In 2025, organizations face an increasingly complex landscape of cybersecurity threats, regulatory requirements, and the need for operational efficiency as they scale. At the same time, the number of applications, systems, and cloud services they use is growing rapidly. Managing user identities and access across this intricate environment requires a robust and automated solution to minimize risks, ensure compliance, and streamline processes. SAP Identity Access Governance (SAP IAG) offers the tools needed to meet these challenges effectively.
Here is a detailed justification in numbers of why SAP IAG is essential for companies in 2025
1. The Rising Cost of Data Breaches
Cybersecurity threats are growing in both frequency and severity. A data breach can have devastating consequences, with financial, reputational, and legal ramifications. According to IBM’s 2023 Cost of a Data Breach report, the average cost of a data breach is now $4.45 million globally. Given the growing sophistication of cyberattacks, especially those targeting unauthorized access to sensitive data, businesses must proactively control user access and ensure that only authorized individuals have the appropriate permissions.
How SAP IAG Helps: SAP IAG automates access control and identity governance, ensuring that only authorized users have access to critical systems and data. By implementing role-based access controls (RBAC) and continuous monitoring, the risk of unauthorized access—and hence breaches—is reduced.
- Statistical Justification: According to Gartner, implementing an IAM solution such as SAP IAG can reduce security incidents by up to 60%, lowering the chance of a costly breach like the one described in IBM’s report.
2. Compliance and Regulatory Requirements Are Increasing
Compliance with industry regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, SOX, and HIPAA is becoming more critical and costly for businesses. In 2023, regulatory fines for GDPR non-compliance alone reached €1.2 billion. As companies face more complex and stringent regulations in 2025, the cost of non-compliance will continue to rise.
How SAP IAG Helps: SAP IAG automates and enforces compliance-related processes by ensuring consistent role-based access, access certification, and audit reporting. These features make it easier for businesses to prove compliance during audits and avoid penalties.
- Statistical Justification: Ponemon Institute found that organizations using automated IAM systems, like SAP IAG, experienced 39% fewer regulatory fines. This can result in millions of dollars in savings by preventing costly compliance violations.
3. The Complexity of Managing Access in a Hybrid IT Environment
In 2025, most companies will be operating in a hybrid IT environment, with a mix of on-premises systems and cloud-based applications. Managing access across this environment is a challenge, especially as organizations adopt multiple cloud services, SaaS solutions, and on-prem systems. Manual access management is error-prone, time-consuming, and inefficient.
How SAP IAG Helps: SAP IAG provides centralized access management for both cloud and on-premises systems. It integrates with a variety of applications (including both SAP and third-party systems), providing a unified platform for managing user access rights and ensuring that security policies are enforced across the entire IT landscape.
- Statistical Justification: A McKinsey report found that companies using centralized IAM solutions saw a 30% reduction in IT operational costs due to streamlined access management and fewer access-related issues.
4. Scaling with a Growing Workforce
In 2025, companies are likely to have a global, distributed workforce with remote employees, contractors, and third-party vendors. Managing user identities and access across this growing and diverse pool of users is increasingly difficult without automated tools. As workforce expansion continues, maintaining access control without automation becomes unsustainable.
How SAP IAG Helps: SAP IAG enables automated user provisioning and role-based access assignments across global workforces. It ensures that employees, contractors, and vendors are granted access based on their roles and responsibilities, minimizing the risk of over-privileged access and reducing administrative overhead.
- Statistical Justification: Forrester’s Total Economic Impact (TEI) report shows that companies using automated IAM solutions such as SAP IAG reduced their labor costs by 20% by automating access management tasks, such as user provisioning and access reviews. For a mid-sized company spending $500,000 on IAM-related labor, this translates to $100,000 in annual savings.
5. Insider Threats Are a Growing Concern
Insider threats—whether from malicious employees or simply from errors like improper access permissions—are responsible for a significant portion of data breaches. According to the Ponemon Institute, insider threats account for 60% of all data breaches. The risk is exacerbated when employees change roles, move across departments, or leave the company, but their access rights are not promptly updated.
How SAP IAG Helps: SAP IAG automates role-based access assignments and offboarding processes, ensuring that access rights are immediately adjusted or revoked when an employee changes roles or leaves the organization. This reduces the chances of former employees retaining unauthorized access to sensitive data or systems.
- Statistical Justification: According to Gartner, automated IAM solutions can reduce the impact of insider threats by up to 50%. This could save companies millions of dollars in potential damages caused by unauthorized access or data leaks.
6. The Need for Improved User Experience
With the growing number of applications and systems businesses rely on, employees need a smooth and efficient way to access the systems and data they need to do their jobs. Friction in the user experience—such as multiple logins or complex access requests—can lead to frustration, lost productivity, and a higher volume of IT support tickets.
How SAP IAG Helps: SAP IAG integrates with Single Sign-On (SSO) solutions, enabling users to access all necessary applications with a single set of credentials. This reduces friction in the user experience, enhances productivity, and lowers the burden on IT support teams.
- Statistical Justification: Okta’s 2023 State of Secure Identity report revealed that organizations implementing SSO saw a 40% reduction in IT support tickets related to login and access issues, freeing up IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.
7. Improving Operational Efficiency and Reducing Costs
Managing access rights manually is inefficient, prone to human error, and resource intensive. In 2025, businesses need to drive efficiency through automation to remain competitive and cut unnecessary costs.
How SAP IAG Helps: SAP IAG automates time-consuming identity and access management tasks, such as user provisioning, de-provisioning, access reviews, and compliance reporting. This automation allows IT departments to focus on higher value tasks and ensures a more efficient use of resources.
- Statistical Justification: A Forrester TEI report on IAM solutions showed that businesses experienced a 40% reduction in IAM-related operational costs after implementing automated solutions like SAP IAG. These savings are particularly significant for larger enterprises with hundreds or thousands of employees.
8. Futureproofing Against Emerging Challenges
As technology evolves and new cybersecurity threats emerge, companies will need to adapt quickly. SAP IAG provides continuous updates and integrates with emerging technologies such as AI-driven threat detection and machine learning for adaptive security. This ensures that businesses can stay ahead of new challenges in 2025 and beyond.
How SAP IAG Helps: SAP IAG leverages AI and machine learning to continuously monitor access patterns, detect anomalies, and automatically adjust security measures based on evolving risks. This proactive approach to security helps businesses mitigate emerging threats before they escalate.
- Statistical Justification: Deloitte’s research has shown that AI and machine learning-driven IAM systems can detect and mitigate up to 75% of emerging threats before they cause damage, allowing organizations to stay ahead of cybersecurity risks in an increasingly complex landscape.
Conclusion: Why SAP IAG is Essential in 2025
In 2025, companies face growing cybersecurity risks, stricter regulatory requirements, and the complexity of managing access across a hybrid, distributed IT environment. SAP IAG offers a comprehensive solution that automates and streamlines identity and access governance while improving security, compliance, and operational efficiency.
The numbers don’t lie:
- 60% reduction in security incidents.
- 39% fewer regulatory fines.
- 20% savings in IAM labor costs.
- 50% reduction in insider threat risks.
- 40% fewer IT support tickets with SSO.
SAP IAG is no longer optional; it is a critical tool for businesses to stay secure, compliant, and efficient in an increasingly complex digital world.