Feet on the Street at Navigate 2022

Authored by Brian Royer, Content Marketing Writer

Navigate is back and better than ever! Day one of SailPoint’s annual in-person and virtual event just wrapped. We heard from our executives and guest keynote and learned a lot from our breakout sessions during the identity security conference of the year. Let’s dive in.

No Compromise

Navigate ’22 kicked off with a keynote address —The Power of Identity Security Uncompromised — from SailPoint’s CEO Mark McClain, who made a powerful statement by declaring, “Identity has become THE most critical control point for enterprise security.” Attackers are becoming more adept at stealing credentials, conducting social engineering attacks, and exploiting poor identity security hygiene within large enterprises, said Mark, the result of a quick and widespread pivot to virtual and hybrid work, which meant adopting new technologies at a rapid clip. While this dynamic vastly accelerated plans for digital transformation, organizations began to make compromises in the context of identity security, with approaches that range from satisfying the bare minimum to pass an external audit to focusing only on providing access management or single-sign-on technologies, or the “good enough” approach, which applied identity security controls to only their most prominent technology resources and identities, versus ALL of them. As Mark explained, if you’re going to do business at speed, you need great technology. And if you’re doing technology well, you need excellent security. And if you want great security, you need identity security at the core of your infrastructure and business. SailPoint’s “uncompromised” approach to identity security —modern, comprehensive, and AI-enabled — goes beyond the minimum requirements, looks at the bigger picture, and delivers an essential vision to the unique needs of its business.

Digital Acceleration

Mark’s bold keynote set the stage for Grady Summer’s, EVP of Product at SailPoint, keynote address, The Future of Identity Security. In an era of hyper innovation, disruption demands capacity built on strong digital foundations to turn challenges into opportunities. Using innovative AI/ML, SailPoint is changing how organizations approach and complete certifications and, as a result, rewriting the Identity Security Playbook. As Grady explained, identity security is vital for digital acceleration and is essential to keep up in a world that has not finished evolving. 

The Horizons of Identity Security

We also heard from our guest speaker Chandra Gnanasambandam, senior partner, McKinsey, with his keynote, The Future “Horizons” of Identity Security. Chandra co-leads the firm’s work in technology hardware and IT services globally. In introducing Chandra, Matt Mills, President, Worldwide Field Operations at SailPoint, observed that enterprise identity security is never a one-size-fits-all proposition; instead, it’s got to be done in a thoughtful, comprehensive, AI-driven way to address the issue of managing and securing all identities at scale. Aligned to this premise,  Chandra focused his talk on how identity is becoming front and center an enabler to digital evolution as defined in a new SailPoint commissioned research study and report called “The Horizons of Identity Security.” In addition to stratifying the five levels (or milepost markers) of identity security for large, complex organizations, and its takeaways, for example – if you are looking for efficiency, the higher the horizon, the lower the spend on security Helpdesk, by almost 85% — the enormity of the problem demands an AI-enabled approach. Keenly, there is also an accurate cost of doing nothing, of doing the most affordable or good enough, including increased risk of cyber-attacks, productivity losses, enormous regulatory fines, lost revenue, and reputational damages. In bringing Mark’s keynote full circle, Chandra emphasized, “Don’t settle. Aim high. Ask tough questions. That’s what we mean when we say identity security uncompromised.”

Identity Security As Value, Business Enabler 

And to wrap up the keynotes, GTM Operations, Steve Caldwell, and Suhail Malhotra, Senior Director of Value Strategy, SailPoint, discussed the topic of Developing Your Identity Security Program’s Business Case. Getting identity security right is more than implementing technology by itself; instead, it’s a strategy, a program, as it is the product’s technological identity features and functions. Further, AI and machine learning are taking identity programs to the next level, leveraging the data collected to automate and recommend more informed, autonomous, and proactive decisions. Suhail also noted that while other companies use generic reports and calculators, SailPoint is constantly investing in its ability to drive better customer outcomes and empower identity teams to become competitive differentiators for their businesses. This includes investing in a business value assessment team, which includes ex-management consultants, investment bankers, and CFOs that help customers quantify the value of investing in their identity programs using their data, helping guide prospects through the process of building a business case specific to them. Navigate attendees also had a chance to attend various breakout sessions.

Well, what a day! What’s in store for the rest of Navigate 2022? Follow along on Twitter, the blog, and via #Navigate2022 to learn more about what attendees are learning at THE identity security conference of the year. And I’ll be back tomorrow with a Feet on the Street Recap as we end Navigate 2022 hearing from our Special Guest Speaker Daniel Pink #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Power of Regret, When, To Sell is Human, Drive, and A Whole New Mind.