GameStop Wins by Proving Identity Management Saves!

Identity management effect.

Congratulations to our customer GameStop for their stellar performance in Q2. The Texas company is the world’s largest multichannel video game retailer,

According to StreetInsider.com, GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) reported Q2 earnings per share better than analyst estimates. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.38 billion and as of 2:30 ET today, the stock was selling at $52.84—up a dramatic 11%.

Ranked 273 on the Fortune 500, GameStop’s retail network and family of brands include 6,650 company-operated stores in 15 countries worldwide and online at www.GameStop.com. The network also includes: www.Kongregate.com, a leading browser-based game site; Game Informer magazine, the leading multi-platform video game publication; Spawn Labs, a streaming technology company; and a digital PC game distribution platform available at www.GameStop.com/PC.

During the quarter, mobile sales expanded 121.4% to $55.1 million and digital receipts grew 17.9% to $158.0 million

And next quarter looks just as good according to news reports. Avatier is not surprised by GameStop’s success. It’s not a secret. People in the industry know. The most secure companies are also the most successful.

The Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee estimates that IT security intrusions resulted in losses of $500 billion in U.S. intellectual property in 2011. Unfortunately, too often cyber-attacks temporarily raise businesses awareness about the importance of IT security without stimulating changes to vulnerable systems and operations. While most organizations recognize IT security as a necessary expense, many do not see the connection between identity management and improved business operations. Identity management systems are designed to protect people, assets, facilities and operations. They also increase profitability.

Here are some of the ways that an identity management solution enhances security and bottom line profits for a business.

Automatically provision facility access controls

Facility access management software controls are a company’s first line of security defense. Not only do facility access controls prevent unauthorized personnel from entering a facility, they also control access within a building and physical network. Knowing that your facilities, the floors, conference rooms and even offices open and close to authorized people is vital to operations. Identity and access management software ensures the right facility access privileges are granted.

Monitor critical identity management systems and operations

Unmanned administration lets you monitor critical systems. It enhances the security of your business operations to reduce risk from inappropriate access and prevent business interruption. With unmanned administration, you respond as soon as a critical condition is triggered. Unmanned administration can monitor critical conditions on protected systems, specific user accounts or unusual business operations.

Take a snapshot of business operations at anytime

A compliance auditor gives a holistic view of your business operations similar to a snapshot. With a compliance auditor you can manage more aspects under your governance while enhancing productivity, efficiency and compliance. With the best compliance auditor, all of this is possible from your Smartphone or tablet. A compliance auditor helps you enhance information security, protect assets, prevent losses and improve business productivity.

Gain visibility into workflow, activities and vulnerabilities

When you can see exactly what is going on in your business, you can anticipate employee requests, organizational activities, workflow processes, and security vulnerabilities. With improved identity management you see problems in your business that previously went undetected so you can take corrective actions and make management decisions before there is a crisis or security breech.

Engage the business user

Most employees, consultants and people in your ecosystem, prefer empowerment. Who doesn’t prefer submitting a request over waiting for help desk or an IT administrator? Self-service identity manager streamlines user provisioning and access management for new hires and transfers. Self-service simultaneously streamlines IT operations and improves business efficiencies.

In the company’s news release, CEO Paul Raines said, “Of course, excitement continues to build for the upcoming new games and the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One. As the global gaming leader, GameStop is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the new, innovative products coming to market.”

Avatier believes in GameStop’s ability to capitalize on its innovative products, because of their improved password management and self-service password reset capabilities. A number of GameStop’s 52,000 employees are temporary seasonal workers and password resets were a significant problem. Password Management is being used to cut the time required by the helpdesk to handle the incoming calls.

Congratulations again, and we all look forward to an active, profitable Holiday season.

Watch the Avatier Identity Management Video

Ryan Ward, Chief Innovation Officer at Avatier, describes how to return identity and access management to the business user with Avatier’s Identity Access Management software.

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