Forward-thinking leaders in the state of Utah successfully embraced digital transformation to deliver services faster and more cost-effectively in addition to saving taxpayers $15 million.

Recognizing that consumers are empowered to do almost anything online today, from securely ordering goods from Amazon with just one click to managing all facets of their lives, Utah government leaders responded by making it easier for citizens to access government services. The state also understood that the citizen data entrusted to the state required adequate security access controls and compliance standards that adhere to federal regulatory mandates.

The state anticipated these requirements by adopting a single-identity platform designed to support the scale of an internet-accessible system and the wide variety of devices and services used by its citizens. By implementing the ForgeRock Identity Platform, Utah integrated more than 900 applications and online services into ForgeRock’s identity and access management (IAM) environment.

The Right Online Services Need the Right Solution

The state of Utah calculated that the cost of each online transaction was approximately $14 less than each over-the-counter transaction. Making as many services as possible available online was an easy decision. The Utah state government also saw that there were benefits beyond saving the state money. Allowing citizens to perform actions online, such as paying for a traffic ticket, would also save them time and hassle. But, as the number of online services increased, the state soon realized that managing digital identities and ensuring secure access for all of their citizens came with challenges.

When the state began offering online services to its citizens, workforce, and businesses, its legacy solution experienced frequent outages. This caused access issues, especially for the assets that ran in the cloud. Additionally, the legacy solution was unable to manage identities for all users, devices, and connected things. Insecure access posed a huge risk.

After adopting the ForgeRock Identity Platform and integrating its applications and online services, the state of Utah rapidly realized savings of up to $15 million from operational efficiencies. Additionally, the scale supported by ForgeRock allows the state government to manage nearly 2 million internal and external digital identities with just one dedicated engineer.

Addressing Security and Privacy Challenges

The options and interfaces available in the ForgeRock Identity Platform gave the state the ability to integrate a wide range of applications and services. This enabled the Utah government to improve efficiency across its entire digital landscape, including cloud-based services like ServiceNow and Google Drive.

Another major benefit of the ForgeRock Identity Platform is that security and privacy considerations are always at the forefront. The increasing sophistication and ruthlessness of cybercrimes that compromise sensitive data and infiltrate critical systems and constant data breaches are a cause for concern for both organizations and consumers. More than 1 billion consumer records were compromised in data breaches affecting U.S. companies in the first quarter of 2019 alone. And consumers are becoming increasingly aware of how their data is used and secured by the organizations responsible for safeguarding it, including government entities.

The state of Utah addressed these challenges and expectations with multifactor authentication (MFA), omnichannel privacy, and other security measures provided by ForgeRock. These are essential to secure access and ensure a high level of trust with Utah’s citizens and internal customers. ForgeRock also empowers citizens to control the type of information they consent to share with the state. This is particularly important as the state integrates its medical and tax processing systems, which include sensitive citizen data like Social Security numbers and personal health information (PHI). These security benefits also serve as a foundation for further enhancing the user experience online and adhering to the compliance requirements mandated by the health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) and the family educational rights and privacy act (FERPA).

Utah’s Success Blazes the Trail for Other State Governments

The laws and services administered by state governments have a profound impact on the quality of life for citizens and on business operations. Making services accessible online improves the user experience and saves government agencies millions of dollars. Utah’s trusted government-to-citizen digital relationships have set the stage for other government agencies to begin thinking about their digital identity management journeys. The state of Utah has saved $15 million since implementing ForgeRock.

What is the value of allowing citizens greater accessibility and providing the peace of mind that their data and transactions are secure? It’s priceless.