As markets and technologies mature, the challenges of managing a sophisticated identity infrastructure continue
to grow. OnDemand Services provide flexible, as-needed expert advice and guidance in support of changing
identity management needs and goals, allowing customers to engage services when and how they need them.
Supplement ongoing deployments with deep technical guidance and expertise
Respond in real-time to resolve critical situations
Adapt deployments as business conditions change
Temporarily backfill expertise when staff turnover happens
Identity management project managers
Teams with limited access to consulting services
Teams deploying or extending completed solutions
Teams with limited product knowledge
Teams frustrated by being bounced between vendor support and professional services
Teams who require expert oversight of an existing project or implementation team
Provide fast access to deeply skilled identity architects and deployment engineers
Provide solution advice, application audits and expert services at any point in the product
lifecycle, from build to deploy to maintain
Offer flexible capacity to add deep product knowledge when & how its needed
Provide an identity guru to backfill a vacancy or provide an expert hand for a day or two
Allow customers to engage services when and how they need them
Minimize the delays that plague deployments and put schedules at risk
Most organizations lack the in-house identity management expertise to solve their most challenging
implementation
and production problems -- and to do so without custom code, which makes maintenance and future upgrades more
expensive and complex.
With decades of experience in the identity management industry, Beacon's Expert Services team can step in and
solve
critical problems at any stage of an implementation, leveraging off-the-shelf product capabilities
that save critical time and money. Beacon's experts also bring years of extensive project management experience,
so
that milestones are set, schedules are adhered to, and you always know where your project stands.
Beacon's Expert Services include:
Provide objective, periodic advice on identity management strategy spanning multiple verticals and customer
scenarios
Once a system is up and running, events happen such as an acquisition or a new set of
compliance
requirements that dictate changes be made to the identity system. Beacon's architects review the
environment
and lay out a comprehensive plan to get from the current point to the desired point.
Sometimes in a production environment, teams realize that production changes are taking too
long
or that making changes is too complex for the in-house team. Beacon's architects come in and quickly
discern
whether the environment is configured correctly and what changes need to be made to make it easier to
run.
Ensure that concise, efficient, supportable code is being deployed
Check for adherence to best-practice coding methods
Identify areas of inefficient or excessive custom-coding and provide recommendations where
efforts can be streamlined
Ensure customization is being avoided, layering is not
violated, and that scalability is supported
Search to find anything that will make upgrading or supporting the product more
difficult and expensive, and to replace it with a more concise, easily supported alternative
Code reviews span workflow, forms, policies, and connectors and are a critical way to keep
your deployments healthy
Perform cross-environment comparisons to identify potential differences that increase the risk of a failed
implementation. Deliverables include:
Best-practice recommendations for cross-environment consistency
Roadmap to more homogenous environments
Risk estimates for existing differences between environments
Identification of commonly misconfigured components
Helps teams who are having specific performance problems accelerate the performance of their identity management
solution
Whether it is an inability to meet a Service Level Agreement (SLA) or slow-loading pages
within
the solution, Beacon's experts use the product's native tools to diagnose the problems, ascertain
whether
there is a significant configuration or architectural problem, and then provide the recommendations and
expertise to implement the fix.
Performance Tuning focuses on improving system metrics and the performance of functions used
most frequently.
Implementation Services help companies through every phase of an identity management deployment. From
requirements
gathering to production rollout and every phase in between, Beacon brings years of experience, a proven
methodology,
deep project management expertise, and industry innovation to accelerate identity management
initiatives.
Beacon's Identity Test product, Identity Test, was developed in conjunction with customers to
solve
real deployment challenges. Identity Test enables faster, less expensive deployments that are also less risky by
providing complete and automated testing coverage. This innovative solution is used in all of our
deployments.
In addition, Beacon has an extensive code library available to customers. This code library is based on hundreds
of
prior successful deployments and can be used to expedite the development and implementation of workflows, rules,
forms, connectors and user interfaces, leading to faster, more cost-effective deployments.
These advantages lower the risk of implementation problems, speed implementation results and ultimately save
money
by getting your identity management project up and running right the first time.
Organizations are constantly changing. Team members leave and identity expertise walks out the door with them.
Acquisitions happen. Vendors "end-of-life" outdated products, eliminating support and maintenance of existing
solutions. All of these situations (and others) drive a need to migrate from one product or version to another.
This
requires significant expertise to be accomplished in a timely, cost effective manner.
Beacon's Migration Services help clients:
Understand what, when and how to pull business processes out of old systems and into new ones
Execute all elements of migration, including:
Workflows, rules, policies, interfaces, configuration data
Connectors, whether for third-party or custom applications
Fully test migration to ensure smooth sailing every step of the way. Identity Test
Develop a long-term identity management plan that stands the test of time
Beacon Migration Service reduces migration and development costs, mitigates the risk of unforeseen problems, and
provides peace of mind from experts who have migrated identity systems many times before.
Many companies have more than one identity system, often the result of disparate lines of business, mergers and
acquisitions, and the development of specialized, homegrown solutions [link to Fidelity case study here]. In
today's
rapidly changing technology landscape, many companies choose to run multiple systems to avoid vendor lock-in.
However, these systems rarely talk to each other, increasing the risk of security and compliance exposures.
Beacon's Integration Services offer:
Seamless integration of multiple provisioning systems into a single identity system
Integration with authoritative sources such as Peoplesoft and ActiveDirectory
Secure integration of global administrator accounts across multiple identity domains (such as
Unix administrators)
Integration of homegrown solutions with commercial identity systems
Integrated reporting and auditing to meet compliance requirements
Beacon's Integration service:
Reduces the cost of running separate identity systems
Reduces the risk of a security event by providing visibility into who has access to what
across multiple identity systems
Reduces the risk of vendor lock in by adding critical capabilities to homegrown systems and
integrating across commercial systems
Companies need to upgrade to newer versions of identity management products both to ensure supportability and to
take advantage of new features. The upgrade process is a challenging problem that requires deep technical
expertise
to accomplish in a timely, affordable manner.
Beacon's Upgrade Service helps clients execute all elements of an upgrade, including:
Code migration across workflows
Connectors
Rules and policies
Interfaces
Beacon's Upgrade Services reduce upgrade development costs and mitigate the risk of unforeseen problems Identity Test
This means they need experts to train
them. Unlike other organizations whose trainers have little real-world experience, Beacon's consultants have
years of hands-on experience as identity management architects and developers, including having written the
advanced training courses for some of the industry's leading identity management vendors.
Beacon's highly customizable training services are designed to help your team shorten the learning curve,
minimize costs and reduce risks associated with identity management projects.
Base concepts
Advanced concepts
Implementation training
Classes tailored to customer-specific needs focused on the elements most relevant to the
deployment: debugging, post implementation support