# Best User Provisioning and Governance Tools - Page 8 *By [Brandon Summers-Miller](https://research.g2.com/insights/author/brandon-summers-miller)* User provisioning and governance tools gives a single point of maintenance to manage user access to IT applications. Companies need identity governance and administration (IGA) programs to maintain organized records of user information such as personal information, account histories, or application credentials. These confidential records can be used by employees and administrators to retain information and regulations. IT managers and administrators use the information in these systems to automate tasks such as account creation, editing, or deleting, which can help facilitate employee lifecycle changes like onboarding, promotions, or termination. Human resource workers may utilize the databases as well to aggregate information about employees and monitor access requests. There is significant overlap between user provisioning software and cloud identity and access management. Many products function on a hybrid on­-premise and cloud level, but user provisioning and governance software solutions may not be able to provide remote access. These products will also often integrate with or provide SSO/federation or [password management](https://www.g2.com/categories/password-manager) capabilities. To qualify as user provisioning and governance solution, a product must: - Possess infrastructure to store and access identity information - Provide administrator tools to create access requirements - Automate processes related to identity administration - Provide security or authentication features to protect sensitive information ## How Many User Provisioning and Governance Tools Products Does G2 Track? **Total Products under this Category:** 189 ### Category Stats (May 2026) - **Average Rating**: 4.48/5 (↓0.01 vs Apr 2026) - **New Reviews This Quarter**: 195 - **Buyer Segments**: Mid-Market 51% │ Enterprise 34% │ Small-Business 15% - **Top Trending Product**: Hire2Retire (+0.049) *Last updated: May 18, 2026* ## How Does G2 Rank User Provisioning and Governance Tools Products? **Why You Can Trust G2's Software Rankings:** - 30 Analysts and Data Experts - 14,100+ Authentic Reviews - 189+ Products - Unbiased Rankings G2's software rankings are built on verified user reviews, rigorous moderation, and a consistent research methodology maintained by a team of analysts and data experts. Each product is measured using the same transparent criteria, with no paid placement or vendor influence. While reviews reflect real user experiences, which can be subjective, they offer valuable insight into how software performs in the hands of professionals. Together, these inputs power the G2 Score, a standardized way to compare tools within every category. ## Which User Provisioning and Governance Tools Is Best for Your Use Case? - **Leader:** [Okta](https://www.g2.com/products/okta/reviews) - **Highest Performer:** [tenfold](https://www.g2.com/products/tenfold-tenfold/reviews) - **Easiest to Use:** [Okta](https://www.g2.com/products/okta/reviews) - **Top Trending:** [Rippling IT](https://www.g2.com/products/rippling-it/reviews) - **Best Free Software:** [JumpCloud](https://www.g2.com/products/jumpcloud/reviews) --- **Sponsored** ### JumpCloud JumpCloud® delivers a unified identity, device, and access management platform that makes it easy to securely manage identities, devices, and access across your organization. With JumpCloud, IT teams and MSPs enable users to work securely from anywhere and manage their Windows, Apple, Linux, and Android devices from a single platform. [Visit website](https://www.g2.com/external_clickthroughs/record?secure%5Bad_program%5D=paid_promo&secure%5Bad_slot%5D=category_product_list&secure%5Bcategory_id%5D=255&secure%5Bmedium%5D=sponsored&secure%5Bprioritized%5D=false&secure%5Bproduct_id%5D=36316&secure%5Bresource_id%5D=255&secure%5Bresource_type%5D=Category&secure%5Bsource_type%5D=category_page&secure%5Bsource_url%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.g2.com%2Fcategories%2Fuser-provisioning-and-governance-tools%2Fenterprise&secure%5Btoken%5D=9af47d3698a111c6de0f77e6496ef720d5e18002f6b820dbd66a2e40f9f4cf27&secure%5Burl%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fjumpcloud.com%2Flp%2Fcloud-directory-fava-bean%3Futm_source%3DG2-Paid%26utm_medium%3DPaid-Directory%26utm_content%3DGoverance%26utm_campaign%3DG2PaidPromotions&secure%5Burl_type%5D=paid_promos) --- ## What Are the Top-Rated User Provisioning and Governance Tools Products in 2026? ### 1. [Pyla](https://www.g2.com/products/pyla/reviews) Pyla is a SaaS platform designed for CIOs and IT teams in SMBs and mid-market companies. What do our clients have in common? Regular employee movements, numerous internal resources to manage, IT teams that are often overwhelmed during every staff transition, oversights, mistakes, and a lack of visibility to ensure 100% secure offboarding. What does our solution offer? Pyla organizes and simplifies the management of hardware and software resources during the onboarding, internal mobility, and offboarding of employees and contractors. How does it work? Connected to the HRIS, Pyla coordinates HR, business departments, IT, and Facilities Management to determine which resources need to be prepared or retrieved: IT equipment, phones, software access and licenses, badges, vehicles, etc. Pyla then distributes the tasks to each resource administrator and enables precise tracking of allocations throughout the entire “life cycle” of a company employee or contractor. Who do we work with? Pyla supports 50+ organizations such as Advens, Nutriset, Groupe LaMaisonBleue, iBanFirst, Shippeo, Studio TF1, CTN France, Carcassonne Agglo, and CFDT. Want to learn more or get a demo? Visit getpyla.com **Who Is the Company Behind Pyla?** - **Seller:** [Pyla](https://www.g2.com/sellers/pyla) - **HQ Location:** Paris, FR - **LinkedIn® Page:** http://www.linkedin.com/company/pylaparis (7 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 2. [Quest Active Administrator](https://www.g2.com/products/quest-active-administrator/reviews) Active Administrator is a complete and integrated Microsoft Active Directory (AD) management software solution that fills the administration gaps native tools leave behind. With Active Administrator, it's easier and faster than native tools to meet auditing requirements and security needs while also maintaining business continuity and increasing IT efficiency. **Who Is the Company Behind Quest Active Administrator?** - **Seller:** [Quest Software](https://www.g2.com/sellers/quest-software) - **Year Founded:** 1987 - **HQ Location:** Austin, TX - **Twitter:** @Quest (17,143 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/2880/ (3,594 employees on LinkedIn®) - **Ownership:** NYSE: DGX ### 3. [RAC/M Identity](https://www.g2.com/products/rac-m-identity/reviews) OKIOK has been developping and delivering world class cybersecurity solutions and services since 1981. RAC/M Identity stands out as an advanced SaaS Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) solution, employing a no-code/low-code approach to rapidly enhance and automate Identity and Access Management (IAM) processes. Tailored for organizations of any size, it effectively reduces risks, elevates productivity, and improves user experiences. The platform delivers deep visibility and robust analytics, enabling the detection and mitigation of risks, while automating life cycle processes and empowering users through a dynamic self-service portal. RAC/M Identity enforces strong IAM governance with business rules and access reviews, ensuring regulatory compliance and providing a flexible yet sturdy foundation for effective identity and access management. Experience the transformative efficiency of RAC/M Identity, simplifying IAM processes and achieving seamless compliance. **Who Is the Company Behind RAC/M Identity?** - **Seller:** [Okiok](https://www.g2.com/sellers/okiok) - **Year Founded:** 1973 - **HQ Location:** Laval, CA - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/119436 (56 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 4. [SAASPASS](https://www.g2.com/products/saaspass/reviews) SAASPASS is your key to the world. By providing a comprehensive and frictionless solution fully-secured with dynamic passcodes and multi-factor authentication, SAASPASS is the only identity and access management tool you need to secure your corporate network or your own personal data. Whether logging into your work emails and company apps, accessing your personal online bank account, making purchases at online retailers, browsing social media, or even unlocking the door of your car, home, or hotel room, SAASPASS allows you to use your mobile or other enabled device to manage all your digital and physical access needs securely and conveniently SAASPASS allows you to do with one product what it currently takes a combination of 4 to 5 other products to do. **Average Rating:** 2.8/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 2 **How Do G2 Users Rate SAASPASS?** - **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?:** 3.3/10 (Category avg: 9.0/10) **Who Is the Company Behind SAASPASS?** - **Seller:** [SAASPASS](https://www.g2.com/sellers/saaspass) - **Year Founded:** 2013 - **HQ Location:** San Francisco, US - **Twitter:** @saaspass (512 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/saaspass/about/ (10 employees on LinkedIn®) **Who Uses This Product?** - **Company Size:** 67% Small-Business, 33% Mid-Market ### 5. [SafePaaS](https://www.g2.com/products/safepaas/reviews) SafePaaS is a leading global provider of cybersecurity and risk management solutions that help organizations efficiently monitor internal controls, intelligently manage risks, and optimally execute business processes to gain strategic advantage. SafePaaS is the solution for secure, rapid and trusted information management in the cloud and on-premise applications. SafePaaS's proven risk and controls management domain expertise and software services enable companies to leverage information technology investment and turn cybersecurity risk management challenges into business performance. Our multi-platform capabilities allow us to work with Oracle EBS, Oracle ERP Cloud, Netsuite, SAP, Workday, Microsoft Dynamics... SafePaaS solutions include: AccessPaaS is the Trusted Access Platform-as-a-service available in the Cloud for the modern digital enterprise. AccessPaaS allows you to improve productivity and reduce costs by enforcing access policies, such as segregation of duty (SoD) rules, before violations get introduced into the ERP environment, controlling sensitive business information to potential threats and vulnerabilities. The solution includes a pre-configured security model for popular enterprise applications including Oracle EBS, PeopleSoft, J D Edwards, SAP, Workday and Microsoft Dynamics... Safeguard your most important business information against cybersecurity risks with policy-based centralized orchestration of user identity management and access control. Improve productivity and reduce costs by enforcing access policies, such as segregation of duty (SoD) rules, before violations get introduced into the ERP environment, controlling sensitive business information to potential threats and vulnerabilities. Discover instant access insight and user access risks within your business applications to correct Roles that improve user productivity and mitigate enterprise information risks. Jumpstart your top-down risk-based SoD analysis with hundreds of SoD Rules based on thousands of application functions, included in our rules repository. Rapidly reduce SoD risks with workflow-enabled collaboration among process owners, application managers, IS security and Auditors. AccessPaaS audit trail records all user changes and activities, which can be used for powerful statistics or retroactive forensics. MonitorPaaS provides the establishment of monitoring and compensating controls for configurations, master data and transactions. ProcessPaaS enables secure, efficient and effective collaboration in the Cloud and On-Premise applications. You can deploy ProcessPaaS to extend and integrate key business functions – accounts payable, procurement, accounts receivable, expenses, assets, general ledger, etc. – giving management unprecedented visibility and control over the entire transaction process. ARCPaaS includes Audit Manager for automating the monitoring and management of your audit program (datasheet attached). Risk Manager for the establishment of an ERM framework. Monitor Enterprise Risk and KRI’s to reduce the frequency and severity of loss events. Compliance Manager enables Management Testing as required by compliance regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) for asserting controls over financial statements. The compliance framework can be configured for various industry and regulatory frameworks such as AML, Basel II, COSO, Cobit, GDPR, FCPA, FISMA, FERC, HIPAA, NCR, OMB-123, OSHA, PCI DSS, and Solvency II. SafeInsight, based on predictive analytics platform, delivers actionable information to business managers leveraging the existing reporting infrastructure such as Business Intelligence applications and mobile devices. Managers can discover patterns in all types of structured and unstructured enterprise data, and use this insight to improve bottom line, significantly reduce cash leakage and post-audit recovery costs, improve revenue recognition timing, safeguard the integrity of financial statements, reduce the cost of internal and external audits, increase visibility into controls environment and mitigate exposure to fraud. **Who Is the Company Behind SafePaaS?** - **Seller:** [SafePaaS](https://www.g2.com/sellers/safepaas) - **Year Founded:** 2003 - **HQ Location:** Plano, US - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/1431369 (37 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 6. [SecZetta Identity Consolidation Solution](https://www.g2.com/products/seczetta-identity-consolidation-solution/reviews) The SecZetta Identity Consolidation Solution is designed to streamline identity governance and administration by merging and organizing workforce data from various authoritative sources into a centralized repository. This consolidation ensures that both employee and non-employee identities are maintained accurately throughout their relationship with the organization, regardless of role changes. Key Features and Functionality: - Centralized Identity Repository: Aggregates identity data from multiple sources, providing a single, up-to-date record for each individual. - Automated Identity Processes: Facilitates the automation of onboarding, revalidation, and offboarding processes, enhancing operational efficiency. - Risk Assessment and Management: Supports the creation and sharing of risk profiles for various third-party populations, enabling informed access decisions. - Delegated Administration: Allows for the management of third-party identities through personalized, branded portals, streamlining collaboration. Primary Value and Problem Solved: By consolidating identity data into a single authoritative source, the SecZetta Identity Consolidation Solution reduces errors associated with manual identity management, enhances compliance with regulatory standards, and improves overall security posture. It addresses the challenges organizations face in managing diverse and dynamic third-party relationships by providing a comprehensive, automated approach to identity lifecycle management. **Who Is the Company Behind SecZetta Identity Consolidation Solution?** - **Seller:** [SecZetta](https://www.g2.com/sellers/seczetta) - **HQ Location:** Newport, RI - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/No-Linkedin-Presence-Added-Intentionally-By-DataOps (1 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 7. [Sentri](https://www.g2.com/products/sentri/reviews) Sentri is a robust security platform, which is a perfect blend of information, technology and infrastructure. **Who Is the Company Behind Sentri?** - **Seller:** [Sentri](https://www.g2.com/sellers/sentri) - **HQ Location:** Coimbatore, IN - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/14574393 (10 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 8. [Singulairity](https://www.g2.com/products/singulairity/reviews) See beyond the event horizon and gain full visibility into all your critical user access data. Automate your access review process, manage access related risk events, and stay on top of your data, all in real time. Supporting a vast array of integrations with deeper breadth and depth than the market has ever seen, Singulairity provides new visibility into user access that teams could only dream of. Automation is only the first step- AI + ML = AiR Bot, or Automated Intelligent Reviews, giving teams intelligent recommendations, along with adding the resources of full time employee without the cost. With the perfect balance of both custom & prescriptive workflows, Singulairity supports companies from largest, most complex organizations to one person startups- By meeting you where you are at instead of introducing new work. Simple data ingress, egress, integrations, REST API & webhooks means getting data in is a breeze, and getting it back out is just as easy. **Who Is the Company Behind Singulairity?** - **Seller:** [Singulairity](https://www.g2.com/sellers/singulairity) - **Year Founded:** 2022 - **HQ Location:** Los Angeles, US - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/singulairity (1 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 9. [TheFence](https://www.g2.com/products/thefence/reviews) TheFence™ is an automated, modularly built IGA platform designed to help organizations of all sizes. It streamlines identity lifecycle management, accelerates onboarding, automates user access reviews, reduces risks and strengthens compliance with international standards such as GDPR, NIS2, SOC2, HIPAA and SOX. **Who Is the Company Behind TheFence?** - **Seller:** [TheFence](https://www.g2.com/sellers/thefence) - **HQ Location:** Miami, US - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/thefence-access-risk-control/ (21 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 10. [Tieto Usermanagement](https://www.g2.com/products/tieto-usermanagement/reviews) The Tieto Usermanagement helps you to automate the tiresome task to create, modify and delete user accounts within genesys. It manages both administration and agent accounts and it adds the users to the access groups they should be member of. **Who Is the Company Behind Tieto Usermanagement?** - **Seller:** [Tieto](https://www.g2.com/sellers/tieto) - **Year Founded:** 1968 - **HQ Location:** Helsinki, FI - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/tieto/ (6,297 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 11. [Tricent](https://www.g2.com/products/tricent/reviews) Tricent is the #1 file-sharing governance SaaS platform that helps organizations make their file-sharing more secure and compliant without sacrificing collaboration. Tricent enables more secure and compliant file sharing within Microsoft 365 (OneDrives, Teams & Sharepoint), and Google Workspace (MyDrives and Shared Drives) so you can keep collaborating responsibly. Tricent puts the responsibility of proper file-sharing management in the hands of administrators as well as every member of the organization who shares files. Tricent enables administrators to: 🚀 Effortless Onboarding in less than 30 Minutes: Tricent gets you up and running swiftly so you can focus on what matters most. 🔍 Unparalleled Insights: From day one, gain a comprehensive overview of all files shared and permissions granted—across both personal drives and shared drives—no more guesswork, just crystal-clear visibility. ⭕️ Bulk Remediation Made Simple: Our admin-friendly cleanup tools allow you to tackle file sprawl efficiently. Say hello to streamlined compliance without the headache. 😇 Empowering End-Users Responsibly: We use automation to involve your employees in the cleanup process. They can continue collaborating while maintaining compliance. 💪🏼 Customizable Governance Policies: Set different cycles for different user groups. Tricent adapts to your unique needs, ensuring flexibility without compromising control. 🔮 Stay Ahead with Abnormality Detection: Our machine learning feature keeps you informed, detecting anomalies before they escalate \*Only Google Workspace. Pricing: €18 per user (yearly) **Average Rating:** 3.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 1 **Who Is the Company Behind Tricent?** - **Seller:** [Tricent Security Group A/S](https://www.g2.com/sellers/tricent-security-group-a-s) - **Year Founded:** 2011 - **HQ Location:** New York, New York, United States - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/bettercloud/ (198 employees on LinkedIn®) **Who Uses This Product?** - **Company Size:** 100% Small-Business ### 12. [Vault One](https://www.g2.com/products/vault-one/reviews) Vault One makes your company safer & smarter, Password and Access management security for applications, websites, cloud services, and infrastructure. **Who Is the Company Behind Vault One?** - **Seller:** [VaultOne Software](https://www.g2.com/sellers/vaultone-software) - **Year Founded:** 2017 - **HQ Location:** Curitiba, BR - **Twitter:** @VaultOne (718 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/vaultone/ (19 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 13. [Youzer](https://www.g2.com/products/youzer/reviews) Youzer is an online software for managing and monitoring IT and SaaS accounts that helps companies assign relevant tools to their employees and control the use of SaaS applications within their IT system. IT, HR, and Managers can manage and automate provisioning of IT resources for users, account creation / deactivation, anomaly detection, cost analysis, and IT security from a single dashboard and centralized. A Youzer profile can be created for each new integration employee, who specifies their role, their manager, and their location, and gives them access to all the software and tools they need to do their work. External service providers such as accountants, consultants, volunteers or temporary workers may also be incorporated as users. A selection of tools is provided to prepare the resource options to be assigned to each user, and Youzer automates account creation, provision of resources, and access code communication. Notifications are sent to HR and IT managers in advance about the arrival date of each new employee, eliminating surprises. Youzer provides IT, human resources and managers with centralized access to all users of the IT system. A comprehensive user list lets them know in real time who has access to which resources and directly change the access rights of a particular user. Organizations can also see the number of users assigned to each software and compare the resources assigned to users with the same role to tailor each user's accounts. Features for outsourced employees ensure that access is not left open to employees who have left the business through a pre-scheduled automatic suspension of resources on departure dates. **Who Is the Company Behind Youzer?** - **Seller:** [Youzer](https://www.g2.com/sellers/youzer) - **Year Founded:** 2018 - **HQ Location:** Paris, FR - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/youzer/ (7 employees on LinkedIn®) ### 14. [Zilla Security](https://www.g2.com/products/zilla-security/reviews) Zilla Security is the leading provider of modern identity governance and administration (IGA), providing a SaaS platform that automates the processes of identity compliance, provisioning, and security. Zilla stands out for its speed to value, offering the most complete set of application integrations capabilities for both commonly used and custom applications. Zilla AI Profiles™ eliminates the tedious, nearly impossible process of creating and maintaining rules that define roles or groups. Through its automations, Zilla clients are able to deploy 5X faster, complete access reviews with 80% less effort, and enable faster provisioning with 60% fewer ITSM tickets. **Who Is the Company Behind Zilla Security?** - **Seller:** [Zilla Security](https://www.g2.com/sellers/zilla-security) - **Year Founded:** 2020 - **HQ Location:** Boston, MA - **Twitter:** @zillasecurity (52 Twitter followers) - **LinkedIn® Page:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/zillasecurity/ (33 employees on LinkedIn®) **Who Uses This Product?** - **Top Industries:** Hospital & Health Care - **Company Size:** 27% Enterprise, 18% Mid-Market ## What Is User Provisioning and Governance Tools? [Identity Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/identity-management) ## What Software Categories Are Similar to User Provisioning and Governance Tools? - [Single Sign-On (SSO) Solutions](https://www.g2.com/categories/single-sign-on-sso) - [Identity and Access Management (IAM) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/identity-and-access-management-iam) - [Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/multi-factor-authentication-mfa) - [Risk-Based Authentication Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/risk-based-authentication-rba) - [Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/customer-identity-and-access-management-ciam) - [Privileged Access Management (PAM) Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/privileged-access-management-pam) - [Passwordless Authentication Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/passwordless-authentication) --- ## How Do You Choose the Right User Provisioning and Governance Tools? ### What You Should Know About User Provisioning and Governance Tools ### What are user provisioning and governance tools and software? User provisioning and governance tools help companies automate the process of creating, permissioning, managing, and deactivating user accounts on corporate systems and applications across the enterprise. Typical use cases include user lifecycle stages such as setting up accounts for newly hired employees during onboarding and providing them access to the tools they need, changing user groups and permissions when employees are promoted or move within departments, and removing user accounts after an employee leaves the company. User provisioning and governance tools software automate user account creation by connecting information in user identity stores such as HR systems and/or user directories like Active Directory or G Suite to enterprise applications to systems that employees use such as email systems, databases, CRM systems, communication systems, employee productivity software, file storage systems, ERP applications, subscriptions, custom company applications, and more. There is considerable overlap between user provisioning and governance tools and [identity and access management (IAM) software](https://www.g2.com/categories/identity-and-access-management-iam) functionality, as both offer user provisioning and govern user access. User provisioning and governance solutions focus more specifically on user lifecycle and group management. At the same time, IAM software includes additional benefits, such as centralized identity functions for both on-premises and cloud accounts and providing user authentication before granting user access to corporate systems. ### **Key benefits of user provisioning and governance software solutions** - Automate user account lifecycle from provisioning during onboarding through de-provisioning after leaving the company - Grant access to applications and systems based on user type through role or group management functions - Reduce the time helpdesk team members need to spend manually creating users - Improve end-user experience by offering self-service tools and integrations with [single sign-on solutions](https://www.g2.com/categories/single-sign-on-sso) and [password management tools](https://www.g2.com/categories/password-managers) ### Why use user provisioning and governance systems? Using automated tools to manage user lifecycles, companies can eliminate manual user provisioning and de-provisioning tasks, which can ultimately reduce the burden on IT help desk teams and free up staff time for more high-level work. Deploying user provisioning and governance solutions reduces human error when creating accounts while reducing the threat of “permission creep" when accounts are not properly changed after promotions, demotions, or terminations. Using this software enables companies to manage large numbers of users at once by applying role or group policies across users in a standard fashion. **Setting up new hires —** Companies use user provisioning and governance tools to ensure new hires receive access to the accounts they need as quickly as possible during onboarding. If IT staff manually created user accounts, the process could take days, weeks, or even months and be prone to human error. **Removing access for terminated employees—** It is important to remove access for terminated employees as quickly as possible to prevent security risks, either from the terminated employees themselves or from hackers accessing abandoned user accounts. Using user provisioning and governance tools, companies can automatically de-provision user accounts when an employee is removed from an HR system or other identity store. **Enforcing role or group-based policies —** When managing hundreds (if not thousands) of user accounts, taking actions, such as providing access to new applications based on the users’ role or group types, can save a lot of time and get these users up and running quickly. For example, suppose all sales representatives should have access to a particular sales-related application. In that case, those user accounts can automatically be provisioned with access if they belong to the sales group. On the other hand, employees in the legal department may not need access to that sales application, so they would not be provisioned with an account for that specific sales software. **Security — ** Insider threats can occur when user accounts are given too much access for their job type, and employees use the information they shouldn’t have access to. For example, an intern-employee likely shouldn’t be given the same access to the company’s accounts, like an accounting system, as the chief operating officer has. Using role- and group-based policies, IT administrators can easily remove permissions no longer needed by a type or group of employees and prevent permission creep. **Reducing costs—** Labor ** ** is typically one of the highest expenses companies have. Using user provisioning and governance tools frees up time for IT help desk team members to do other higher-value work. Many user provisioning and governance tools solutions allow end-user self-service to make changes like name changes directly. ### Who uses user provisioning and governance software tools? Most companies would benefit from using identity governance software solutions to manage employee user account provisioning, management, and de-provisioning. In particular, companies with many employees and user accounts to manage, such as enterprise-level companies, would benefit from using identity governance platforms, as manual account creation is difficult, laborious, and prone to error. IT administrators and help desk teams typically manage user provisioning and governance tools within a company’s corporate structure. With automated lifecycle management, however, multiple stakeholders across the enterprise can work in tandem to ensure users are set up correctly and have the proper access. For example, HR representatives can change new hires or people who have left the company in the HR system. This information can be pulled by the user provisioning and governance tools system to automatically take actions on a user’s associated accounts. End users can use self-service tools to make changes to their user profile, like name or title changes. ### Features of user provisioning and governance tools At their core, user provisioning/governance software must, at minimum, provide tools to automatically provision and de-provision user accounts based on user identities and grant permissions based on governance rules for users to access specific enterprise applications. Many user provisioning/governance software offers additional features to further automate user account lifecycles and provide a better end-user experience. These features may include: **Automatic user provisioning and de-provisioning —** User provisioning/governance software pulls data from identity stores like [HR systems](https://www.g2.com/categories/core-hr) to provision new accounts. Specific access to accounts can be automated based on roles or group membership. When an employee leaves or is terminated or when a contractor’s contract date expires, the software can automatically terminate accounts to prevent abandoned accounts from living on in systems. **Lifecycle management —** The software takes user account actions throughout employee lifecycle changes from onboarding and promotions to termination. **Integrations —** A main tenet of user provisioning/governance software is integrating with other software applications such as HR systems, user directories, [ERP applications](https://www.g2.com/categories/erp-systems), [email systems](https://www.g2.com/categories/email), [databases](https://www.g2.com/categories/database-software), [CRM systems](https://www.g2.com/categories/crm), communication systems, employee productivity software, and [file storage systems](https://www.g2.com/categories/cloud-file-storage). **Identity synchronization —** User provisioning/governance software can synchronize identity information changes across multiple applications. For example, if a user changes their personal information, such as a phone number or title, in one system, those changes are pushed to their other applications in corporate systems. **Access governance, role/group management, and policy enforcement —** Governing who has access to what applications or systems is determined by a user’s role and group membership. Using role-based or group membership factors to determine what access a user should be granted ensures that access to a company application is granted uniformly and adheres to company policies. **Delegated access authorization—** When business managers need to give their subordinates access to company accounts or change their permissions, they can approve access using delegation workflows. **Access verification workflow —** User provisioning/governance software can regularly query managers to confirm their subordinates' access and whether changes need to be made. **Reports and audits—** User provisioning/governance software can conduct audits and provide reports on account usage, including account creation and deactivation. This may be a necessary feature for companies in highly regulated industries that need to periodically audit users. **User self-service and improved user experience —** Providing users with self-service functionality, such as allowing employees to change their names and titles directly in the system or being able to request access to specific applications for manager approval, can further remove manual processes off IT helpdesk staff and improve employee productivity. **Password management and single sign-on—** Many user provisioning and governance tools offer additional end-user benefits, such as password management and single sign-on functionality. Other Features of User Provisioning and Governance Tools: [Bi-directional identity synchronization](https://www.g2.com/categories/user-provisioning-and-governance-tools/f/bi-directional-identity-synchronization), [Identifies and alerts for threats](https://www.g2.com/categories/user-provisioning-and-governance-tools/f/identifies-and-alerts-for-threats), [Mobile app](https://www.g2.com/categories/user-provisioning-and-governance-tools/f/mobile-app) ### Emerging trends in user provisioning and governance Historically speaking, Microsoft’s product, Active Directory (AD), has been one of the most widely used directory services since its introduction in 1999. Because of AD’s large market share, it is worth mentioning that many other user provisioning and governance tools vendors generally offer both identity and user governance tools that integrate with AD or, conversely, offer entirely separate solutions that utilize their own directory service. Active Directory manages IT resources, stores information about users, groups, applications, and networks, and provides access to computers, applications, and servers. AD was initially designed for on-premises use cases. Still, given the shift to cloud computing and storage in the digital transformation, Microsoft introduced Azure AD, which extends an on-premises instance of AD to the cloud and synchronizes identities with cloud-based applications. Other user provisioning and governance tools offer cloud solutions tying into on-site AD instances. Many providers provide cloud-native solutions and robust [identity and access management (IAM)](https://www.g2.com/categories/identity-and-access-management-iam) tools. ### Software and services related to user provisioning and governance solutions User provisioning and governance tools are part of a complete identity management solution. Many user provisioning and governance tools providers natively have or integrate with other providers to offer: [**Single sign-on (SSO) software**](https://www.g2.com/categories/single-sign-on-sso) **—** Single sign-on (SSO) software allows users to access multiple corporate applications with one set of credentials. This gives users more access to their applications without logging in multiple times. Single sign-on (SSO) is achieved through federation by linking IT systems, applications, and identities to create a seamless user experience. [**Password manager software**](https://www.g2.com/categories/password-manager) **—** Password manager software helps end users manage their passwords by allowing them to create one master password to access the passwords associated with their accounts. This is different from single sign-on, which federates the identity to other applications, while password manager software merely provides a secure storage vault to house user passwords. [**Identity and access management (IAM) software**](https://www.g2.com/categories/identity-and-access-management-iam) **—** User provisioning and governance tools are a part of identity and access management (IAM) functionality, which allows IT administrators to quickly provision, de-provision, and change user identities. IAM software also authenticates users to ensure they are who they say they are before providing access to corporate assets. IAM software is a modern solution, especially for companies utilizing numerous cloud-based applications. [**Customer identity and access management (CIAM) software**](https://www.g2.com/categories/customer-identity-and-access-management-ciam) **—** Customer identity and access management (CIAM) software manages a company’s customer identities and accounts. CIAM is different from identity and access management (IAM) software. IAM is used for internal corporate use—such as managing the identities of internal employees or contractors—while CIAM is for customer-focused identity management. [**Privileged access management (PAM) software**](https://www.g2.com/categories/privileged-access-management-pam) **—** Privileged access management (PAM) software is a tool used to protect a company’s privileged account credentials. It is generally used by IT administrators and other super users with high-level access to applications, not everyday users. [**Multi-factor authentication (MFA) software**](https://www.g2.com/categories/multi-factor-authentication-mfa) **—** Before granting a user access to company assets, it is essential to authenticate that they are indeed who they say they are. This can be achieved using multi-factor authentication (MFA) software solutions such as SMS codes, mobile push, biometric verification, or email one-time-pass (OTP) pushes. For example, if an employee loses their laptop, the laptop and the accounts the employee has access to are generally rendered useless to someone else unless that person could spoof the employee’s other authentication factors.