Oomnitza, a provider of enterprise technology management (ETM) solutions, released The 2022 State of Offboarding Process Automation Report. The research found nearly half of IT leaders expressed doubt about their company’s ability to automate the onboarding and offboarding of workers effectively across business units and siloed IT systems.
Twenty-seven percent of respondents reported losses of more than 10 percent of their technology assets, and 42 percent experienced more than five percent of unauthorized access to SaaS applications and cloud resources stemming from incomplete de-provisioning. As companies face increased workforce turnover rates and navigate the data privacy, security and financial risks that accompany them, automating secure offboarding processes has become a strategic business imperative for modern enterprises.
And those risks do not appear to be going away. The pandemic accelerated hybrid workplace and cloud infrastructure adoption but also ignited the Great Resignation. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, by the end of 2021, 69 million people – more than 20 percent of Americans – “separated” from their jobs – creating a paradox in which companies have increased their use of technology but have less people to manage it.
The ripple effects have placed a strain on enterprise onboarding and offboarding capabilities. A recent survey by McKinsey & Company found that 64 percent of employers expect greater voluntary turnover to continue or worsen over the next six months, suggesting ongoing IT operational challenges.
The 2022 State of Corporate Offboarding Process Automation Report, compiled from a survey of 213 senior-level IT professionals was produced by YouGov, a global market research and analytics firm. The report provides clarity into how increased turnover has affected the ability of companies to manage their technology and risk. Key findings include:
- 49 percent of respondents reported the loss of at least five percent of their technology assets due to workers leaving the company; over a quarter (27 percent) lost more than 10 percent; one-fifth lost between 10 percent – 20 percent
- 42 percent experienced at least five percent of instances of unauthorized access to SaaS applications and cloud infrastructure due de-provisioning deficiencies of former workers; one-fifth had more than 10 percent of instances; 17 percent didn’t know the extent of unauthorized access stemming from incomplete de-provisioning of employees and contractors
- 17 percent of medium and large organizations reported more than 10 percent of instances of unauthorized access to SaaS and cloud resources after employees or contractors left their company
- 48 percent of respondents expressed deficiencies in or lack of automated workflows across departments and IT tools to facilitate the secure offboarding of employees, while 47 percent expressed high confidence despite indications of technology reclamation and unauthorized resource access issues
There were some interesting trends when the sample was analyzed by company size and industry:
- Small and medium enterprises (between 1,000 and 10,000 employees) exhibited a greater likelihood (36 percent) of losing technology assets compared to larger organizations
- Smaller organizations seemed to have the most challenges (54 percent) with secure offboarding compared to larger organizations, reporting deficiencies, or lacking automated workflows
- Technology, health care and manufacturing organizations have poorer (> 36 percent) asset reclamation rates compared to other industries when offboarding employees and contractors
- Small enterprises (1,000 to 5,000 employees) reported 37 percent higher instances of unauthorized access to SaaS applications and cloud infrastructure post worker departure
- Technology, healthcare and services expressed higher instances of unauthorized access to SaaS and cloud resources by former workers compared to other industries
- Retail and technology expressed lower overall confidence (> 60 percent) towards their on-boarding and off-boarding automation capabilities compared to other industries
To download the survey infographic, please visit http://www.oomnitza.com/2022SOPAinfo. The full report is available here. To learn how Oomnitza can accelerate your business process automation strategy, visit Oomnitza.com.
