What Good Looks Like: A Buyer’s Checklist for Next-Gen PAM
A buyer's checklist for evaluating next-gen privileged access management
About the Guide
Privileged access has changed. Today’s risk doesn’t stop with human admins or vaulted credentials. It now extends across service accounts, machine identities, AI agents, cloud infrastructure, SaaS platforms, and hybrid environments.
That means next-gen PAM has to do more than control credential checkout. It needs to govern every identity, human, non-human, and AI agent, through one converged model of least privilege, runtime authorization, and Zero Standing Privilege.
In this cheatsheet, you will learn how to:
- Evaluate whether a PAM solution delivers true Just-in-Time access — or simply adds timers to standing credentials.
- Spot the difference between provisioning-based access control and real-time runtime authorization.
- Determine whether human, non-human, and AI agent identities are governed through one control plane or stitched together across separate tools.
- Assess whether your PAM solution can continuously discover privileged identities across cloud, SaaS, AI, and on-prem environments.
- Identify opportunities to reduce PAM infrastructure, licensing, and operational overhead while strengthening least-privilege controls.