In relation to identity management, this means organisations knowing who their customers are, what their customers want, and making it easier for customers to obtain the products and services that they want from them. When doing business on the Internet the number of customers can be so large that manual security administration processes cannot provide the service required at a realistic cost. By automation, for example through customer self-registration, it is possible to offload the costs to the business units or the customers. The cost of getting new customers is higher than that of retaining existing ones. So technologies that recognise individuals and their preferences are important by making it easier for customers to do business with your organisation rather than with your competitors.

Financial discipline also means managing operations more effectively, making employees more efficient and reducing administrative overheads. In a typical organisation, password and account lockout problems can represent a large proportion (often over 50%) of the help desk load. The need to individually sign-on to multiple applications wastes time. The costs and delays involved in providing access for new employees can be a significant problem in industries with high staff turnover (call centres and retail are good examples).

(Small, 2004, p. 8)