CIAM
CIAM vs. IAM - Customer Identity vs. Identity Access Management Explained
By Dan Moore
Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) and Identity and Access Management (IAM) control how people access your application or system. This includes determining who can access what, how they prove their identity, and how access is managed over time. While CIAM and IAM share similarities, they serve different needs and audiences.
Let’s take a look at these differences and their use cases.
What is IAM?
IAM, or Identity and Access Management, focuses on managing the identities of employees and partners within an organization. It governs access to internal systems, tools, and data, ensuring that the right individuals have access to the right resources. This process involves authenticating and authorizing users to confirm their identity and determine what resources they can access based on their roles.
While IAM stands for Identity and Access Management, it is actually missing a letter. It really should be termed EIAM, for Employee Identity and Access Management, or even WIAM, Workforce Identity and Access Management. IAM is commonly called “workforce” as well, probably because that sounds better than WIAM or EIAM (how do you even pronounce EIAM?).
IAM is really about managing employee and partner identities. Many vendors have software aimed at solving these problems. The employee identity lifecycle is well understood:
- People are onboarded when they are hired.
- Employees have a certain set of privileges needed to do their jobs.
- Workers may shift roles in a controlled fashion (also known as a ‘promotion’ or ‘transfer’).
- Users can be forced to conform to password policies and other security requirements (what are they going to do, quit?).
- Eventually, people leave and will then be offboarded.
Much of this holds true for partners, such as vendors and contractors, as well. IAM solutions are typically deployed in a heterogeneous environment. Silos of user data are expected, and different protocols are the norm. There may also be complicated federated relationships between these user data silos.
For example, LDAP is still alive and well in many companies. A few years ago, I talked to a company that purchased a number of hospitals. They maintained multiple employee directories for years and laughed when I talked about consolidation.
Common attributes of IAM users:
- They are known and verified, through paperwork such as an offer letter or employment contract
- There are defined processes to get credentials
- There’s a durable business relationship
Example: Pied Piper’s Employee Onboarding
Pied Piper is building out an empire with their middle-out compression. They have hundreds of customers and dozens of employees.
When they onboard a new employee, they want to ensure the employee has access to Google Drive, an internal Slack, Zendesk, GitHub, and a few other custom built applications. If an engineer is hired, they need to be added to a certain GitHub team, whereas if a marketer is hired, they need to be given an account on Hubspot and Zapier. Strong auditing and accountability are requirements. Users must use MFA for compliance reasons (SOC2! ISO27001) and are expected to authenticate to these applications daily.
This use case demonstrates how IAM ensures operational efficiency and security for workforce access.
What is CIAM?
Customer Identity and Access Management also handles people, privileges, and access, but there are differences from IAM. CIAM focuses on authenticating and authorizing customers, enabling their secure and seamless interactions with your products or services.
The customer identity lifecycle is distinct from employee identity and includes:
- Customers self-registering or signing up for access.
- Users managing their own accounts, including updating passwords or preferences.
- Customers interacting with your system sporadically, based on their needs or external factors like marketing campaigns.
- Customers choosing to enable security measures like MFA or leveraging social logins for convenience.
- Businesses enabling users to update their access level, such as upgrading subscriptions or permissions.
CIAM systems emphasize features such as social login, user self-service, and consent management, allowing users to take control of their experience while maintaining security and privacy.
Common attributes of CIAM users are:
- Users may not be verified in advance and often self-register without prior interaction.
- There’s no durable relationship until the user becomes a customer—they might simply be evaluating your product.
- Customers may interact sporadically, creating spikes in demand during specific periods or campaigns.
CIAM systems are optimized for scalability, supporting millions or billions of users, compared to the thousands or tens of thousands typically handled by IAM systems. They must also provide flexibility in authentication options and user experiences to accommodate a diverse audience.
Example: Pied Piper’s Customer Access
When Pied Piper gets a new customer, the customer will self register, pay for access to the compression system API, and begin using it. They also need access to Zendesk for filing support tickets. Users need to be able to reset their password, update their plan, and access the API, using self-service tools and not talking to anyone at Pied Piper. Some customers will use the API, complete their integration, and not log in again for months. A few customers want to use MFA, but most of them don’t care about it. Some customers don’t want the hassle of a new login to manage, so want to log in with GitHub or Google.
In contrast to the first example, this use case is a perfect fit for a CIAM solution.
How is CIAM Different from a CRM?
A CIAM system is different from a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, such as Salesforce or Hubspot.
The purpose of CRM is to record the interactions with a customer and the audience is internal. While you might have different channels and other data structures in a CRM, it’s not a multi-purpose login experience for your customers.
On the other hand, the purpose of CIAM is to allow the user to manage and control their identity, from credentials to profile data to MFA, with as much self-service functionality as possible to empower the customer. Additionally, CIAM is focused on access control for different applications.
Key Differences Between CIAM and IAM
While both CIAM and IAM manage identities and access, their purpose and implementation differ significantly due to the nature of their audiences and use cases.
IAM solutions are designed for employees and partners, focusing on operational efficiency, strict compliance requirements, and regular daily interactions. These systems ensure employees are onboarded, provided with the necessary access to internal tools, and comply with security measures like mandatory multi-factor authentication (MFA). They are also optimized to detect and prevent unauthorized access to sensitive internal systems, ensuring operational continuity and data integrity.
For workforce solutions, other entities play a role in permissions, such as the team, department, organization, or division. The relationship between the user, the resource, and these entities influences access to specific applications or functionality. This complexity, layered on top of user attributes, is a defining characteristic of IAM systems.
In contrast, CIAM solutions cater to customers and potential customers, emphasizing scalability, flexibility, and user experience. These systems are designed to authenticate and authorize users while simultaneously preventing unauthorized access to customer accounts or sensitive user data. Unlike IAM, where users are known and verified through employment contracts, CIAM users may not even be full customers—they could be evaluating your solution.
CIAM systems are designed to handle a significantly larger user base than IAM systems—often by an order of magnitude or more. Companies typically have thousands or tens of thousands of employees but serve customer populations many times larger. For example:
- Google: In 2023, Google managed approximately 182,000 employees but supported billions of users globally.
- Basecamp: Despite having fewer than 100 employees, Basecamp serves millions of customers.
This disparity in scale also impacts pricing. IAM solutions generally charge on the order of dollars per user per month due to the smaller, consistent user base. In contrast, CIAM systems are priced more cost-effectively per active user to accommodate their vast, often irregularly active populations. Customers may only interact with an application sporadically, driven by marketing campaigns, seasonal trends, or other external factors. Employees, by contrast, log in daily, requiring a more predictable and consistent infrastructure.
The complexity of modeled permissions tends to be lower with CIAM. While there may still be different roles for users that affect your application, CIAM systems typically avoid the hierarchical thicket of permissions seen in IAM. For example, customer-facing applications might require only basic role-based access, such as admin or user roles, while IAM systems often involve intricate, cross-cutting permission hierarchies influenced by organizational structures. CIAM systems also usually manage access to fewer applications compared to IAM.
Additionally, while IAM prioritizes strict compliance, such as mandatory MFA, CIAM provides flexibility to accommodate user preferences. This might include optional MFA or integration with third-party identity providers like Google or Facebook. The customer-focused design of CIAM reflects the revenue-driven relationship between businesses and their users, where exceeding expectations is critical for success.
By simplifying permission models and emphasizing scalability and usability, CIAM solutions provide a tailored approach to customer identity management, distinct from the operational focus of IAM.
Feature | IAM | CIAM |
---|---|---|
Audience | Employees and partners | Customers and potential customers |
Focus | Operational efficiency, compliance and internal productivity | Customer experience, conversions, and engagement |
Security | Strict compliance (e.g., mandatory MFA, password policies) | Flexible security based on user preferences and business needs (e.g., optional MFA, social login) |
Scale | Handles thousands or tens of thousands of users | Scales to support millions or even billions of users |
Interaction Frequency | Daily, consistent use (e.g., employees logging in to tools regularly) | Sporadic or seasonal, driven by user needs or marketing campaigns |
Permission Models | Complex, hierarchical roles tied to teams, departments, and divisions | Simpler, role-based permissions (e.g., admin, user roles) |
Pricing | Typically charged per user per month | Cost-efficient pricing per active user, designed for scalability |
Self-Service | Limited self-service; IT often manages account actions, especially around provisioning | Extensive self-service for actions like registration, password resets, and profile updates |
Integration | Internal systems (e.g., HR tools, directories like LDAP or Active Directory) | External-facing tools (e.g., CRMs, marketing platforms) |
Usage Spikes | Predictable, tied to working hours and workforce operations | Unpredictable, with sudden spikes due to seasonal trends or campaigns |
Benefits of CIAM
CIAM solutions offer several advantages, particularly in enhancing customer experiences and supporting organizational goals.
Supports Customer Self-Service and Account Management
CIAM systems empower customers by enabling self-service capabilities, such as password resets, profile updates, and consent management. These features reduce users’ reliance on customer support while providing a seamless experience for them.
Enhances User Experience
Some ways to exceed customer expectations that are relevant to CIAM solutions include:
- localized messages in their language
- consumer-grade user experience, including intuitive interfaces with clear error messages
- response speed like Google search
- user choice of login method such as magic link, social login, passkeys, and username/password
Ensures Access to Resources at the Right Times
CIAM systems prioritize delivering timely access for customers, whether they’re registering or logging in to complete a purchase, access support, or engage with promotional content. CIAM systems must be highly available because they are the front door to your application.
By being available whenever customers need it, CIAM systems ensure users can interact with your services when it matters most.
Scales Efficiently for Large User Bases
Unlike IAM systems that manage thousands or tens of thousands of employees regularly logging in, CIAM systems are built to handle millions or even billions of customers with irregular activity patterns. They are designed to efficiently scale for high-demand periods, such as during marketing campaigns or seasonal spikes.
Integrates with Marketing Systems for Actionable Insights
It’s not only users that have high expectations of a CIAM system. Marketing, product, and sales departments, among others, will want access to the data your CIAM system holds.
CIAM systems bridge the gap between customer identity and business strategy by integrating with marketing tools. These integrations provide real-time access to customer data, empowering teams to:
- Analyze and optimize customer journeys.
- Personalize marketing campaigns based on user behavior.
- Achieve sales and engagement goals.
Helps Exceed Customer Expectations
Customers, unlike employees or partners, are not bound by a contractual commitment to your organization. (At least, not always.) They have alternatives and expect a seamless experience at every touchpoint, including the login process. Meeting these expectations can drive retention and growth.
Key strategies for exceeding customer expectations include:
- allowing customers to choose their communication methods
- ensuring they can manage their profile and consents
- offering a fast, user-friendly login process
Supports Privacy and Security
Modern CIAM solutions must disseminate appropriate user data to other applications while preserving privacy. Data scrubbing, real-time dissemination, and integration with compliance standards ensure that user trust is maintained.
In summary, CIAM solutions are designed to support scalable, secure, and user-friendly experiences that align with customer needs and organizational objectives, making them essential for businesses aiming to build strong, lasting relationships with their users.
Use Cases for CIAM and IAM
Both CIAM and IAM address identity management but are designed for fundamentally different user groups and use cases. Understanding these distinctions is essential for selecting the right solution for your organization.
IAM Use Cases
IAM solutions are tailored to manage access for employees and partners within an organization, ensuring operational efficiency and security. These systems support internal workflows and compliance requirements, with a focus on workforce productivity.
For example, a multinational corporation might use IAM to:
- Onboard new employees, granting them access to tools like Salesforce, Slack, Google Workspace, or proprietary applications based on their job roles.
- Adjust permissions as employees change roles or responsibilities, ensuring continued access to relevant tools while removing unnecessary privileges.
- Offboard employees securely, revoking access to all systems upon departure to maintain data integrity.
IAM systems also support integration with HR platforms and directories like LDAP or Active Directory, enabling centralized management of employee access. These solutions are ideal for environments where users access multiple systems daily and compliance with standards like SOC2 or HIPAA is critical.
**Example:**Pied Piper, a company with dozens of employees, uses IAM to ensure their workforce has secure and tailored access to internal tools like GitHub for engineers or HubSpot for marketers. Strong auditing and mandatory MFA ensure compliance with industry standards.
CIAM Use Cases
CIAM solutions are built for customer-facing applications, managing large user bases with sporadic activity. These systems prioritize user experience, scalability, and flexibility while integrating with tools like CRMs and marketing platforms.
For example, an e-commerce platform might use CIAM to:
- Allow customers to self-register and create accounts with minimal friction.
- Support social logins through platforms like Google or Facebook, reducing barriers to entry.
- Enable customers to manage their profiles, passwords, and preferences through self-service tools.
- Handle sudden surges in traffic during marketing campaigns or seasonal events, ensuring uninterrupted service.
CIAM solutions also provide valuable customer profile data to marketing and sales teams, helping improve personalization and engagement strategies.
Example:
Pied Piper offers its customers access to a compression API via a CIAM system. Customers self-register, pay for access, and log in as needed to use the API or submit support tickets. Some users prefer to log in using GitHub, while others opt for MFA for added security. The system scales efficiently to accommodate millions of users, even during high-demand periods.
How to Choose Between CIAM and IAM
Deciding between CIAM and IAM depends on the type of users you need to manage, your organization’s goals, and the specific features required to meet your business objectives. Both systems are designed to control access securely, but their focus and functionality cater to different audiences.
Assess Your User Base
- IAM: If your users are employees, contractors, or partners accessing internal tools and systems, an IAM solution is the right choice. These systems are designed to manage employee lifecycles, from onboarding to offboarding, and ensure secure access to internal resources.
- CIAM: If your users are external customers, potential customers, or other stakeholders interacting with your products or services, a CIAM solution is better suited. CIAM is optimized for scalability and delivers a seamless, user-friendly experience tailored to customer needs.
Evaluate Compliance and Security Requirements
- IAM: Strict compliance requirements, such as SOC2 or HIPAA, often necessitate features like mandatory multi-factor authentication (MFA) and fine-grained access control for employees and partners.
- CIAM: While CIAM also supports robust security, it offers more flexibility to accommodate user preferences, such as optional MFA or social logins, while maintaining compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR or CCPA.
Scalability and User Activity
- IAM: Suitable for environments where users log in daily to perform tasks, making interaction patterns predictable and infrastructure needs steady.
- CIAM: Ideal for customer-facing applications with millions or billions of users. CIAM systems handle irregular activity patterns, such as spikes during marketing campaigns or seasonal events, and are designed to scale efficiently.
Integration with Existing Systems
- IAM: Best for integrating with internal systems, such as HR platforms, project management tools, and directories like LDAP or Active Directory.
- CIAM: Focuses on external integrations with CRMs, marketing automation tools, and analytics platforms, enabling personalized customer experiences and actionable insights.
Questions to Ask
To further refine your decision, ask the following:
- Do your users need access to internal tools or customer-facing applications?
- How important is self-service functionality for your users?
- What scale of user base do you need to support?
- Are you managing predictable, consistent interactions or sporadic, high-traffic events?
- What level of integration do you need with existing systems like HR tools or CRMs?
Why Choose FusionAuth for Your CIAM?
FusionAuth is a customer identity and access management (CIAM) solution built for scalability, security, and ease of use. With features like multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, and social login, FusionAuth provides the tools needed for seamless and secure user management. Its extensible architecture also allows for customization to suit the unique requirements of any organization.
Here are a few reasons why FusionAuth is highly rated by users (4.8/5 on Capterra):
Comprehensive Feature Offering
FusionAuth includes a robust suite of features designed to address various authentication and authorization needs, from authentication flows to user management capabilities and authorization policies.
Developer-Focused and API-Driven
Built with developers in mind, FusionAuth emphasizes flexibility and control with an API-first approach. It supports custom workflows, tailored login pages, and personalized email notifications to integrate seamlessly into your application stack.
Scalability and Adaptability
Whether supporting a small application or scaling to millions of users, FusionAuth delivers consistent performance. It offers flexible deployment options to grow alongside your user base and application demands.
Advanced Security and Compliance Support
FusionAuth prioritizes user data protection with robust security features while aiding compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA, helping organizations meet stringent data protection standards.
Cost-Effective for Organizations of All Sizes
FusionAuth offers a free Community version alongside premium features available through transparent pricing, making it accessible for startups and enterprises alike.
Discover a customizable and developer-friendly CIAM solution with FusionAuth. Get started with a free trial today and take your authentication, security, and user management capabilities to the next level.