# iam

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/iam/
Last updated: 2026-08-29
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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Identity and Access Management. Workforce identity for employees, contractors, and partners. Covers authentication, authorization, lifecycle, and audit. Distinct from CIAM (customer identity).

Workforce IAM is a lifecycle problem more than an authentication problem: the login is solved, and the failures are in what happens when someone joins, moves, or leaves, and in the accounts that belong to no one. It also increasingly covers identities that are not people at all, since service accounts and workloads now outnumber employees in most environments by a wide margin.

See also: [what is IAM](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-iam/), [what is IGA](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-iga/), [what is CIAM](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-ciam/), [IAM vendors](https://startwithidentity.com/vendors/iam/)