When organizations evaluate Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) and Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions, one of the first decisions is where to run the system: on-premise or in the cloud. For most organizations, the answer should be clear—on-premise IAM is no longer worth the cost, the complexity, or the headaches.
Unless you’re operating at the scale and secrecy of government agencies like the NSA, where an ultra-high security air-gapped data center demands justify the investment, an on-premise IAM deployment simply drains time, money, and people.
The Hidden Cost of On-Premise Identity and Access Management
At first glance, “owning” your IAM system may sound like control. But that control comes with a massive price tag:
- Physical Architecture: Customers must design, purchase, and maintain redundant data centers, machine rooms, servers, and networking equipment. Firewalls, load balancers, and backup systems pile on additional cost.
- Staffing Overhead: On-premise IAM isn’t just a system—it’s a fabric ecosystem. You’ll need system administrators, DBAs, networking engineers, and security specialists just to keep the lights on. That’s a full team of people diverted from delivering business value.
- Ongoing Maintenance: Hardware eventually fails. Patches pile up. Operating systems go end-of-life. Every upgrade cycle becomes a disruptive, expensive project that slows down innovation.
- Complexity Ripples: Even well-meaning staff changes in the IAM fabric layer can have unintended ripple effects, triggering outages or troubleshooting fire drills across interconnected systems. The more complex the on-prem environment, the greater the risk of cascading issues.
The reality is stark: most organizations don’t need this kind of overhead, and continuing to invest in it only locks you into the past.
Why SaaS Identity and Access Management Is the Smarter Choice
That’s where the SaaS model—Identity as a Service® (IaaS®)—comes in. With Fischer Identity’s IaaS delivery model, you get all the capabilities of a full-suite IAM solution, without the infrastructure baggage.
- Fixed-Fee Subscription: Predictable pricing eliminates budget surprises and scope creep.
- Cloud Choice: Deploy in the public cloud (AWS) or in a private cloud, depending on your needs.
- No Hardware, No Hassle: No data centers, no racks of servers, no power and cooling concerns—just a secure, scalable IAM solution.
- No Teams of Admins: You don’t need a platoon of specialists just to maintain your IAM environment. Fischer Identity’s managed service model takes care of the technical operations so your staff can focus on strategic priorities.
- Rapid Deployment: Instead of multi-year projects, Fischer Identity delivers a fully functional solution in months, getting you to value faster.
For Ultra-Secure Organizations: The Best of Both Worlds
Of course, there are some organizations—think national defense, intelligence, or uniquely regulated industries—where on-premise deployment is a non-negotiable requirement. For those cases, Fischer Identity provides a critical advantage:
Same Code Base for SaaS and On-Premise: Whether you deploy Fischer Identity in the cloud or on-premise, you’re running the exact same code. This ensures you benefit from the same tried-and-true Identity framework and fabric, without the risks of maintaining separate product versions.
Proven Identity Fabric: You gain the confidence of a consistent platform that’s already powering millions of identities worldwide, ensuring reliability and familiarity regardless of deployment model.
This parity gives ultra-secure organizations the control they require while still leveraging a trusted, modern IAM fabric.
Fischer Identity: The Original Visionary in Identity as a Service
Here’s something most people don’t know: Fischer Identity saw this future nearly two decades ago. In 2007, long before the market embraced “Identity as a Service,” Fischer Identity secured two groundbreaking U.S. trademarks:
These trademarks aren’t just historical footnotes—they’re proof of Fischer Identity’s foresight, innovation, and commitment to leading the identity space. While others were still pushing on-prem software that required armies of admins, Fischer was already building the future: IAM delivered as a scalable, secure service in the cloud.
Fischer Identity: Backed by Certified Identity Professionals
Another differentiator? Fischer Identity’s expertise is not theoretical—it’s proven and credentialed. Our staff hold industry-recognized certifications, including the Certified Identity Professional (CIDPRO) from IDPro.org, the worldwide professional association for identity management practitioners. This ensures our clients benefit from both decades of experience and globally recognized standards of IAM excellence.
The Future of Identity Management Is in the Cloud
On-premise IAM makes sense for a handful of ultra-secure organizations with unique regulatory or classified requirements. For everyone else, it’s an outdated model that burns money, people, and time.
Fischer Identity’s IaaS is the smarter, leaner, more secure choice—offering enterprise-class IAM without the baggage of on-premise infrastructure.
Foresight isn’t just in our past—it’s in our DNA. And for nearly 20 years, we’ve been helping organizations simplify identity, strengthen security, and reduce costs through the model we pioneered.
