By merging the multiple identities of a tech user, identity management technology facilitates the transitioning from one online or offline application to another.

Mr X is head of sales in Organisation Y. Given the nature of his job, which is fast-paced and frenetic, his staff and himself resort to differing methods of communication from time to time--e-mail, IM, SMS, EPABX intercoms, cell phones, and landline telephones. While e-mail is better suited to send inexpensive, precise, lengthy messages, IM facilitates cheap, instant, informal chats, while various voice mediums offer an instant personal connect while in the office or on the move.

In other words, Mr X selects his preferred mode of communication depending on the length of the message, his location (in office/on-the-move), his urgency to deliver the message, the need for a personal touch, and so on. To add to this, he regularly logs onto various business networking sites to interact with potential contacts, he maintains a blog to interact with clients and seek their feedback, and he updates a client list on his company's website.

Instant 'total recall'

All these communication channels have, supposedly, made his work easier. This is true, but only up to a point. Mr X often feels fatigued, not only by his innumerable responsibilities but also because of the difficulty in logging into diverse channels to communicate. Signing in and logging out--the process consumes time, and worse, requires him to recall multiple usernames and passwords. It wouldn't be wrong to say that total recall has become Mr X's biggest challenge!

{quotes}Identity management technology has come along to simplify such scenarios. It aims to integrate a user's identity across multiple technologies and platforms that serve different purposes, in order to offer a seamless communication experience.{/quotes}

In addition, it is also aimed at simplifying an organisation's task of managing voice and data communication user directories, by offering user profile management, password authentication, password management, and automated user provisioning and de-provisioning services.

Managing multiple directories

After all, as Manish Sethi, head--solutions development group, Datacraft India, opines, "It is now well established that unified communication relies heavily on accurate and consistent contact information. Ideally, this information should be stored in one authoritative directory that needs to be maintained as a true source of contact details. But the reality is that most organisations maintain multiple directories, and that the number of directories that need to be maintained seems to increase every time a new technology is added to the communications mix."

Maintaining multiple directories incurs higher administrative costs, a time lag, the possibility of errors in updating them, security loopholes--and this inhibits a seamless unified communications experience.

Reducing the number of communication technologies used is also no longer an option, as businesses gain significant economic benefits from emerging and cheaper technologies. IP telephony, for instance, is now popular and inexpensive for voice calls. However, even though it makes use of the same data network, telephony identities are typically managed separately from network log-on accounts.