Topic starter
08/02/2026 10:03 pm
TL;DR: More than 50% of IGA deployments are distressed and fail to meet functional, budgetary, or timing commitments, with projects often stalling on provisioning-first sequencing, integration complexity, and reviewer resistance, according to CyberArk. The pattern shows identity governance fails when teams treat workflow buildout as the starting point instead of phased value delivery and review simplicity.
Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by CyberArk: “Top 3 Reasons IGA Projects Fail”.
By the numbers:
- More than 50% of IGA deployments are distressed and fail to achieve functional, budgetary, or timing commitments.
Key questions
Q: What breaks when an IGA programme starts with provisioning?
A: Provisioning-first programmes often stall because they require immediate integration, entitlement cataloguing, and workflow design before users see value.
Q: Why do integration gaps make identity governance unreliable?
A: Because governance depends on complete and accurate connections to the systems that actually hold access rights.
Q: What are the signs that an access review process is failing in practice?
A: A failing access review process usually shows up as long approval cycles, overloaded reviewers, repeated manual preparation, and heavy engineering effort just to launch each campaign.
Practitioner guidance
- Prioritise critical-app access reviews first Start the programme with user access reviews for the applications that carry the highest audit and operational risk, then expand after the review model is stable.
- Map integration scope before selecting a platform Inventory HR systems, directories, business applications, databases, and critical third-party apps so you can test whether they can be governed without custom development.
- Simplify permission language for reviewers Rewrite entitlement descriptions in plain language so non-technical reviewers can decide whether access should stay, move, or be removed.
Bottom line: IGA programmes fail when implementation order is backwards, especially when teams start with provisioning before proving control value.
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08/10/2026 5:21 pm
IGA failure is usually a sequencing problem before it is a tooling problem. Starting with provisioning forces teams to build the most complex part of governance before they have established trust, scope, or visible wins. That ordering turns identity governance into a long integration project, and long integration projects lose sponsorship when the control value is deferred. The implication is that programme design, not just platform choice, determines whether IGA becomes operational or ornamental.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Nearly 60% of IT leaders cite restrictive cost and complexity as a weakness of legacy identity governance, according to the 2025 State of Identity Governance Report.
A question worth separating out:
Q: How should organisations sequence an IGA programme to reduce failure risk?
A: Start with a narrow control that delivers visible value, such as access reviews for critical applications, then add provisioning and broader workflows once the core process is working. This reduces integration pressure, shortens time to value, and builds sponsor confidence before the programme expands into more complex entitlement management.
👉 Read our full editorial: Why IGA projects fail and what changes for identity governance