancer, we also assess the applications as per its size. Such a concept of application sizing based on data source footprint, business unit usage, internal and external applications, and varying degree of complexity. We categorize the apps using the metaphor of t-shirt sizes. Additionally, feel free to define your own set of parameters to simplify the process of integrating the number of apps you may want to bring to your IAM platoform.
Best Practice: Standardize integration processes by creating repeatable templates and components. This improves consistency, reduces errors, and accelerates the integration process. Use models like the T-shirt sizing method to categorize applications and streamline integration efforts, improving consistency, reducing errors, and accelerating the integration process.
3. Automation for Speed and Efficiency
CHALLENGE:
Manual processes were not only slow but also prone to human error. The IT team found it difficult to keep up with the increasing number of applications, leading to inefficiencies and bottlenecks.
OUR APPROACH:
To address the inefficiencies of manual processes, we introduced automation through our Five-Pronged Factory Model—a system specifically designed to streamline and accelerate critical tasks like data synchronization, workflow management, and user provisioning. This approach empowers organizations to move from reactive, manual methods to proactive, automated operations. By simplifying repetitive tasks and reducing the risk of human error, our model ensures faster, more efficient integrations that keep pace with growing business demands.
What sets Avancer apart is the unique adaptability of our Factory Model. While it provides a standardized, assembly line structure to ensure consistency and scalability, we customize it to fit each client’s specific needs. Every step in the process is meticulously designed to keep teams aligned, minimize errors, and accelerate deployment. This blend of structured reliability and tailored solutions enables us to tackle even the most complex integration challenges with precision and speed, delivering unmatched results that elevate business performance and security.
Best Practice: Automating repetitive tasks such as data synchronization, workflow management, and user provisioning not only improves speed and efficiency but also minimizes the risk of human error. Leveraging our Five-Pronged Factory Model ensures scalability and consistent integration processes across an expanding application landscape. This allows internal teams to focus on more strategic, high-value initiatives.
4. Comprehensive Application Integration
CHALLENGE:
The complexity of integrating multiple applications posed significant challenges for the organization. With a wide array of applications—each with unique integration requirements—there was a risk of overlooking critical integration points, which could hinder the effectiveness of the IAM solution.
OUR APPROACH:
To address this challenge, we conducted a thorough review of all integration points across the organization’s digital ecosystem. This included leveraging product- supported connectors, such as Database Connectors, Webservice Connectors, Enterprise Connectors, and Industry-Specific Connectors. Our team ensured that each type of connector was correctly implemented and configured to work with the IAM system. We standardized the integration protocols for each application, verifying that every connection point was optimized for functionality, security, and performance.
Best Practice: Ensure that all integration points are accounted for by conducting a comprehensive review of the application ecosystem. Utilize a range of product-supported connectors, ensuring compatibility and efficiency across database, web service, enterprise, and industry-specific connectors. Standardizing the integration process and customizing connectors for specific application needs ensures seamless, secure, and scalable integration into the IAM environment.
5. Cross-Team Collaboration and Communication
CHALLENGE:
Integration challenges extended beyond technical issues—ineffective communication between departments often resulted in delays, misaligned priorities, and confusion.
OUR APPROACH:
We fostered cross-team collaboration by setting up clear communication channels and alignment meetings between various departments. This ensured that everyone was on the same page regarding timelines, expectations, and responsibilities. Our goal was to create a unified approach where every team could contribute to the success of the integration process.
Best Practice: Encourage cross-team collaboration with clear communication channels. Regular updates and alignment meetings ensure that all teams are working together toward common integration goals.
6. Training and Adoption
CHALLENGE:
Successful implementation of any new system requires not just technical integration but also user buy-in and engagement. Without proper training and support, employees may struggle to adapt to new processes, leading to underutilization and frustration.
OUR APPROACH:
We emphasized the importance of comprehensive training and ongoing support to ensure the smooth adoption of our Factory Model. We developed tailored training programs that educated users on the system’s features, benefits, and workflows, including hands-on workshops, detailed documentation, and continuous feedback sessions to address concerns.
Additionally, we implemented change management strategies that fostered a culture of collaboration and openness. By actively involving key stakeholders in the integration process, we ensured their insights were considered, further enhancing user engagement. This focus on training and support empowered teams to fully utilize the new system and facilitated a smoother transition, ultimately leading to greater operational efficiency and satisfaction.
Best Practice: Invest in thorough training and change management initiatives to promote user adoption of new systems. Engage stakeholders early in the process and provide continuous support to ensure everyone is equipped to maximize the benefits of the integrated solution. This commitment to training creates a more competent workforce, drives utilization, and solidifies the success of the integration efforts.
In Conclusion:
By leveraging the Factory Model and our expertise at Avancer, the company successfully onboarded hundreds of applications into their IAM environment. This strategic approach delivered several key benefits: streamlined integration through standardized processes and automation, enhanced compliance with automated certification processes and improved audit performance, increased agility enabling faster onboarding and scalability, and improved visibility with comprehensive access reviews and reporting. As a result, the company now operates with a robust, secure, and compliant IAM system, significantly enhancing their business performance and establishing a scalable framework poised to support future growth.
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