Identity Migration: Why it Feels Scary, and Necessary Steps for a Smooth Transition

Organizations facing identity provider migration confront significant challenges including potential downtime, broken integrations, and compliance gaps. However, with proper strategy and preparation, these transitions can be transformed from intimidating obstacles to opportunities for modernization.

Identity migrations touch every aspect of an organization's operations, from HR systems to customer portals, making them high-stakes endeavors. Despite the risks, companies pursue these transitions to achieve cost savings, streamline processes, improve security postures, and create more robust identity foundations.

Understanding the challenges

Identity platforms serve as the backbone of secure access across an organization. When poorly executed, migrations can result in lost productivity, frustrated users, and significant business disruption.

"Identity touches every corner of an organization," explains Jeffrie Budde, Sales Engineer at One Identity. "Beyond downtime, migrations often expose brittle integrations, undocumented dependencies, and legacy technologies that no one wants to touch."

These challenges are compounded by compliance requirements like SOC2, HIPAA, and DORA, creating additional pressure on security teams. Even well-planned transitions can uncover unexpected issues and edge cases that weren't apparent during the planning phase.

Despite these obstacles, organizations have compelling reasons to undertake identity migrations. Common motivations include:

• Cost savings through more efficient licensing models
• Streamlining and automating identity management processes
• Creating a better foundation for future security initiatives
• Improving compliance capabilities
• Developing an enhanced security posture
• Unifying identity across cloud and on-premises systems

The real value emerges post-migration when organizations can leverage their new identity infrastructure as a catalyst for broader digital transformation strategic initiatives. Implementing a strong identity foundation supports numerous downstream technology improvements that enhance operational efficiency.

The five-phase approach to successful migration

Phase 1: Define goals

Successful migrations begin with clear objectives. Before technical planning begins, organizations should establish what they hope to achieve.

"Start with a clear understanding of the desired outcomes of your identity migration," advises Budde. "Is the goal to reduce licensing costs? Improve security posture? Better enable compliance? Or simplify your team's task list?"

Stakeholder alignment is crucial during this phase. Representatives from across the business can provide valuable insights about specific requirements, identify dependencies, and encourage user adoption once the migration is complete.

Organizations should also establish measurable success metrics, such as reduced helpdesk ticket volume or time saved on administrative tasks. Tracking these metrics throughout the migration process helps demonstrate ROI and provides early warning signs if the project begins to deviate from its objectives.

Phase 2: Discovery

The discovery phase involves building a comprehensive inventory of all identity-related components in the current environment.

This includes documenting all users, groups, applications, MFA policies, SCIM connections, and integrations currently managed by the existing identity provider. The discovery process helps uncover hidden dependencies and potential risk areas before migration begins.

"This process helps to uncover dependencies or areas that pose risks to a migration," notes Budde. "Without thorough discovery, organizations risk overlooking critical components that could derail the migration."

Implementing proper identity and access management best practices during discovery helps organizations not just document their current state but also identify opportunities for enhancement in the new environment. This makes the migration not just a platform change but a genuine improvement to security posture.

Phase 3: Planning and design

Once discovery is complete, organizations can begin mapping existing identity features to equivalents in the new system. This includes MFA policies, custom claims, application connectors, and other identity-specific configurations.

A phased migration strategy is often the safest approach. By segmenting users and applications into manageable waves based on business units, user groups, or criticality, organizations can minimize disruption and address issues incrementally.

Fallback plans should be documented before any migration activities begin, including procedures for maintaining dual-run environments or executing rollbacks if necessary. Sandbox testing before production changes helps identify potential issues early.

Creating detailed technical documentation during this phase is essential for both the migration team and future administrators who will inherit the new identity system. This documentation should include architecture diagrams, configuration details, and process workflows.

Phase 4: Making the move

The execution phase transforms planning into action. Key steps include:

• Migrating user accounts through bulk import tools, APIs, or directory synchronization
• Transitioning applications by rebuilding or importing SSO and SCIM connectors
• Replicating security policies such as MFA rules and password requirements
• Testing with pilot groups to identify and resolve issues early
• Executing the final cutover in stages to minimize disruption

"The final cutover is executed in stages, shifting traffic gradually across employees, applications, or customer cohorts to minimize disruption and ensure a controlled transition," Budde explains.

Organizations can benefit from adopting a comprehensive migration checklist approach similar to cloud migrations, ensuring every component is properly tracked and verified throughout the process. This methodical approach reduces the risk of oversights that could compromise security or functionality.

Phase 5: Review and optimize

Post-migration validation is essential to ensure success. Organizations should monitor key adoption metrics, including login success rates, MFA challenge completion, and helpdesk call volume.

This phase also presents opportunities to optimize the new identity system by fine-tuning MFA settings, access policies, and workflows to maximize security and operational efficiency.

Documentation of the migration process provides valuable reference material for future initiatives, particularly if additional subsidiaries or business units will require similar migrations.

User training and communication should continue well into this phase, as users may discover questions or challenges after their initial login to the new system. Maintaining an active support channel can dramatically improve adoption rates and user satisfaction.

How to use this information effectively

Organizations planning identity migrations can benefit from this information by:

• Starting early with goal definition and stakeholder alignment before technical planning
• Conducting comprehensive discovery to avoid surprises during migration
• Developing phased approaches rather than attempting "big bang" migrations
• Testing thoroughly in sandbox environments before production changes
• Monitoring carefully after migration to quickly address any emerging issues

"Identity migration is scary because it matters," says Budde. "It's not just about switching platforms. It's about protecting access, enabling productivity, and shielding organizations from harm."

With proper preparation, what seems initially intimidating can become an opportunity for transformation, positioning the organization for improved security and operational efficiency. According to Gartner research, organizations with mature identity management systems experience 50% fewer identity-related security incidents than those with ad-hoc approaches.

Incorporating change management principles throughout the migration journey is essential for success. Technical perfection means little if users resist adoption or find workarounds to new security measures. A comprehensive communication plan that explains the benefits of the migration, provides clear instructions, and offers support resources can dramatically increase user acceptance and compliance with new processes.