IMS Gear – IMS Gear defines its IAM structure with Bechtle: IAM Scoping.

Challenge.

The international company IMS Gear with locations on three different continents wanted to start an Active Directory (AD) migration project a few years ago. Until now, each location has had its own AD, which is equivalent to a high administrative effort. Some systems are provided by German IT in their infrastructure. This means that employees in the foreign locations need a local AD account as well as one in the German domain. Resetting authorisation assignments or passwords always involves additional work - both for employees and for IT. Furthermore, increased security standards, the TISAX label, automation of processes to reduce errors and thus an optimised cost structure were required.
This prompted IMS Gear to draw up an Identity & Access Management (IAM) Big Picture, a target image that shows where they would like to develop over the next few years. The company wanted a roadmap that would define the individual sub-projects, which could then be clearly planned and budgeted. Bechtle Germany was already a service provider in various areas and recommended the Bechtle IAM Competence Centre in Switzerland for the specialist area of IAM. “We immediately realised that Bechtle Switzerland had already advised and supported a number of companies and was familiar with many examples of possible solutions. We also liked the pragmatic approach of not immediately building a one hundred per cent solution, but rather approaching the development step by step,” explains Manuel Furtwängler, Director IT Operations, IMS Gear. Thanks to its high level of expertise, Bechtle Switzerland was awarded the contract for IAM scoping after just two successful discussions.

Solution.

The next step was to conduct various joint workshops to take stock of the current situation and analyse problems, processes and risks. The objectives were defined in a structured and documented process:

• Creation of a holistic enterprise architecture to solving identity, access and authorisation problems.
• Creation of a single digital identity per person with worldwide validity and uniqueness.
• Increase centralised control, transparency and traceability.
• Promoting the implementation and use of cloud services.
• Harmonised processes on the basis of global systems and tools that enable centralised control and decentralised process (e.g. user and access management) by the various business Units.
• Provide all employees with digital access (e-mail, intranet access), including company employees.

The involvement of representatives from HR, IT infrastructure and management was also very important for the success of the IAM scoping.
After successful IAM scoping with Bechtle, IMS Gear had a clear target picture and was able to define the first three areas that would bring the most added value. The Privileged Access Management (PAM) project was the first to be tackled - due to a requirement from the cyber insurance company. „A standardised, global domain must first be created, because the basis for a successful IAM is a clean AD structure,“ explains Furtwängler. The authorisations are adapted accordingly so that they can be assigned based on roles. Bechtle Switzerland was also awarded the contract for this project.

Business Benefits.

IMS Gear now has an optimised, future-proof IAM target architecture and knows the various steps and implementation phases. They have a common understanding within the organisation of which components they want to cover and how they want to work together. “With the help of IAM scoping, we were able to create a clear target vision; we now know where the journey is heading,” concludes Furtwängler.