Why Your IAM Strategy Isn’t Landing

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You spent six months building your IAM strategy. You crafted a PowerPoint with 47 slides, flowcharts, and heatmaps. You poured your heart into it.

And then it landed with a thud. Executives nodded politely. The CFO asked one question about licensing. And then... nothing. No momentum. No urgency. No follow-through.

So what happened?

Let’s be honest: most IAM strategies fall flat not because they’re wrong, but because they weren’t built to resonate.

Here’s what that usually looks like:

• They’re packed with technical jargon that means little to business stakeholders.

• They lack a clear narrative that connects IAM to the company’s goals.

• They focus on capabilities and products, not outcomes and impact.

Start with the Problem, Not the Tech

Instead of jumping into solutions like "we need IGA" or "we're implementing SSO," start with the business pain.

Lead with that. Then show how IAM addresses it.

Speak Their Language

You’re not just securing identities. You’re enabling:

• Faster onboarding (HR cares)

• Reduced audit findings (Risk and Finance care)

• Fewer outages from incorrect access (Ops and App owners care)

Translate every IAM benefit into a business value metric:

• "Decreased onboarding time from 14 days to 3"

• "Closed audit findings within one review cycle"

• "Zero high-risk access violations during Q3"

Build a Story, Not a Slide Deck

IAM strategy isn’t just about planning—it’s about buy-in.

Tell a story:

• Where are we today (and what are the risks)?

• Where are we trying to go?

• What will it take to get there (in business terms)?

• What will it look like when we succeed?

Paint the picture. Make it visual. Make it emotional. And always tie it back to why this matters now.

Use the IAM Jedi Mind Trick

Sometimes getting your strategy to land is less about what you say and more about who says it.

Bring in partners across the business. Get finance to validate savings. Let compliance confirm risk reduction. When your strategy echoes back from other voices, it stops being your strategy and starts being the strategy.

Your IAM strategy doesn’t need more slides. It needs more connection.