2025 is finally here and the Identity and Access Management (IAM) market is booming and thriving like never before. As we brace our businesses for the year ahead, here are the top five technologies and processes that are slated to transform this sector.
1. Modernizing authentication for the future-ready business landscape
The challenges associated with passwords and the need for stronger authentication have been topics of discussion for several years. Throughout 2024 there were still too many organizations relying on passwords or less secure forms of multi-factor authentication. It is estimated that 80% of security leaders continue to rely on passwords as a security method. However, in 2024 we had seen more organizations start to move towards passwordless and phishing-resistant solutions, with over ¾ actively adopting passwordless access. In 2025, we expect to see even more organizations kick off projects to strengthen authentication.
2. Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for a plethora of benefits
Through 2024 we have seen IAM technologies adopt more AI capabilities and integrate them into their core features. Yet many organizations have resisted the leap to take advantage of these capabilities.
As a matter of fact, a significant 96% of security professionals believe that AI and machine learning (ML) will play a crucial role in combating identity-based breaches and view it as a key technology for unifying their diverse identity frameworks. Additionally, 71% of these professionals anticipate that the primary use case for AI will be to enhance the accuracy of identifying outlier behavior.
3. Securing machine and non-human identities
The recent surge in machine and non-human identities has resulted in an alarming 40:1 ratio of machine identities to human ones, and this is only set to grow. These identities are typically secured using digital certificates so the shortening of the lifespan of these certificates to six months (or shorter) will increase the workload on certificate lifecycle management to the point where automated solutions will be a must for many organizations.
4. Consolidating and modernizing the IAM ecosystem
Organizations have been launching multiple initiatives to eliminate technical debt and modernize their IAM infrastructure. If successful, these would go a long way in simplifying and reducing the cost of supporting the environment. It would also help them move towards the creation of an identity fabric to better position themselves for the future.
In 2025, this trend will be instrumental in the consolidation and modernization of redundant and legacy tools. My esteemed colleague, Vasco Gomes, explains this further in his article on how IAM is has influenced organizations’ operational strategies, from simplification to user focus.
5. Building and reinforcing resilience
Identity is finally starting to receive the attention it deserves in conversations about resilience. Not only is identity a core requirement for achieving cybersecurity resilience, as described in NIST SP 800-160, but the resilience of identity infrastructure is key as it supports critical business processes.
More and more tools are hitting the market, geared towards providing resilience to identity providers. 2025 will see these technologies further mature and expand to other components of the identity infrastructure.
Gear up for a year of strategic transformations and positive change
2025 will be another eventful year in the Identity and Access Management market and we are looking forward to helping our customers through it.
If you would like to find out more about how these trends are set to impact your business or sector, connect with me today and let’s discuss how you can fortify your IAM infrastructure for the future.
Learn more about Eviden’s IAM services.
