About this Constellation ShortList™

Cloud identity management (CIM) is a segment of identity and access management (IDAM). Sometimes called identity as a service, CIM is a natural evolution of hosted identity provisioning services and has become almost de rigueur (certainly for all but the biggest enterprises). Drivers for growth in this category include the scale, flexibility and elasticity of cloud services, superior security of cloud services compared with do-it-yourself enterprise security and the rich identity management functionality offered by service providers.

Additional CIM features commonly include application- level integration of office automation products, a pre- integrated catalog of third-party applications that will seamlessly consume the cloud-issued identity, different levels of mobility support and different multifactor authentication (MFA) mechanisms.

CIM has revolutionized enterprise identity management. It is getting new employees online quicker, outsourcing the help desk, standardizing account life-cycle management and improving security and compliance.

It also broadens the utility of employee logons by connecting them to many more platforms and external services, and it makes state-of-the-art authentication more accessible especially MFA and mobile as second factor.

Threshold Criteria

Constellation considers the following criteria for these solutions:

  • Single sign-on
  • User provisioning admin functions
  • Directory/LDAP integration
  • User account life-cycle management
  • Multifactor authentication options
  • Third-party application catalog
  • Security
  • Standards and Standards activity

Identity management and authentication are rapidly evolving fields and deliver mission-critical functionality to the heart of the enterprise. Constellation therefore considers the strength of the provider’s R&D and standards programs, and it looks for vendors active in the standards community, committed to innovation and continuous improvement.

The Constellation ShortList™

Constellation evaluates more than 25 solutions categorized in this market. This Constellation ShortList is determined by client inquiries, partner conversations, customer references, vendor selection projects, market share and internal research.

  • Auth0
  • ForgeRock
  • Google
  • IBM
  • Microsoft
  • Okta
  • OneLogin
  • Ping Identity
  • Salesforce Identity

Frequency of Evaluation

Each Constellation ShortList will be updated once per year. There could be an update after six months, should the analyst deem it necessary.

Evaluation Services

Constellation clients may work with the analyst and research team to conduct a more thorough discussion of this ShortList. Constellation can also provide guidance in vendor selection and contract negotiation.

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