Introducing Clever IDM Enterprise by RapidIdentity

2022 update: Clever IDM has expanded to support Microsoft Active Directory as a an additional destination for automated account provisioning and management. To see how simple it is to begin your free set up of Clever IDM for your district, visit our app store for more details.

2021 update: Clever has released Clever IDM to support simple and secure account provisioning and management for Google Workspace.

As technology usage skyrockets across the country, school districts are faced with cybersecurity threats and budget restraints. We’re partnering with RapidIdentity to provide school districts with a new, safer way to manage core identity systems, at a fraction of the time and cost.

More than ever, district leaders, teachers, and students are counting on education technology to work smoothly, all day, every day. Districts nationwide have adopted the Clever digital learning platform to simplify access to a world of applications. And increasingly they have asked if we could bring that same power and ease to managing their core identity systems. 

Today, we’re launching a new solution, Clever IDM Enterprise by RapidIdentity. We’ve partnered with Identity Automation, the leader in identity access management for education, to provide school districts with a comprehensive identity management platform. Best of all, our solution will be available at a fraction of the cost of alternatives and can be implemented in days, not weeks, by Clever districts. 

Increased technology use leads to security and operational challenges

Districts today face a complex problem that threatens the smooth functioning of learning and IT systems—creating and maintaining user information in core identity systems like Active Directory, Microsoft 365, and Google that enables the use of other learning applications that connect to these core platforms. 

Many districts rely on manual processes for creating and maintaining user information which may cause delays for users, errors in account creation, and security vulnerabilities, while others face unsustainably high costs for their solutions.

Security risks have become particularly acute in the last year. With increased technology usage and larger tech footprints, K-12 schools now have greater exposure to malicious actors and unintended openings in their IT security. 

In December of 2020, the FBI advised of increased threats to K-12 schools, noting that more than half of all U.S. ransomware attacks in the fall were targeted at K-12 schools. Various types of security incidents threaten learning too frequently—ranging from school cancellation due to a ransomware attack, classes disrupted by Zoom bombing, or harassment of students and teachers. 

Identity management is a key tool in helping districts substantially reduce such security risks. But too often the cost of a robust solution is out of range for districts or is a strain on already tight budgets. In the IBM Education Ransomware Study conducted in October 2020, more than half of the K12 respondents said that budget is a large or medium barrier when it comes to beefing up their cybersecurity defenses.

Quick, low-cost solution for schools to manage core identity systems

Now Clever IDM Enterprise by RapidIdentity provides enterprise-level identity management for K-12 schools that can be implemented in days and for a fraction of the cost of alternatives. Clever IDM Enterprise delivers the following benefits:

• Automation of repetitive manual processes: This new solution eliminates the delays and errors in account creation that are inevitable with manual processes, giving students faster access to the resources they need and reducing demands on overtaxed IT departments.  

• Data security and privacy: Clever IDM Enterprise protects student data and mitigates the risk of a data breach by automatically enforcing security policies across each application, protecting sensitive data, and closing security gaps from old user credentials and access rights.

• Set up takes days – not months: The implementation of technology systems can be time-consuming and costly. For school districts who are rostered with Clever, onboarding Clever IDM Enterprise is quick and easy.

• Fraction of the cost of other identity management solutions in the market: Because the Clever digital learning platform (including single sign-on, rostering, messaging, and analytics) is always free for districts, they can add on Clever IDM Enterprise in order to cover all of their identity management needs for a fraction of the price of other solutions.