Identity and access management (IAM) was built with a single goal in mind: identity security.
But the user experience in legacy systems was largely an afterthought. The result of using legacy identity systems is a landscape of clunky, frustrating, and inefficient processes that can be a constant source of friction for the entire organization.
When getting access to systems is difficult, users will inevitably find ways to bypass security controls by doing things like sharing passwords, using personal apps for work, and creating shadow IT, all of which can become a security nightmare for IT teams.
A modern security program cannot afford to treat user experience as a secondary concern. The reality is that a poor user experience is a threat to your organization’s security posture.
This is where artificial intelligence comes in. By introducing intelligence and automation, AI makes it possible automate complex and manual identity processes while simultaneously being more secure and easier to use,
How AI improves the end-user experience
For the average employee, the IAM system is often seen as a barrier: a series of frustrating hurdles they have to overcome to do their job. AI is changing this by redesigning the experience to be intuitive, fast, and intelligent, which in turn encourages better security adoption.
Intelligent, self-service access
AI-powered conversational interfaces are replacing clunky, confusing request forms. Instead of searching through a massive service catalog, users can request access in plain language directly within the tools they already use, like Slack or Microsoft Teams.
What does this look like in practice?
An employee can simply type, “I need access to the Q4 marketing report.” AI can understand the request, use peer analysis to suggest the appropriate level of permission, and present it to the approver with context like, “This is the same level of access that 85% of their team members already have.” This makes the process faster for the user and the decision easier for the manager.
💡PRO TIP: Enable self-service with ConductorOne:
✅Allow users to self-service from custom app catalogs.
✅Expose granular entitlements so users get only what they need.
✅Give users a seamless experience across web, communication tools, and CLI.
Personalized, automated onboarding
A new hire’s first impression of a company’s efficiency is often formed by how long it takes to get the access they need to be productive. AI can orchestrate a highly personalized and automated “Day 1 ready” onboarding experience.
Instead of giving every new engineer a generic set of permissions, an AI-driven system can analyze the specific projects, code repositories, and teams they’re assigned to and provision a tailored set of birthright access. This ensures a new hire is productive from their first hour, not their first week.
Learn more → Best Practices for Automated Identity Lifecycle Management
How AI improves the manager and reviewer experience
For managers and application owners, identity management has traditionally meant a constant stream of low-context emails and spreadsheets asking for approvals. This leads to approval fatigue and the dangerous habit of rubber-stamping, approving everything just to clear the queue. AI transforms this experience from a chore into a valuable, data-driven governance function.
AI-powered recommendations for access requests
AI acts as a decision support system for managers, enriching every new access request with critical context. This allows them to make faster, more confident, and more secure approvals.
When a manager receives an access request, the AI can add a simple, powerful insight like, “This is a low-risk request. 90% of the user’s peers have this same access, and it aligns with their job function.”
Conversely, it might warn, “This is a high-risk request. This user has never requested privileged access before, and no one else on their team has this permission.” This allows managers to approve routine requests in seconds and focus their valuable time on true exceptions.
Context-rich, intelligent access reviews
The periodic access certification is one of the most disliked processes in any organization. AI transforms it from a dreaded, time-consuming task into a simple, intelligent, and effective risk-reduction exercise. It automates the data gathering and analysis that managers would otherwise have to do themselves.
💡Pro tip: A modern AI-driven system turns an access review from a wall of text into a simple to-do list with clear recommendations. It can automatically group low-risk permissions (e.g., widely used, non-sensitive apps) and suggest a bulk certification, while highlighting the high-risk, unused, or anomalous permissions that require individual scrutiny. This ‘focus on the exceptions’ approach makes the process faster for managers and far more effective at reducing risk.
How AI improves the administrator & security team experience
For IAM administrators and security teams, AI provides a significant boost to their efficiency and effectiveness. It automates the repetitive, low-level tasks that consume the majority of their time, allowing them to shift their focus from manual administration to strategic security oversight.
Conversational policy and operations
AI-powered large language models (LLMs) are transforming the way administrators interact with complex IAM systems. Instead of writing scripts or navigating complex dashboards, they can use natural language to manage the platform.
An administrator can simply ask, “Show me all users who have standing privileged access to our production AWS accounts.” AI can instantly provide the list and then follow up with a suggested action, such as, “Would you like to start a JIT access policy for these users?” This conversational approach dramatically lowers the technical barrier to performing complex governance tasks.
Autonomous discovery and remediation
Perhaps the most significant benefit for security teams is the ability to use AI agents to proactively find and fix risk at scale. Instead of manually hunting for bad permissions, they can task an AI with a high-level goal.
💡Pro tip: A security leader can task an AI agent with a goal like, “Discover and remove all excessive public S3 bucket permissions across our entire AWS organization.” The agent can then autonomously identify the risky permissions, model the impact of removing them, and present a remediation plan to the security team for a final, one-click approval. This automates a task that would have previously taken hundreds of hours of manual work.
The platform for a better identity experience
A secure identity program doesn’t have to come at the expense of user experience. ConductorOne is the agentic identity platform designed to deliver a modern, intelligent, and user-friendly experience for everyone in your organization, from end-users and their managers to the administrators who run the system.
We help you eliminate the friction of traditional IAM by:
- Making access requests effortless for end-users. With our deep integration into tools like Slack, employees can request the access they need in plain language, without ever leaving the application where they work.
- Empowering managers with intelligent recommendations. We turn access reviews from a chore into a valuable governance function. Our platform provides managers with clear, AI-powered recommendations to help them make faster, more confident, and more secure decisions.
- Giving administrators a modern, automated toolkit. Our no-code workflow builder and conversational interface allow your security team to automate complex tasks, manage policies, and gain visibility without the overhead of legacy platforms.
Stop forcing your organization to choose between security and a great user experience. With ConductorOne, you can have both.
To learn more about ConductorOne, book a demo.
FAQs:
Does a more user-friendly experience mean we have to lower our security standards?
No, it’s the opposite. A modern, AI-driven approach actually improves security because it makes the secure path the easiest path for your employees. When requesting access is simple and intuitive, users are far less likely to resort to insecure workarounds like sharing passwords or using shadow IT. Furthermore, features like adaptive MFA increase security by applying friction only when it’s truly needed, making the system both smarter and less intrusive.
What is the first step to improving the user experience of our current IAM program?
The best first step is to map the end-user journey for your most common access request. Follow the process from the user’s perspective:
- How do they find what they need?
- How long does it take?
- How many different people have to approve it?
This exercise will quickly highlight the biggest points of friction and give you a clear, data-driven starting point for improvement.
How do you measure the ROI of a better user experience in IAM?
The return on investment (ROI) of a better UX can be measured by tracking several key metrics:
- Time-to-productivity for new hires: How quickly new employees get the access they need to do their jobs.
- Reduction in access-related help desk tickets: Fewer tickets for password resets and access requests means lower operational costs.
- Time saved by managers: The amount of time managers save on approving requests and conducting access reviews.
- Increased security adoption: Higher adoption rates for security tools and processes, which leads to a stronger overall security posture.
