Saviynt’s Ravi Erukulla Elected to IDSA’s Executive Advisory Board

In His New Role, Ravi Will Enhance Saviynt’s Collaboration With IDSA To Bring Even More Value to the Identity Security Community.

We are pleased to announce that our own Ravi Erukulla, VP, Analyst Relations & Customer Advocacy, has been elected to the Executive Advisory Board of the Identity Defined Security Alliance’s (IDSA).IDSA is a nonprofit corporation that promotes the use of Identity Defined Security and provides free vendor-neutral education and resources designed to help organizations reduce the risk of a breach by combining identity and security strategies. The association between Saviynt and IDSA has been a long collaboration focused on bringing value to the identity security community as a whole.

I had a chance to talk with Ravi about his new role:

How do you feel about being elected to the IDSA Board?

I am proud to be representing Saviynt as an Executive Advisory Board Member for IDSA.

Both Saviynt and I have always been excited by the opportunities in Identity Security and have worked towards advancing them. Identity has come a long way – from a compliance-oriented discipline to a business enabler, from an IT practice to board-level initiative. We believe that identity becomes even more pivotal and good identity management practices will become even more paramount for organizations as time goes on. After all, cyber attacks are getting more and more sophisticated every day. IDSA plays a crucial role in raising awareness about the importance of identity security with CISOs and security leaders.

Can you tell us more about IDSA and its mission?

IDSA provides vendor-neutral education and resources that help organizations achieve good identity security hygiene, so it’s a natural fit with Saviynt’s core values as a company. IDSA’s Executive Advisory Board serves a two-year term and provides the oversight and organizational direction for executing the mission, goals, policies and programs of the IDSA. The EAB is also responsible for ensuring that the IDSA stays true to its core values of:

• Collaboration: we work together to develop vendor agnostic resources.
• Integrity: we are truthful, transparent and fair and leave our vendor hats at the door.
• Partnership: we partner with other like-minded organizations to benefit the entire community.
• Fiscally Responsible: we make fiscally responsible decisions and spend to  support the operations and help further the mission.

Tell us about the relationship between Saviynt and IDSA.

Saviynt has been a long time IDSA member and has worked closely with IDSA leading, influencing and participating in multiple activities, including:

• Chaired Identity Management Day 2022 and co-chairing Identity Management Day 2023.
• Recently organized a webinar with Jim Routh, former CISO of CVS & MassMutual to promote the importance of Identity Security as part of cybersecurity awareness month: Identity as the First Line of Digital Defense for Cybersecurity.
• Presented on Navigating the Modern Identity Landscape: Successful Transformation Strategies.
• We are also part of multiple IDSA technical working groups such as Zero Trust, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Identity and Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM)

What does this new role mean to you as an identity security professional?

The opportunity to influence IDSA’s focus and direction and bring value to the Identity Security community at large is a great honor for me and for Saviynt. And the timing has never been more important. As organizations accelerate their digital and cloud transformation in a work-from-anywhere world, managing risk and security remains challenging for enterprises and SMBs alike. Today, identity has become the first line of defense — and the first step — to protecting organizations and adopting a modern Zero Trust security model. The recent headlines have made securing digital identities the top priority in every security program.
 

Several recent breaches were due to poor identity management practices and could have been avoided through following basic identity management best practices. Businesses in the digital world can only run smoothly when there are strong identity programs securing their assets and enabling their users. Organizations should prioritize incorporating identity best practices in their business processes, enforcing them continuously, and educating their users, users of all kinds, on the criticality and the benefits of adhering to these practices.

What do you hope to achieve in your new role on the Board?

I personally have been a long-time Identity Security enthusiast. Maintaining identity security has become more complicated as the years have passed, so I am particularly passionate about simplifying the way identity security products are built and adopted. Through working on and leading Identity and Security products at Oracle, SAP, and Saviynt, I bring two decades of industry experience to the table.

My current role as VP of Analyst Relations and Customer Advocacy at Saviynt provides me with a unique opportunity to understand first-hand both the market trends (through working with analysts) and customer needs/practices, which would be instrumental in planning and prioritizing IDSA research and focus areas for helping the Identity industry.

I’m excited to bring my experience and my commitment to the IDSA Executive Advisory Board and look forward to working closely with IDSA to strengthen and promote identity security.