What is Light IGA?
Light Identity Governance and Administration (Light IGA) refers to a streamlined approach to managing user identities and access within an organization, focusing primarily on identity lifecycle management and provisioning. Unlike full-featured IGA solutions, which offer comprehensive governance capabilities, Light IGA tools provide a subset of features that address common identity administration needs. These solutions are often integrated into existing access management (AM) or IT service management (ITSM) platforms, making them easier to deploy and maintain.
How Light IGA Differs from Full-Featured IGA
Traditional IGA platforms are built to handle complex identity and access governance requirements, such as managing access across hybrid IT environments, enforcing policy-based provisioning, and conducting advanced access reviews. Light IGA, on the other hand, is designed for organizations that need basic identity lifecycle management, user provisioning, and access request capabilities but do not require the full complexity of enterprise-grade IGA solutions.
What are the Benefits of Light IGA?
For organizations with basic IAM requirements, Light IGA offers several advantages:
- Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – Light IGA solutions are cost-effective, especially for mid-sized organizations, as they come with pre-built integrations for popular human capital management (HCM) applications and standard provisioning targets such as Active Directory.
- Faster Deployment – Since Light IGA tools are often SaaS-based or add-ons to existing platforms, they can be deployed more quickly than full-featured IGA solutions.
- Simplified Implementation & Maintenance – These tools provide user-friendly admin consoles and do not require a dedicated IAM team to maintain them.
- Scalability within Platform Ecosystems – Many Light IGA solutions are built as extensions of access management platforms, enabling tighter integration with authentication and access control.
What are the Limitations of Light IGA?
While Light IGA solutions work well for organizations with straightforward identity management needs, they may pose challenges for those requiring deeper governance and advanced security features:
- Limited Integrations – Many Light IGA solutions only support a small set of pre-approved provisioning targets, lacking the flexibility to manage on-premises systems or custom applications.
- Weaker Governance Capabilities – Lacking policy-based provisioning and risk-based analytics, Light IGA may struggle to enforce least privilege or detect excessive user permissions.
- Ineffective Access Certifications – Without automated, risk-based access review features, organizations may resort to high-volume manual certification campaigns, which often lead to mass approvals.
- Lack of Customization & Extensibility – Light IGA solutions may not support custom business logic or complex workflows, making them less adaptable as IAM needs grow.
- Potential Performance Issues – Since these solutions are designed for smaller-scale deployments, they may not handle large user bases, multi-source identity synchronization, or complex access policies effectively.
When to Choose Light IGA
Light IGA is a good fit for organizations that:
- Need basic provisioning and identity lifecycle management but not extensive governance.
- Prefer fast deployment and minimal maintenance without requiring a dedicated IAM team.
- Are using access management platforms that offer Light IGA as an extension.
- Have a limited number of SaaS or cloud applications to manage.
However, businesses with complex IAM needs, stringent compliance requirements, or a growing hybrid IT environment should carefully evaluate whether a Light IGA solution will be sustainable in the long term.
Selecting the Right IGA Solution for your Organization
Light IGA provides a cost-effective and scalable alternative to full-featured IGA for organizations with basic identity management needs. While it simplifies deployment and maintenance, its limitations in governance, policy enforcement, and integration flexibility mean it may not be suitable for organizations requiring robust identity security and compliance controls. Evaluating long-term IAM needs is critical when choosing between Light IGA and a full-featured IGA solution.
