I enjoyed reading Ian Yip’s blog post this morning: “Identity is the Foundation.” The heart of the message:

We need to be stating the fact that Identity is foundational to the enterprise. i.e. Identity is the foundation. (emphasis addeed)

As far as identity is concerned, we need to think about it a little differently than we have in the past. Identity is less about the “who we are” and more about “what we are”. We care a lot more about what normal usage patterns look like, what someone is currently doing and what else they could potentially do. In other words, identity today is so much more than it used to mean in the past. It is really about reputation, relationships, context, activity, behaviour and being able to take fast, appropriate action in reaction to things that happen.

I think the concept that identity is a dynamic and immediate is solidly in step with modern business reality.