Identity security delivers the highest ROI among enterprise security priorities
There’s a reason identity security is commanding attention in boardrooms right now. It’s become the highest-yielding area of enterprise security investment. SailPoint’s Horizons of Identity Security 2025–2026 report makes that clear. When identity is done right, companies don’t just cut risks, they unlock performance.
Businesses that have pushed their identity security programs into the higher maturity brackets are seeing returns up to 10x. That’s hard data. And this doesn’t depend on industry, it’s true across finance, tech, and healthcare.
The logic is simple. Identity is at the center of how access is granted, tracked, and revoked across systems, whether for a person, a machine, or an AI bot. This control point is critical. It influences security outcomes, operational efficiency, and compliance posture. Turn it into a strategic function and suddenly you’re accelerating decision-making, reducing manual effort, and enforcing smarter policies.
Matt Mills, President at SailPoint, calls identity “the top ROI generator in the security stack.” Not a side project. Not secondary. It’s where you get cost cuts, tighter risk controls, and growth enablement, all at once. For any executive looking to modernize infrastructure and push performance metrics forward, identity should be high on the list.
Treating it as a strategic asset, not just a compliance checkbox, is what separates fast-moving enterprises from the rest. And the risk of sitting still is real. Mistaking identity security as just another IT function comes at the cost of missed opportunity and growing exposure to operational and cyber threats.
Most organizations still operate at a basic level of identity maturity
Despite the known benefits, most companies are still behind. The SailPoint study shows that 63% of organizations are stuck in early-stage identity maturity, Horizons 1 or 2. At this level, identity operations heavily depend on manual processes, disjointed tools, and reactive management. That’s not scalable.
Only 10% have moved into the advanced Horizons 4 and 5, where identity is automated, intelligent, and connected to business growth. What’s surprising is that some organizations have even gone backward. Why? Because the threat landscape has become more complex. Keeping up requires more than just effort, it requires a shift in mindset and infrastructure.
C-suite leaders need to consider the cost of manual operations. It’s not just about inefficiency. It creates gaps, real vulnerabilities that bad actors can exploit. But more than that, basic maturity slows decision velocity and increases compliance burdens.
There’s now a clear bar for what mature identity looks like. We’re talking about AI-enabled governance, just-in-time access controls, and unifying access across multi-cloud environments. The tools are there. What’s missing in most cases is the execution.
If your organization is still managing identities the same way as five years ago, it’s time to rethink. Basic maturity might have worked when systems were simpler. But with today’s distributed teams, AI-driven workloads, and regulatory pressures, you need next-level control. The earlier you invest in elevating identity, the sooner you capture the upside, and the easier it is to keep up with the pace of change.
AI adoption is a critical factor in accelerating identity maturity and capabilities
AI is not optional anymore, it’s decisive, especially in the context of identity security. The organizations that have adopted AI-driven identity capabilities are moving significantly faster than those stuck with manual controls. According to the SailPoint report, these companies are four times more likely to implement advanced features like identity threat detection and response (ITDR), adaptive authentication, and governance over AI agents and bots.
This is about acting on what the current environment already demands. Identity security has scaled beyond simple logins and credentials, it now needs to account for a growing number of machine identities, service accounts, and artificially intelligent agents that interact with data autonomously. Manual practices won’t manage that.
By embedding AI into identity management, companies gain real-time insight, automate access decisions, and detect anomalous patterns without requiring massive human effort. That increases precision and reduces exposure. It also saves time, improves scalability, and lowers the operational cost of securing the enterprise.
Decision-making becomes faster and smarter when systems can respond dynamically. Unified workflows allow businesses to eliminate access delays and data silos, both of which limit agility. In short, AI isn’t simply a nice-to-have. It’s the engine that pushes identity programs into the upper tiers of maturity and impact.
The C-suite takeaway here is clear: AI elevates identity from tactical infrastructure to a strategic advantage. Companies that delay integration aren’t just missing out on efficiency, they’re opening themselves to risk that others have already figured out how to close.
Strategic deployment practices improve maturity progression and implementation success
Most companies aren’t failing because they lack the tools. They fail because implementation is fragmented, disorganized, or reactive. The SailPoint report shows that organizations that take the time to clean up identity data and standardize application onboarding procedures are 1.6 times more likely to climb the maturity curve and adopt advanced technologies successfully.
Identity systems don’t operate in isolation. They link directly with HR databases, third-party apps, customer systems, and security platforms. If the underlying data is inconsistent, if job roles, entitlements, or access histories aren’t clean, then automation breaks down. You can’t scale on top of noise.
Standardization provides a structure to drive faster deployment and clearer governance. Migrating to a new identity platform without rationalizing legacy data adds complexity and risk. Enterprises that prioritize upfront processes increase implementation velocity and reduce post-deployment maintenance.
For leadership, this isn’t about micromanaging technical setup, it’s about resource alignment. Ensuring proper foundations are in place means that future-state capabilities like identity threat detection, just-in-time access, and AI governance actually work.
It requires internal discipline. But the tradeoff is controlled outcomes, simplified audits, and platforms that adapt as the organization evolves. Smart deployment isn’t a side step in digital transformation, it’s the acceleration method for identity-driven performance.
Mature identity programs unify identity, data, and security systems for superior outcomes
The most advanced organizations are no longer treating identity security, data management, and cybersecurity as separate initiatives. They’re integrating these functions into a unified operational model, one where decisions are informed, timely, and automated. According to the SailPoint report, organizations that reach higher identity maturity are enabling what the report calls the “trifecta”: unified identity governance, streamlined data control, and adaptive security response.
The result isn’t just better protection, it’s higher performance. By consolidating identity and security layers, companies reduce overhead, remove duplication, and ensure consistent policy enforcement across all systems. This allows them to operate with more agility, flex to meet compliance demands, and deploy AI-driven capabilities that need clean, reliable access frameworks.
When identity systems are integrated deeply into enterprise architecture, everything works with more alignment. Users, whether human, machine, or AI, get the access they need based on real-time context. Security teams operate with clarity, and data visibility improves across cloud and on-prem environments.
For C-suite executives, the advantage comes down to control and readiness. A unified identity strategy prepares the organization to onboard emerging technologies faster, react to evolving threats with intelligence, and enforce accountability with less manual oversight. This is no longer an experimental idea, it’s now common practice among high-performing enterprises.
When enterprises invest in building seamless connections between identity, data, and security, they position themselves for stronger governance, lower operating costs, and sustained digital speed. That’s the benchmark the rest are now chasing.
Real-world implementations demonstrate tangible benefits of advancing identity maturity
Companies like Wipro and Specsavers are showing what happens when identity security moves beyond early-stage adoption. Wipro, for example, is now expanding focus from enterprise rollout to using automation and AI to drive deeper capability. Satvinder Madhok, Vice President of Business Integrated Technology Solutions at Wipro, confirms, “We are firmly focused on taking Wipro beyond enterprise-wide adoption of effective identity capabilities to advanced capabilities using automation and AI.” This is a strategic shift, and it’s paying off.
Specsavers has taken a similar path by streamlining and automating large volumes of manual identity tasks. The result: stronger operational efficiency and improved enforcement of least-privilege access policies, core to modern security posture. That translates directly into risk mitigation and compliance assurance, with less reliance on human intervention.
These deployments make one thing clear: maturity brings measurable business improvement. The shift isn’t just technical, it impacts governance, cost structure, and the speed of execution.
C-suite leaders should view these examples as validation. With the right strategy and execution, moving up the identity maturity curve produces results that scale. These organizations didn’t wait for external pressures to act, they moved first, built internal capability, and are now reaping the advantages.
Momentum matters. And the only way to gain it in today’s security environment is through commitment to automation, data transparency, and AI-aligned identity controls. That’s what separates operationally ready firms from the ones reacting after the fact.
Growing expectations and new AI governance needs are raising the bar for identity programs
The requirements for effective identity security are no longer static. What worked a year ago is not enough today. According to SailPoint’s report, enterprise environments are now expected to manage a broader set of identity types, including AI agents, and govern access across increasingly complex infrastructure, such as hybrid and multi-cloud environments. That raises the bar for what it means to have a “mature” identity program.
This year marks the first time in the report’s four-year history that some organizations have reported a decline in their identity maturity status. This regression is not due to lack of interest, it’s because the criteria themselves have evolved. Maturity models now account for advanced capabilities such as lifecycle management of AI agents, just-in-time access provisioning, and entitlement management that spans diverse platforms. These are difficult to implement without a flexible, automated, and scalable foundation.
Organizations that haven’t proactively modernized their identity stacks are struggling to meet these new demands. Manual workflows, disconnected systems, and poor identity data hygiene are holding them back. These limitations don’t just slow down adoption, they introduce compliance gaps and increase operational risk at a time when AI automation is expanding rapidly across the enterprise.
For C-suite executives, this shift signals a clear mandate. Identity security is now a dynamic function that must evolve in parallel with AI, cloud strategies, and regulatory frameworks. Sticking to older processes or delaying necessary upgrades will compound over time, not only in terms of security risk, but also in terms of lost opportunity to align identity with core business acceleration.
The leaders who recognize this change and act early will benefit from stronger governance, sharper operational clarity, and faster innovation cycles. Resistance to change doesn’t create resilience. It just introduces lag, and in this ecosystem, lag increases exposure.
Final thoughts
Identity security isn’t just about protection anymore, it’s about performance. The data is clear: companies that elevate identity to a strategic function are pulling ahead. They’re seeing higher returns, sharper operational control, and a faster path to digital transformation.
On the other hand, the maturity gap is widening. Most organizations are still stuck with manual processes and fragmented identity systems. That gap will cost more over time, not just in risk exposure, but in missed opportunities to operate smarter, faster, and at scale.
The difference-maker is execution. AI-driven identity programs, strong data hygiene, and unified governance aren’t futuristic concepts, they’re already working across industries. The challenge is deciding how quickly you’re going to move.
When identity is modernized, it becomes a growth enabler, not just a compliance tool. For executive teams looking to gain competitive edge, future-proof operations, and reduce friction across the enterprise, this is a clear place to invest. The infrastructure is ready. The ROI speaks for itself. The rest depends on who decides to lead.
