ICAM Accelerator

Credential Service Provider Selection

Delivering services securely is mission-critical for every federal agency.

Today, citizens expect their experiences with government online proofing and authentication to be similar to those of their bank, retailer, or airline. Yet for many agencies, digital identity is difficult. Keeping up with evolving threats, staying compliant with NIST guidance, and delivering excellent user experiences are common challenges. Agency identity programs are also expensive, and workforce and specific skillset gaps are common. Following OMB M-19-17, agencies are now either considering or have already begun using external credential service providers (CSPs).

Apart from OMB guidance to leverage CSPs rather than standing up their own credential services, CSPs bring significant benefits to federal agencies. They specialize in staying current with evolving threats and ever-changing compliance mandates from NIST and other federal guidance. CSPs also typically include a help desk, which can potentially deliver significant cost reductions. From a user perspective, CSPs typically mean less frequent identity proofing and fewer separate credentials to manage. CSPs also specialize in improved user experiences , offering a multitude of proofing options to serve a wide range of demographics and their preferences.

Optimizing Your ICAM Experience

While the case for leveraging external CSPs is compelling, agencies still must decide how to optimize their use to drive value for their mission delivery. Easy Dynamics has helped agencies tackle this question successfully, offering market insights, evaluation experience, and performance metrics to consider when beginning their CSP selection journey.

We designed our Accelerated CSP Selection to model the most important aspects of your project upfront, using our real-world experience to identify key decision points and map a clear path toward integration. By leveraging actionable insights and constantly evaluating the services of market providers, our team can unearth key factors that may influence the effectiveness and overall success of your program.

While our process starts with basics like FedRAMP compliance and integration with existing technologies, we also conduct an in-depth examination into the CSP’s validation process and their policies for securing and using sensitive information. The ultimate goal is to ensure a successful partnership than can build and maintain a reputation of trust for your service. In addition, Accelerated CSP Selection can also establish key metrics such as user engagement and drop-off, helping you evaluate the effectiveness of your program and reach government-mandated standards for high assurance deployments and user base.

Going Beyond CSP Selection

While an engagement with Easy Dynamics starts with understanding your requirements and identifying the right providers, it can also extend to include expert program implementation and management. Our ICAM portfolio and past performances demonstrate successful, ongoing implementations that support millions of internal and external users across the entire identity lifecycle. Whether you’re just beginning your ICAM journey or need to manage an already well-developed infrastructure, Easy Dynamics can help lower your costs and increase the effectiveness of your identity lifecycle.

The Benefits of Accelerated CSP Selection

Expert consultation geared to your agency’s needs

Hands-on experience implementing NIST standards

Mitigating risk by avoiding common CSP pitfalls

Expertise in the design and roll-out of proofing and authentication

End-to-end program management, from solving challenges to implementing oversight

Ready to get started?

JJ Harkema
VP Solutions & Partnerships

jharkema@easydynamics.com

Adam Mouw
VP Business Development

amouw@easydynamics.com