CSO

Derek Slater has written an interesting post entitled, "Recession Questions," which begins:

"Recessions stink. However, since we're in one, let's make the best of it."

Now, technically, Derek's wrong - we're not *in* a recession. However, with the housing market, rising oil prices, the credit crunch, signs of inflation and timid cosumer sentiment, it sure does seem like we're heading that way. The truth is that whether we actually "achieve" two quarters of negative GDP growth or not (a "recession"), most companies have pulled back on the spending reigns a bit (with companies like Cisco notably stopping a ton of travel and associated event sponsorships, etc).

All of which is to say that recession or not, Derek is correct in pointing out the usefulness of looking at IT initiatives through a cost-cutting or efficiency lens (as is normal in slower times).

In the world of identity management, that probably means you should be taking a look at a couple of areas:

1. SSO and Password Reset: The facts are on the wall. If you can reduce the number of helpdesk calls for password reset, you're going to save a TON of money. You can do that through self-service modules, E-SSO, web sso, or even federation. Just do it.

2. Automating Compliance: This is a big one, and you probably won't get it done before the recession ends. However, the more you achieve automated compliance controls, the more big bucks you can save on manual audits. Throw everything from RBAC to de-provisioning into this bucket and then get started looking at what really will slice greenbacks soonest.

Start there before you dive into the more exotic aspects of identity management. Doing so can help you save bucks during a slowdown, and might just save your job (when you're no longer a cost center).