Customer identity and access management (CIAM) refers to a set of solutions intended to securely manage end-user identities and their access to various digital properties, including apps, portals, and websites. While traditional identity and access management (IAM) is focused on managing identity and access for workforce users such as employees and partners, CIAM centers on external users, such as consumers, suppliers, and other constituents. CIAM covers not only the sign-up and registration experience but also credential and data privacy management and the log-in process throughout the entire customer journey, all while integrating with key business technologies, such as CRM and marketing platforms. Okta CIAM solutions help organizations overcome the challenge of developing this complex digital identity layer by providing prebuilt, customizable, and extensible authentication and authorization components and application programming interfaces (APIs) that can be quickly and easily embedded into any
customer-facing application.