Enterprises want to partner securely across industry and national borders. That means it’s not a matter of if you’ll launch an IdM program, but when. In this installment of our InformationWeek Analytics Informed CIO series, we discuss how IdM can deliver cost savings, tighter security and smoother audits. But there are risks, too.

About the Author

Keith Ward serves as governance board chairman of Transglobal

Secure Collaboration Program (TSCP; www.tscp.org), a government/ industry partnership for aerospace and defense companies focused on solving the real-world challenges of secure information sharing across organizational and geographic boundaries. Keith and colleagues from member companies, including Boeing, EADS, Finmeccanica, Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, Rolls-Royce, the U.S. Dept. of Defense, the U.S. Government Services Administration, the U.K. Ministry of Defence and the Netherlands Ministry of Defence, work together to develop industrywide standards in order to create a common framework for federated collaboration, including secure e-mail, document sharing with identity federation and other solutions that allow partners to work together securely.

A 25+ year industry veteran, Keith’s day job is director of enterprise security and identity management for Northrop Grumman. He has business management experience leading, managing and developing complex, missioncritical programs and solutions, and is known as an expert on security and identity management in enterprisewide environments. He’s also a regular speaker at industry conferences including AFCEA, RSA, Smart Card Alliance, the National Notary Association, Future Aerospace Congress and various U.S. DoD identity and cyber crime conferences.