What is Identity Visibility and Intelligence Platforms (IVIP)?

Gartner introduced Identity Visibility and Intelligence Platforms (IVIP) as a category within Identity and Access Management (IAM). But what does IVIP actually mean, and why is it important for organizations looking to improve identity visibility and security?

The challenge IVIP addresses

Most organizations have made significant investments in IAM in recent years: IGA to manage lifecycle and access processes, PAM to secure privileged accounts, CIAM for customer identity management, as well as multiple layers of secrets management to protect keys, tokens, and other digital credentials.

While each of these solutions meets essential needs, they can also create isolated silos. The consequence is fragmented identity data that is difficult to consolidate, making even straightforward questions like “Who has access to our most critical systems?” require days of manual effort.

This is the challenge that Gartner's IVIP category aims to address.

What is IVIP?

According to Gartner, IVIP acts as an intelligence layer that provides unified visibility across existing user directories and data sources. Rather than replacing current IAM tools, IVIP complements and enhances them.

Key features of IVIP include:

Unified overview: Identity data from multiple sources is presented in a single, comprehensive view.
Context and relationships: Accounts, roles, and permissions are mapped together to reveal the actual risk landscape.
Modern complexity: Supports human users, service accounts, API keys, and machine identities.

In short: IVIP delivers a crucial layer of visibility that may be missing from the IAM stack. What is IVIP?

Why IVIP matters

AI and automation are generating a growing number of service and machine identities.
Zero Trust requires continuous verification of identities and access.
Regulations and audits increase the need for timely, reliable insight into identity-related risks.
Effective security teams need access to relevant context and risk information to make informed decisions.

IVIP as part of a modern Identity Fabric

IVIP can play an important role within a modern Identity Fabric architecture. This is a framework that connects identity and access services across the organization.

The Identity Fabric approach establishes a unified, API-driven architecture where IGA, PAM, CIEM, and other IAM components can work together.

IVIP contributes an intelligence layer, enabling greater visibility into identities, access, and associated risks across the environment.

Cloudworks’ perspective

As advisors, we recognize that many organizations still face challenges in achieving comprehensive visibility into who has access to what. Gartner’s IVIP category addresses this need for greater identity visibility and intelligence. Our role is to help organizations understand how IVIP can complement existing IAM strategies including IGA, PAM, and CIEM.

We also collaborate with partners such as Elimity, which provides identity visibility and intelligence capabilities, allowing us to combine advisory expertise with technology. This approach helps organizations turn identity insights into practical security improvements.