Introducing the ConductorOne Academy

Authorization in Modern Applications: SCIM Falls Short

2 min

Speaker: Paul Querna CTO, Co-founder ConductorOne

Learn how modern SaaS apps handle authorization, why SSO and SCIM fall short, and how ConductorOne’s Baton connectors provide the visibility and control needed for secure access governance.

Main Takeaways

  • Many SaaS apps manage admin access through flags on user accounts, often outside the control of your identity provider (IDP).

  • SCIM can provision users and groups, but it can’t handle deeper authorization logic tied to specific app resources.

  • Most modern apps have a complex resource tree—like documents, dashboards, or projects—tied to individual users or groups.

  • SCIM lacks a protocol for syncing these granular bindings, leaving gaps in visibility and control.

  • ConductorOne’s Baton connectors solve this by querying the app's resource tree and mapping user access at the object level.

  • This enables fine-grained authorization and governance for access that SCIM and SSO alone can’t manage.