Why IAM Implementations Struggle and How to Get Them Right: 6 Enterprise Checklists 

With compromised credentials now reported as the most common attack vector, Identity and Access Management (IAM) has become central to enterprise cybersecurity. IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that stolen credentials were used in 60 percent of breaches and that, on average, these incidents took nearly 10 months to discover and contain. 

Despite the growing importance of identity security, enterprises still struggle to implement IAM programs successfully. The root causes of failed initiatives are rarely technical. Organizations often select capable platforms yet still end up with orphaned accounts, privilege creep, and authentication gaps that attackers can exploit. 

The problem lies in treating IAM as a technology deployment rather than an operational transformation that requires buy-in from human resources, IT, and business units. Without cross-functional participation, gaps form between policy and practice, creating vulnerabilities that threat actors can exploit. 

The six considerations below outline the strategic thinking required for an enterprise IAM program to succeed. Each section highlights a core principle and includes a checklist for implementation. 

1. Map, who touches what 

Before selecting tools or drafting policies, you need a complete inventory of your identity ecosystem. 

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-207 states that Zero Trust architecture requires organizations to inventory all enterprise resources and identities before implementing access controls. This exercise often reveals unexpected issues, such as orphaned accounts or active credentials belonging to contractors who were never deprovisioned. 

The inventory must be detailed enough to show where identity decisions occur, who owns them, and what signals exist to validate access. 

Checklist items: 

1. Catalog all identity repositories (Active Directory, cloud directories, application-specific credentials) 

2. Identify applications with independent access controls outside your central identity provider 

3. Inventory accounts and document their owners and purposes 

4. Map federated connections and third-party identity sources 

5. Document orphaned accounts from acquisitions, reorganizations, or contractor turnover 

2. Treat identity lifecycle management as a core workflow 

In theory, identity lifecycle management is simple: provision users when they join, adjust access when they move, and deprovision promptly when they leave. In practice, this is where many IAM programs fail. 

Automating provisioning and deprovisioning through IAM and HR system integration reduces risk. However, automation alone is not enough. Enterprises must clarify ownership in gray-area scenarios, such as department transfers or acquisitions that introduce new identities. 

Checklist items: 

1. Integrate IAM provisioning with your HR system of record 

2. Automate account deactivation triggered by termination events 

3. Define workflows for role transfers and department changes 

4. Establish processes for contractor onboarding, extensions, and offboarding 

5. Create escalation paths for lifecycle events that fail automation 

3. Tailor authentication around your risk profile 

Okta’s 2025 Secure Sign-in Trends Report shows that workforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) adoption stands at 70 percent, which means nearly one-third of enterprises still lack MFA protection. SMS-based one-time passwords (OTP) remain the most common second factor and are used by roughly 56 percent of organizations that support MFA. However, SMS authentication has well-documented weaknesses. The Co-op ransomware attack in 2025 succeeded in part because attackers captured both the password and the one-time code through phishing. 

Phishing-resistant methods such as FIDO2 security keys and platform authenticators remove shareable credentials entirely. These methods are far more secure but require careful deployment and user onboarding. 

Organizations moving from passwords to passkeys must account for device enrollment, secure recovery workflows, and legacy systems that often cannot support modern protocols. 

Checklist items: 

1. Inventory current MFA coverage across all users and applications 

2. Require MFA for all privileged and administrative accounts 

3. Evaluate phishing-resistant options (FIDO2, passkeys) for high-risk roles 

4. Deprecate SMS-based MFA for privileged accounts 

5. Define step-up authentication triggers for high-risk transactions 

6. Plan enrollment and recovery flows before rollout 

4. Apply least privilege before access accumulates 

The impact of a compromised credential scales with the privileges it unlocks. 

Employees change roles, join temporary projects, and inherit access from others. Role-based access works only when roles are defined at the right level of detail and when access is reviewed regularly. 

Checklist items: 

1. Define roles based on job functions, not only organizational hierarchy 

2. Establish periodic access certification 

3. Replace standing privileged access with just-in-time elevation 

4. Audit service accounts for excessive permissions 

5. Automate access removal when employees change roles 

6. Prohibit self-approval for access requests and privilege escalation 

5. Build identity risk detection before you need incident response 

IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report found that comprehensive monitoring reduced the average breach lifecycle from 287 days to 102 days and lowered costs by an average of $1.76 million per incident. 

Effective IAM should extend beyond authentication and include identity threat detection and risk mitigation. This requires integrating IAM with a threat detection platform that can monitor anomalous access, impossible travel, device compromise, and synthetic identities. 

These capabilities allow organizations to correlate identity events across the enterprise rather than reviewing each interaction in isolation. When abnormal behavior is detected, risk can be mitigated through step-up authentication and layered defenses. 

Checklist items: 

1. Integrate IAM with a threat detection platform for cross-source correlation 

2. Assess your identity infrastructure for misconfigurations and exposure indicators 

3. Configure adaptive authentication based on real-time risk signals 

4. Create incident response playbooks for account compromise 

5. Establish authority and procedures for emergency account disablement 

6. Plan the implementation as phases, not a single project 

IAM initiatives often fail when organizations attempt a full transformation in one step. Enterprises that migrate every application at once typically uncover undocumented integrations and users who cannot complete new enrollment flows. 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Zero Trust Maturity Model describes a progression across identity, devices, networks, applications, and data. It acknowledges that maturity varies across pillars and that improvement requires sustained effort over time. No single project delivers a mature IAM program. 

Each phase should have measurable outcomes, such as fewer orphaned accounts, lower help desk volumes, and faster onboarding. These metrics demonstrate value while keeping scope manageable. 

Checklist items: 

1. Phase 1: Establish an authoritative identity source and HR integration 

2. Phase 2: Deploy MFA for high-risk applications and privileged users 

3. Phase 3: Implement access governance for sensitive entitlements 

4. Phase 4: Expand authentication and governance to remaining applications 

5. Phase 5: Add advanced monitoring and adaptive access controls 

6. Define success metrics for each phase before starting 

7. Build rollback plans for each phase transition 

8. Schedule retrospectives before advancing 

Conclusion 

IAM implementation is not just a technology initiative. It is an ongoing program that affects HR workflows, application ownership, security operations, and user experience. Successful organizations establish governance that outlasts individual tools, measure operational outcomes instead of checklist compliance, and remain flexible as threats and business needs evolve. 

The six checklists outlined above will not prevent every challenge, but they focus attention on the issues that create exploitable gaps when ignored. Identity remains the most common initial attack vector because it is the hardest to manage at scale. Thoughtful IAM implementation delivers long-term benefits in breach prevention, efficiency, and audit readiness.