Case Study: Norway’s Universities

Industry: Higher Education

Solution: RapidIdentity Cloud Lifecycle Management

“It was a real competition, and [Identity Automation] won—not on one point, but in a sum. And that [includes] features, capabilities, ideas, and price, and also how is the vendor to work with?”—Kjell J. Sivertsen, Product Area Manager at Sikt

Sikt, formerly Uninett, is a public administrative body under Norway’s Ministry of Education and Research. Established in 2022, the agency comprises about 500 employees that operate from three offices. The agency ensures that organizations in the education and research sectors have access to high-quality technical infrastructure, data-sharing capabilities, and digital information security. As part of this mission, Sikt sought a standardized platform for identity management that could be used by all of Norway’s higher education institutions.

CHALLENGE

Sikt needed a partner that offered a comprehensive IAM solution to accommodate the national network of higher education institutions. In turn, the agency hoped to strengthen higher education cybersecurity and decrease manual processes for access needs. This would help Norway foster a culture of lifelong learning across all of its universities.

University environments are known for diverse user populations—and Sikt knew it needed a higher education cybersecurity solution that provided configurable access controls. “We have a lot of students coming from all over the world, and then we also have students which are never showing up at the location—they are doing it online,” said Kjell J. Sivertsen, Product Area Manager at Sikt.

Additionally, Sikt needed a partner that understood EU-specific regulations in academia, including General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements for data privacy. Sivertsen described the compliance needs as “black and white”—not leaving much room for “shades of gray.” “That is a challenge when you come to academia because they try to tend to be more on the pure white, not the egg white color—and we had a lot of challenges with that,” Sivertsen said of the regulatory environment.

The Sikt team was also seeking time-saving automation that could lessen the burden on university IT teams. One of the biggest needs was automatic de-provisioning of users, which would help minimize risk and maintain clean user data. Plus, the Sikt team sought self-service capabilities that would reduce tickets to university IT departments.

Finally, Sikt wanted a cost-effective solution that did not compromise quality. They weighed the price of a new platform with other factors when considering a new IAM solution.

SOLUTION

Identity Automation provides a robust identity management platform that is purpose-built to strengthen higher education cybersecurity. The platform, RapidIdentity, is designed to handle the nuances and complexities of diverse user populations at universities. After evaluating several options, Sikt felt confident choosing Identity Automation’s extensive experience.

Sikt ultimately moved forward with the following solution:

• RapidIdentity Cloud Lifecycle Management to automate the entire lifecycle of users and improve the higher education cybersecurity postures of Norway’s universities.

Although Identity Automation is U.S.-based, the team seamlessly accommodated the unique needs of Norway’s university systems. For example, Identity Automation helped Sikt with managing EU-specific user attributes, such as identification numbers for EU citizens, and other ways to categorize users who may be visiting from other countries—such as foreign researchers or students. “The gain [of RapidIdentity] is obviously getting more control,” Siversten said.

Through our partnership with Sikt, Siversten said Identity Automation is far ahead of other U.S.-based identity access management platforms, especially when it comes to understanding GDPR requirements and the EU’s regulatory landscape. “I think the fact that [Identity Automation has] been working with a European organization so long and so deeply, you have the very best forecast for doing other jobs in Europe,” he said.

“You have actually learned, ‘What is this?’ And there is a difference between Europe and the U.S. when it comes to the human rights of every individual,” he continued. “And we feel that we have educated [Identity Automation], not by ourselves, but the job itself has educated [Identity Automation] to be searching for solutions in an environment which is challenging.”

Plus, RapidIdentity offers all of the functionality Sikt was seeking, including cutting-edge automation, data organization, and access controls. Siversten said he was surprised by the amount of clutter in many of the universities’ previous identity management platforms. Because of this, he was confident Sikt needed to provide the institutions with a new system rather than trying to rework previous ones.

“When my garage is messy—and it’s messy—I put all the stuff out on the street and try to put it back again. If I don’t have a better system to store them, it’s a mess in three weeks’ time,” Siversten said. “What we have provided [with Identity Automation] is a better system of keeping it tidy.” Now, he said RapidIdentity provides “filtered” and “clean” data.

The organization praises the unparalleled customer support from Identity Automation. “It was a real competition, and [Identity Automation] won—not on one point, but in a sum,” Sivertsen said. “And that [includes] features, capabilities, ideas, and price, and also how is the vendor to work with? Before you have worked with them, you can’t tell, but you have a hunch of, ‘How do they respond to the tricky questions?’”

RESULTS

When Sikt partnered with Identity Automation in March 2020, the two teams collaborated to complete extensive evaluations of GDPR requirements for Norway’s universities. Since then, Sikt implemented RapidIdentity at six of its institutions. The agency is currently working to roll out RapidIdentity at four other universities. By 2026, Sikt aims for all 21 of the universities under its purview to be running on RapidIdentity. There is also the opportunity for Sikt to support an additional 18 colleges and universities in the future, including Norway’s private institutions.

So far, RapidIdentity substantially improved data organization and security for the universities. The platform automatically removes old user accounts and ensures only one account per user—including in instances where users have the same names or other overlapping data points. Plus, it provides all of the access configurations needed for students, staff, faculty, administrators, vendors, and other users. Given RapidIdentity’s flexibility, Sikt is continuing to refine and standardize the way its higher education institutions utilize the platform. 

Sikt is also pleased with RapidIdentity’s ability to uphold EU-specific standards. The platform meets GDPR standards by securely housing large amounts of sensitive data, keeping user information accurate and up to date, minimizing excess data storage, and providing transparent insights, among other features. The Identity Automation team quickly learned these requirements and ensured RapidIdentity complied accordingly.

Additionally, the deployment of RapidIdentity led to a significant reduction in service tickets to Norway’s university IT departments. Given its automation and self-service capabilities, university IT teams are saving valuable time and resources that can be spent on other important tasks. “We have noticed a reduction of cases to the help desk by 15-40%. If every case takes an hour, well then it’s a lot of hours,” Siversten said. 

Additionally, RapidIdentity streamlines operations between the IT, HR, and student administration departments, allowing them to each accomplish their specific goals from the same platform. For example, universities now all rely on their salary systems as the source of truth for which users are currently employed. “When we set up this project, it’s not an IT operation—it’s an HR operation,” Siversten said. “We have said that salary and HR people must be present. IT personnel must be present … and then the student administration must be present and they must sit in the same room and listen to the same conversations.”

As Sikt continues to roll out RapidIdentity to Norway’s other universities, the Identity Automation team is there to support every step of the way. Our team will continue to help Sikt navigate specific university needs, the regulatory landscape, and time-saving automation tools. In all, Sikt and Identity Automation are confident RapidIdentity is strengthening higher education cybersecurity throughout Norway—and it will continue to do so.