How different is IAM in Europe?

Europe has proven to be a different playing field relative to identity and access management, compared to large single markets such as the U.S.

Population size

Europe is a very fragmented market: many small countries speak different languages. The different cultural backgrounds have led to local business decisions. And local initiatives lead to smaller user populations: typically a few million rather than 10-50 million. The cost-per-user is thus a factor 4x to 50x higher than in the US.

Integration needs

There are also many local vendors that deliver local solutions with which the identity & access management need to integrate. US platform vendors typically lack out-of-the-box connectors with such European vendors such as Qualifio, Selligent, SmartFocus, Sendinblue and NP6. This different integration approach increases the deployment cost. The cost is further multiplied due to the complexity of dealing with different languages and different cultures with different taste.

Privacy sensitivity

Europeans appear to be much more privacy sensitive. As an illustration, research at our European customers reveals that 7% of the users who registered through Facebook, used the Facebook-option to keep their e-mail address secret. You need more compelling arguments and incentives to obtain relevant information about a person.