Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) solutions allow for frictionless access, secure access to online services for customers. This type of identity technology supports organizations in managing customer identities, ensuring they have appropriate access with an enhanced user experience, without compromising on security, by enforcing secure, adaptive multi-factor authentication.
In this article, we’ll explore the top CIAM solutions designed to help organizations deliver a great customer experience, while ensuring their user data is well protected. We’ll look at the vendors background, explore the key features offered by each solution, and give recommendations (based on our independent research) on who would be best serves by each solution’s capabilities.
The Thales OneWelcome CIAM Platform enables you to protect digital identities across your B2B ecosystem. The cloud based CAIM solution simplifies user registration, onboarding, delegation management and access control, ensuring seamless and secure protection for identities across the B2B ecosystem. Thales, a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions, acquired OneWelcome in 2022, strengthening its position as a market leading identity and access management provider.
Thales OneWelcome CIAM Platform Features
- Multi-factor authentication – including face recognition, biometrics, mobile logins or one-time passwords provide additional layers of security
- Identity lifecycle management – manage automated provisioning at scale using multiple integrations
- Identity registration – efficiently onboard and manage business partners and applications via a intuitive and straightforward registration process
- Delegated administration – businesses can easily assign the correct amount of autonomy and responsibility to each B2B partner, allowing then to better manage their business while also ensuring you have total visibility
- Single sign-on – receive fast, recure access to online services seamlessly with just a single login of their choice
Supported Authentication Methods: Biometrics, face recognition, one-time passwords or mobile login.
Thales OneWelcome CIAM Platform Pricing: Visit the Thales OneWelcome website for custom pricing information.
Expert insights Comments: The Thales OneWelcome Identity Platform streamlines identity and access management for your business customers with intuitive, user friendly interfaces and processes. The platform provides key CIAM capabilities including secure MFA, Single Sign-On, identity lifecycle management and identity registration, enabling customers to improve onboarding processes, collaboration with suppliers, and facilitate guest users. Integrations and automations help to reduce complexity and cost, so teams can build more scalable systems. We recommend this solution to organizations looking to provide secured, frictionless, privacy protected access for customers.
Prove is a fast-growing provider of identity proving and affirmation technologies, utilized by over 1,000 businesses across a range of industries, including banks, financial services, insurance, healthcare, and e-commerce. Prove is currently servicing 9 out of the top 10 US banks and works to mitigate fraud while boosting revenue, reducing operating costs, and improving user experience. Prove offers multiple identity verification and authentication solutions that center around their Phone-Centric Identity technology. This technology leverages the mobile phone and phone number as the primary authenticator. This can be achieved by using the customer’s existing mobile devices to verify and authenticate identity, without the need to download a separate app or purchase a physical hardware token.
Prove Pre-Fill® leverages phone signals and verified identity attributes to reduce the time it takes for customers to onboard and create accounts. Prove Identity Manager™ is a registry of tokenized customer identities that manages customer phone numbers and other identity attributes, enabling greater customer data accuracy and helping companies stay compliant. Prove Identity™ helps prevent SIM Swaps and other identity threats by verifying a consumer’s identity through validating consumer provided information, assigning a real-time, risk-scoring “Trust Score.” This confirms that the user is in possession of a device linked to their account. These validations assist with Know Your Customer and Customer Identification Program compliance programs. Prove Auth™ is a mobile-first, comprehensive suite of authenticators ranging from traditional OTPs to sophisticated mobile authentication and biometric authenticators. Prove facilitates passwordless login as well. With this authenticator suite, clients can tailor authentication across low to high-risk transactions to protect from fraud and account takeovers, all the while prioritizing the customer experience.
Prove’s cloud-based solution is easy to integrate with the infrastructure an organization already has in place and omnichannel solutions are available in 195+ countries. We recommend Prove for SMBs and enterprises seeking a straightforward, seamless identity and authentication experience that provides users with enhanced security and admin oversight.
As global leaders in identity security, CyberArk work to provide comprehensive security for both human and machine identities, supporting leading organizations in protecting their most critical assets. The CyberArk Identity Security Platform offers a CAIM solution in CyberArk Customer Identity, which is designed to help dynamic enterprises to secure customer identities end-to-end.
CyberArk Customer Identity Features:
- Authenticate and authorize access via embedded secure single sign-on, controlling access with fine-grained policies
- AI powered, risk aware, and passwordless multi-factor authentication
- Helps to manage customer identities using APIs or directly in the Cloud Directory
- Provides a comprehensive collection of Developer Tools including guides and other resources that support developers with the integration of the CyberArk Identity Security Platform
- Supports the securing of access to business apps for both human and machine identities
- Ensures machine identity access is secured within the DevOps pipeline
- Helps to minimize complexity and reduce the burden on IT teams
Supported Authentication Methods: Embedded secure single-sign on, social login, username and password, federated credentials
CyberArk Customer Identity Pricing: CyberArk offers a 30-day free trial and can also provide a demo of the solution. Contact the team at CyberArk directly for more information on the solution and on its pricing.
Expert Insights’ Comments: CyberArk Customer Identity allows organizations to safely open their website and apps for customer access, without leaving themselves vulnerable to security breaches. Users of CyberArk Customer Identity paise its capabilities and strong support, and they generally rate it highly. We would recommend this solution to organizations interested in seamless integration, a frictionless sign-on experience, and intuitive access controls.
ForgeRock are providers of end-to-end, AI-driven products that are designed to secure their thousands of global customers against today’s cyber threats. ForgeRock’s customer identity and access management offering promising to secure identities while providing customers with an experience that is personalized, effortless, and secure.
ForgeRock Identity Platform Features:
- Create streamlined customer experience with self-service registration, social registration, SSO, and delegated admissions
- Customize a multi-channel digital experience for customers
- Get a unified overview of customer actions
- Provides a wide variety of web, mobile, MFA and passwordless authentication options
- Use multi-tenancy and data isolation to secure customer identities
- Encrypt sensitive customer data at rest, blocking unauthorized partied from viewing it
- Build and manage customer use profile for easy sharing, account deletion, and date portability
- Achieve CCPA, GDPR, SOX and PCI-DSS compliance and enable profile and privacy management across all people, services and things while meeting all consent and privacy requirements
Supported Authentication Methods: Single sign-on, delegated administration, web, mobile and password authentication, customer identity verification.
ForgeRock Identity Platform Pricing: ForgeRock can be contacted via a form available on their website. Contact the sales team directly for information on pricing.
Expert Insights’ Comments: ForgeRock, a global digital identity leader, was recognized in the Forrester Wave: Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM), Q4 2022. Their unified IAM platform is rated highly by past users who describe their customer access and authorization capabilities as “customer centric” and praise the platform’s stability and strong capabilities. We would recommend the ForgeRock Identity Platform to organizations interested in a solution that is customizable and scalable.
Okta is a San Francisco-based IAM company, founded in 2009. As a leading independent identity provider, Okta provides simple and secure access to over 10,000 organizations globally. Their CIAM offering, Okta Customer Identity Cloud, supports organizations in solving complex identity challenges, allowing them to innovate and scale without friction.
Okta Customer Identity Cloud Features:
- Provides intelligent access via adaptive multi factor authentication (MFA), which learns customers login behaviors and adapts accordingly
- With single sign-on (SSO) users only need to log in once, and gain access to all linked applications, whether via usernames and password authentication, social login or enterprise federation
- Authenticate users securely and seamlessly across all applications with universal login
- Enable enterprise federation by utilizing pre-built integrations with commonly used Enterprise Identity Systems
- Visual “drag and drop” actions to customize identity flow which address your unique requirements
- Defend against a variety of attacks with breached password detection, bot detection, and suspicious IP throttling
- Create customized authentication and authorization workflows for B2B customers at scale
Supported Authentication Methods: Single sign-on, multifactor authentication, customized authentication and authorization workflows, biometrics, security keys, M2M tokens.
Okta Customer Identity Cloud Pricing: Okta offers a free version of their solution which supports 7,000 free active users, unlimited logins, branded logins, social connection, protection against brute force attacks and suspicious IP throttling, and 1,000 M2M tokens. The Customer Identity Cloud pricing for B2C plans starts at $23 monthly for essentials and $240 monthly for Professional. The B2B plans are higher in price, starting at $130 for Essentials and $800 for Professional. Those looking for an enterprise-grade solutions should contact the Okta sales team directly for pricing information.
Expert Insights’ Comments: Okta Customer Identity is praised by users for its functionality, seamless approach, and ease of use. Over 16,400 organizations rely on Okta to help them sure their customers and workforces. We would recommend this solution to any organizations looking to secure consumer and SaaS apps, while maintaining an optimized digital experience.
Founded in 2009, OneLogin is a global identity and access leader. This cloud-based IAM provider offers users a unified platform that is well suited to enterprise-level businesses and organizations. OneLogin’s customer identity and access solution works to increase the organization’s security posture while maintaining a seamless experience for customers.
OneLogin Customer Identity Features:
- Allows for the implementation of secure and customizable authentication flows which have policy-based MFA and flexible APIs
- Adaptive MFA via OneLogin’s AI-powered SmartFactor Authentication, for stronger, context aware security
- Supports easy migration and administration, so users can quickly migrate from homegrown or legacy CIAM solutions with minimal disruptions
- Helps organizations to provide their customers with a simple and intuitive user experience
- Meet the scale and reliability customers expect without the risk of downtime
- With OneLogin’s APIs, developers can customize authentication requirements as they go through the development process
Supported Authentication Methods: Customizable authentication requirements, policy-based multifactor authentication, social login, single sign-on, SmartFactor authentication, API authentication and administration.
OneLogin Customer Identity Pricing: You can test OneLogin’s customer identity and access management for 30-days, which includes use of cloud directory, MFA, VPN integration, desktop and mobile SSO, advanced password reset, secure policies, and custom reports. Contact OneLogin directly via their website for pricing information.
Expert Insights’ Comments: OneLogin Customer Identity is described by past users as strong, dependable, and user friendly. The solution helps organizations to protect themselves and their customers by securing and centralizing applications, devices, and end-to-end users in one place. We would recommend OneLogin’s CIAM offering to organizations looking for strong security without impacting the customer experience.
Ping Identity, founded in 2002, is an American software company which provides best-in-class, intelligent identity solutions to global companies in the Fortune 500. Their CIAM solution, PingOne for Customers, in a cloud solution which brings together no-code identity orchestration with authentication and user management to improve and secure the identity and access experience for customers.
PingOne for Customers Features:
- No-code identity orchestration to quickly built, test, and optimize the customer experience
- Centralized authentication services which let you connect to users in any directory, accessing any apps, hosted in any cloud, in any situation
- Convenient single sign-on for all apps
- Self-service SSO integrations and delegated administration for application teams
- Customer friendly MFA can be embedded in custom apps, or use SMS or email OTPs
- Overview or your customers across all applications via unified customer profiles
- Ensure access to certain applications, resources, and features are awarded only to the correct individuals by configuring and enforcing access to APIs
Supported Authentication Methods: Centralized authentication services, single sign-on, adaptive authentication, self-service SSO, risk-based MFA, SMS, email and voice OTPs, identity verification for high-risk transactions.
PingOne for Customers Pricing: PingOne for Customers comes in three packages. The Essential package starts at $20,000 annually and comes with standard features such as single sign-on, authentication policies, no-code identity orchestration etc. The Plus package starts at $40,000 annually and includes everything in Essential, with additional capabilities like embedded MFA into mobile apps etc. The Premium package includes all features included in both Essentials and Plus, and is best suited to enterprises with compliance or scalability needs. Contact the sales team directly for a quote.
Expert Insights’ Comments: Ping Identity is an enterprise-focused provider. Enterprises choose Ping for its strong functionality, identity expertise, and the open standards partnership with companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. The solution is typically well rated by past users who praise its innovation and scalability. We would recommend PingOne for Customers to organizations looking for a centrally managed identity solution.
SAP is a German multinational software company that provides enterprise software solutions designed to support the management of business and customer relations. SAP Customer Identity and Access Management for B2C is their customer identity management solution which helps to identify customer across channels and devices, providing them with an individual digital experience based on their interests and surfing behavior.
SAP CIAM for B2C Features:
- Registration as a service functionality with scalable, native screensets and customizable workflows
- Simplified authentication through support for over 35 social networks
- Customers are protected by constant monitoring of digital identities and are alerted about any unusual account activity
- You can implement risk-based MFA, biometric authentication, and authentication via one-time passwords
- Single sign-on for all sites in your organization
- Use SAML and OpenID Connect protocols to support identity federation standards
- A fully indexed, dynamic schema helps to capture and transform structured and unstructured data
- Synchronize or map and transfer profiles via third-party applications and services using powerful extract, transform, and load features
- There are over 60 preconfigured technology integrations to benefit from
Supported Authentication Methods: Passwordless authentication, AI-driven risk-based authentication, MFA, biometric authentication, one-time password (mobile SMS) authentication.
SAP CIAM for B2C Pricing: SAP offer a demo of their CIAM solution on their website. Pricing information for SAP Customer Identity and Access Management for B2C is available upon request.
Expert Insights’ comments: SAP Customer Identity and Access Management for B2C helps organizations to identify, convert, and retain their customers at scale. Past users of the solution praise how unified and efficient it is. We would recommend it to any organizations looking to boost their ROI by supporting a personalized customer experience using first-party, permissions-based data.
FAQ
What Is Customer Identity And Access Management (CIAM)?
Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) is a subset of the broader Identity and Access Management (IAM) category. CIAM solutions are a type of security technology that supports organizations in managing their customer identities, enhancing both the security and the overall experience for customers. These solutions go beyond user identity, access control to provide comprehensive, integrated systems for compliance, privacy protection, and anti-fraud. More advanced solutions can collect customer behavior data and use AI and analytics, alongside customer relationship management (CRM) tools, to deliver a highly personalized customer experience.
Why Is CIAM So Important?
A smooth and seamless customer experience is extremely important, especially today when consumers have such high expectations for navigating online spaces. Anything that impedes their use of your site risks pushing them towards a competitor, while anything that improves the experience for customers goes a long way to ensure they return again and again.
For organizations looking to provide online retail, news, financial services, and any other service, CIAM solutions can help ensure that the registration process is smooth and user friendly, the online experience is seamless and easy to navigate, and the likelihood of positive engagement – for example, customers subscribing or making a purchase – is as high as it can be.