The Eika Alliance consists of more than 50 local banks, Eika Group, and several product companies. Together, they serve more than 750,000 customers and have over 3,000 internal users of the bank’s core systems.

Automated access management increases efficiency and frees up higher-value work

“The new solution has automated much of the work and made our day-to-day operations simpler,” says Pål André Kristiansen Skyberg, Senior IT Consultant at Eika.

Before the transition, access requests often contained missing or incorrect information, which led to a lot of back-and-forth. Today, Eika is integrated with its HR system—so HR (or the employee’s manager) maintains employee data there. That data is then sent to IdentityStream’s platform, which automatically creates, updates, and terminates user accounts.

“Where we previously had to spread the work across several days—and depend on multiple nightly batch jobs—we can now complete everything in the same day,” Skyberg explains.

The program Eika carried out was highly complex. Nearly 300 Eika employees were involved, and a similar number participated on the vendor side. At IdentityStream, CIO Håvard Meling and his team followed the project end-to-end.

“This is one of the most challenging initiatives a bank can undertake. The core banking system is, in many ways, the heart of a bank—and replacing it across so many banks at once with so few issues is a remarkable achievement. The fact that Eika also delivered every milestone along the way says a lot about how skilled and dedicated the team has been,” says Meling.

Eika is ready for the future

Before the transition, user lifecycle and access provisioning were highly manual. Requests for roles and access rights came from both the local banks and the group. IT support had to configure access in Active Directory (AD) and several third-party systems. The request procedures were documented in Word, and delivery often depended on multiple overnight batch runs across different systems.

The new integrations have given Skyberg and his colleagues a more advisory role. Today, they help department managers and employees solve the tasks they need—rather than chasing incomplete requests.

IdentityStream delivered five key IAM integrations to support the core banking migration:

1. EAM — integrated with most of the 35 new banking systems
2. Cash & Memorial — cash operations, customer service, and day-to-day banking services
3. Card Client — card administration
4. AML — anti-money laundering (AML) solution
5. EOM — iHUB that manages organizational structure, departments, personnel data, and more

The program was a top priority for Eika, IdentityStream, and Tietoevry. At IdentityStream, the team speaks highly of Eika’s execution.

“Skyberg and the Eika team did an excellent job defining the systems, establishing access levels, and onboarding new systems from Tietoevry—with users and access rights in place before each migration weekend,” says Håvard Meling.

Integrations designed for banking

In IT, integrations are about connecting applications and systems so they work together more seamlessly and efficiently.

Over the years, IdentityStream has worked systematically to integrate its platform with as much standard banking software as possible. That enables employees across the Eika Alliance to use the tools they need—without having to think about how access is provisioned behind the scenes. Processes are standardized, and most day-to-day tasks are automated in the platform.

For Skyberg, the collaboration with Tietoevry and IdentityStream has worked extremely well—especially the mindset that every challenge is solvable.

“User and access management is automated, and the solution really works for us. We have everything in one place. IdentityStream has been highly professional: they take the time to understand our situation, and they’re strong at tackling complex challenges,” says Skyberg.

Five clear economies of scale from standardization and integrations

For large and complex organizations with strict compliance requirements, there are significant economies of scale to gain through standardization and integrations:

1. Standardization and cost savings with a ‘template bank’

   For Eika, IdentityStream built alliance support that synchronizes roles and services from a centrally managed configuration repository to each member bank. This “template bank” is continuously improved and distributed to all banks, providing a uniform access management setup. The approach is traceable and transparent, which supports audits and supervision.

   Integrations reduce manual data entry, avoid duplicate work, and lower the risk of errors—quickly translating into cost savings. Previously, access management in Eika was largely manual, and the banks often used different systems.

   The banks in the Eika Alliance are now set up in a consistent way—using the same systems and gaining the benefits of closer collaboration. With all banks configured similarly, support becomes both faster and more efficient.

2. Improved efficiency

   Before the transition, Eika had to manually provision new hires—often with as many as 100 access rights—across each application and line-of-business system. In addition, the 50 banks had local systems and corresponding access needs. Providing access for Eika’s central customer center across the member banks was particularly time-consuming and cumbersome, because each bank’s IT resources had to perform manual steps. In total, this could amount to up to 20 hours of work.

   With the core banking migration and IdentityStream in place, access provisioning in this area became significantly more seamless and automated—reducing manual effort and minimizing error-prone handoffs. Employee data is still entered in the HR system as before, and the following morning the organization receives confirmation that identity and access are ready.

   Everything works smoothly—from email to login—and the process is streamlined to minimize errors. That frees employees to focus on more strategic, value-creating work.

3. Improved collaboration and information flow

   Eika now uses several standardized processes as practical tools. The workflows between HR, IT, and IT owners are optimized—especially for joiners, movers, and leavers.

   “This means employees don’t have to wait for the access they need. The organization becomes more proactive and agile, and access issues are not a barrier to projects and initiatives. It’s like a well-oiled machine—missing access should not slow a project down,” says Meling.

4. Compliance and security

   Norway’s Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) requires banks and financial institutions to comply with the ICT Regulation (IKT-forskriften). By centralizing and automating data handling, organizations can better control access, ensure functions are available only to authorized users, monitor activity, and protect sensitive information.

   “In our platform, you can see all access rights a user has today, historical access rights, who requested and approved them, and when they were removed. When employees change departments, new managers verify access through access certification. When employees leave, it’s essential that accounts are terminated, access rights removed, and responsibilities transferred. Our solution ensures this happens on time—and that everything can be documented afterward,” says Meling.

   System owners are also required to periodically certify that access rights are correct. IdentityStream has extensive experience from other banks and works closely with the industry to meet these requirements.

5. Scalability

   As organizations grow, their IT needs evolve. IAM integrations provide a scalable foundation that adapts to changing requirements. New applications and systems can be incorporated smoothly into the existing setup, allowing the organization to grow and change without major disruption.

   With IdentityStream in place, Eika’s customer center can manage many employees in parallel—while maintaining strong control over access. The platform also makes it easier to introduce new systems, roll them out broadly, and streamline onboarding processes.

Eika continues its journey with IdentityStream

The Eika Alliance is working toward a fully cloud-based infrastructure, and going forward IdentityStream will help enable further automation of identity and access management processes.

At IdentityStream, CIO Håvard Meling says the journey is already underway—and that the pace will accelerate going forward.

“Cloud-based management platforms with integrated IAM are a key focus area for both us and Eika. We’ve already done a substantial amount of work in this space over the past few years—also together with other banks and financial institutions,” says Meling.

IdentityStream has built integrations for Entra ID and functionality to automate tasks in the cloud where Microsoft 365 has gaps. In addition, IdentityStream provides agent-based connectivity that can link line-of-business systems across cloud, on-premises environments, and systems behind firewalls.

IdentityStream CEO Tore Olav Kristiansen is very pleased with the delivery to Eika—and looks forward to the continued collaboration.

“I’m proud of the contributions our team—led by Håvard Meling—has made to the program’s success. Both the team and our platform played a central role in making the transition to a new core banking system more efficient and streamlined. Outcomes like this are important for competition in the core banking market. Large-scale change programs are costly and risky, and that can make organizations hesitant to modernize—sometimes leaving them locked into legacy solutions,” says Kristiansen.

Rogaland Sparebank—one of the member banks taking IAM a step further

Several banks in the Eika Alliance have adopted additional IdentityStream modules on top of IAM. One of them is Rogaland Sparebank. Lene Nordahl, Director of Customer Experience, is enthusiastic about what they have achieved with IdentityStream.

“IdentityStream has been a backbone of our continuous improvement work and helps us maintain strong control over key processes in the bank,” says Nordahl.

Since joining the Eika Alliance in 2015, Rogaland Sparebank has carried out significant restructuring and improvement initiatives.

“Standardization and a robust foundation have guided our continuous improvement efforts. The requirements for control keep increasing, and IdentityStream’s solutions are very useful tools for maintaining full control over access management, workflow, and regulatory compliance. By adopting IdentityStream across Eika, we can work more consistently across the alliance and realize even greater benefits from being part of a larger group,” says Nordahl.

Implementing IdentityStream has delivered a substantial quality improvement—along with meaningful efficiency gains.

“It’s been a pleasure working with IdentityStream. We present the challenges and what we’re trying to solve, and they come back with constructive solution proposals at a reasonable cost. The IdentityStream team has strong business understanding and is highly proactive in customer dialogue,” says Nordahl.

Kristiansen believes customers like Rogaland Sparebank can achieve significant savings in ongoing compliance and digital transformation by using additional modules on top of IAM. Through IdentityStream’s low-code/no-code platform—grounded in IAM—organizations can integrate services, identities, roles, and responsibilities in an intuitive and flexible way. This enables rapid delivery of tailored security and governance solutions without requiring deep technical expertise, turning security into a competitive advantage.

Looking ahead, IdentityStream continues to expand its platform capabilities so customers are not only equipped to meet today’s security challenges, but are also prepared for tomorrow’s innovations and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) requirements.