The CIAM dream: elegant logins, ironclad security. The all-too-common reality? A brutal slog through resource-intensive upgrades, with organizations often left chasing new identity tech and ever-higher user demands. Success is often a function of time, whether it's implementation, adoption, or maturity within the org.

"Everyone is fighting for resources," says Zack Schuck, Enterprise Client Director at Strivacity, who brings deep experience in the identity and security sector from roles at firms like Transmit Security and Forter. "We see that these organizations view customer identity or customer experience as a project when really it needs to be more of a program."

Shifting from a project to a program perspective is fundamental. It requires a cohesive strategy, aligning traditionally siloed departments—from security and e-commerce to fraud prevention. "How do you get all of those different lines of business working in parallel so that they're getting a lot of the business benefits?" he asks. A holistic view helps balance security needs with frictionless user experience.

• Departmental alignment: The challenge intensifies with diverse, sometimes conflicting, internal priorities. "From the security team's perspective, they want to introduce some sort of friction there in terms of making sure that only your customer gets through," Schuck observes. "From the digital side, it's the opposite; it's removing that friction." Bridging this gap is key. He suggests giving all stakeholders a seat at the table with access to relevant data. "It's making sure that they all understand internally where the overlap is, and making sure that they have access to the right data that could guide the overarching company initiatives." Ultimately, for the company, Schuck notes, "it's not only reducing risk, it's driving revenue and trying to find the right balance there."

• The AI frontier and the flywheel effect: Looking ahead, Strivacity is betting on AI as the solve. "For us, it's all about moving into the direction of artificial intelligence," Schuck states, adding that from a product lens, "we're launching a new AI feature where we're going to be able to provide to our customers the ability to get more of that data in real time a lot quicker." He also envisions AI guiding future product development.

"The biggest misconception about modernizing customer identity is that it has to be a long, painful, multi-year ordeal." The glacial pace of implementing new identity features is a primary pain point. "What our customers tell us is that they get stuck in development cycles," Schuck points out.

• Accelerating time to value: "It might take 12 to 18 months to be able to just turn on something as simple as allowing their customers to sign up with Google." Using low-code and no-code components drastically reduces development burdens, allowing for quicker adoption of modern features, improved user flows, and ultimately, a lower total cost of ownership with faster time to first value.