Why User Access
Reviews Feel
Like Theatre
(And How to Make Them Real)
User Access Reviews have become corporate theatre. They are expensive productions performed for auditors while actual identity security risks remain unaddressed.
The Approval Process
A Tragi-Comedy in One Act
Fig 1. The Modern Approval Tragedy
Critical Reception
Large enterprises typically have 4,000 or more applications but on average only 10% are fully integrated with their IGA platform.
Most access sits outside centralized IGA controls, invisible to their review process.
106 SaaS apps
Many are unmanaged and outside IT. Governance tools rarely see the full picture.
Source: Digital Silk →87% manual dependence
Core IGA tasks still rely on spreadsheets, emails, and IT tickets.
Source: Netwrix Survey →Checkbox Exercises
"100% completion" on paper, but 95% of everyday access remains ungoverned.
Source: Industry Reality
Staging the Play
The Quarterly Review Performance
Rehearsals
- ›Getting the data in line. A CPA study found that one identity audit for just 2,250 identities can take 1,229 hours.
- ›Six audits a year means 7,376 hours of manual work – roughly 3.5 full-time years.
- ›Compliance sends 'URGENT' emails. IT discovers 40% of connectors have broken since last quarter.
Build the Set
- ›Spreadsheet Confusion. Manual access reviews are time-consuming, error-prone, and resource-intensive.
- ›Managers receive spreadsheets with thousands of technical entitlements they don't understand.
The Performance
- ›Going through the same act again. Despite years of IAM investment, over 70% of enterprises still run access reviews manually.
- ›At ~$60/hour, a 7,376-hour audit year costs over $400K in staff time.
- ›Over 80% of organizations experienced employees misusing access to business applications. Critical changes from 89 days ago remain undetected.
The Finale
- ›Deliver the review results. Audit receives '100% Complete' report. Everyone pretends security improved. Risk persists.
The Visibility Gap
IGA campaigns typically cover less than 30% of systems across an entire enterprise.
You certify a curated slice of access a few times a year. Attackers target whatever is exposed right now.
The Long Tail Problem
- 29%Only about 28–29% of an organization's applications are integrated with core platforms.
- $180kTraditional IGA requires 6-8 weeks and $180,000 per complex application integration.
Real Risk Lives in the Shadows
From Theatre to Reality
Make Access Reviews a Smashing Success
"Ensure continuous control based on complete, accurate and real-time identity data that's never stale. Find and resolve high priority outliers and anomalies to reduce risk, not just to produce audit reports."
Time Back to the Team
- 1.Organizations automating access reviews report up to a 70% reduction in review workload. (Forrester TEI)
- 2.Modern identity platforms report double- or triple-digit ROI by reducing manual governance work.
- 3.One financial services firm cut audit preparation time by 70% after automating reviews.
Shrinking the Risk Window
- 1.AI-driven compliance and access certifications have shortened campaign completion times by about 65% while improving precision.
- 2.IBM's research links faster detection and containment – often driven by automation – to lower breach costs.
- 3.Automation turns quarterly review theatre into a live control that actually moves risk.
What The Critics Are Saying
Regulated Financial Institution
Connecting non-standard apps to IGA solution requires expensive professional services
"Onboarding 20 non-standard apps every 2 weeks without professional services"
Healthcare Enterprise
Identity sprawl with broken governance processes
"Consolidated 12 identity stores from multiple acquisitions to begin undertaking a transformation process"
Public Media Org
Manual reviews taking 3 weeks quarterly
"AI-powered pre-triage and continuous monitoring removed the noise from reviews and reduced campaign review time"
Ready to End the Theatre?
Learn how Hydden Control can transform your identity governance in weeks, not years.
Get Hydden ControlCitations & Sources
SaaS & Landscape
- BetterCloud, "2025 State of SaaS Report"
- Salesforce/MuleSoft Connectivity Benchmark (~29% integrated)
- Gartner estimate (30-40% shadow IT)
- DoControl Research (40% unmanaged)
Manual Review Challenges
- YouAttest CPA study (1,229 hours/audit)
- Netwrix Survey (81% manual, 87% dependence on manual tools)
- Industry observations (Shadow IT and out-of-scope access)
- Ponemon Institute (38% use spreadsheets)
IGA Costs & Breaches
- CyberArk (Professional services barrier)
- Forrester TEI studies (Entra/Okta)
- IBM "Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024" ($4.88M avg)
Automation Benefits
- CloudEagle (70% workload reduction)
- SafePaaS (70% less audit prep time)
- Pathlock (6 weeks to hours)
- Lucid AI studies (65% faster)
This Playbill is a marketing production by Hydden. All statistics cited are from their respective sources.