Identity & Access Management
Outbound Pipeline Generation for Identity & Access Management Platforms
Done-for-you outbound for IAM and identity-platform companies. We help vendors like Okta, Auth0, and Microsoft Entra reach CISOs, Heads of IT, and Identity & Access leaders at mid-market and enterprise B2B companies.
Identity and access management is the security layer every modern software organisation cannot avoid. Okta, Auth0 (Okta), Microsoft Entra, Ping Identity, OneLogin, and a long tail of competitors all sell into the same buyer set: CISOs, Heads of IT, and Identity & Access leaders trying to consolidate single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and lifecycle management onto a unified platform.
The category is dominated by Microsoft (via Entra bundled into Microsoft 365) and Okta (the category-defining independent leader). Smaller vendors have to articulate operational specifics — developer experience, customer identity capability, fine-grained authorisation — to compete against the platform-by-default option. Outbound has to navigate this dynamic without pretending Microsoft is not in the room.
We build outbound programmes for IAM platforms by anchoring messages in the buyer's observable identity reality: their current SSO solution, recent security incidents, compliance pressure, lifecycle complexity, and the operational pain of managing identity at scale. The outreach earns the meeting by demonstrating understanding of identity-engineering, not generic security pitches.
Okta
www.okta.comIdentity and access management platform spanning workforce and customer identity — the category-defining independent IAM system for mid-market and enterprise organisations.
Founded
2009
HQ
San Francisco, CA
Employees
5,800+
Funding
Public (NASDAQ: OKTA), market cap ~$15B
Customers
19,000+ organisations including 19% of the Fortune 500
ARR / revenue
$2.5B+ (FY2024 revenue)
Market position
The category-defining independent identity and access management platform. Okta built the modern cloud IAM category, then expanded into customer identity through the $6.5B Auth0 acquisition to become the broadest pure-play identity vendor outside Microsoft.
Why they win
- Founded the modern cloud IAM category — when CISOs Google "SSO platform" the dominant result is Okta.
- Largest pre-built application integration catalogue (7,000+ apps) supporting workforce SSO at any enterprise scale.
- Auth0 acquisition (2021) extended the platform into customer identity, doubling the addressable buyer set.
- Industry-leading certification stack (SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, HIPAA) supporting regulated-industry buyers.
- Customer roster spanning 19% of the Fortune 500 provides the reference depth enterprise procurement requires.
Citations (3)
- Okta reported $2.5B+ in revenue for fiscal year 2024. Okta Q4 FY24 Earnings Release
- Okta serves 19,000+ organisations including 19% of the Fortune 500. Okta company fact sheet
- Okta acquired Auth0 in 2021 for approximately $6.5B. Okta 2021 Auth0 acquisition press release
Spotlight information sourced from public records. BookedCalls.ai has no affiliation with Okta.
Tech Sales Challenges We Solve
The specific outbound problems we run into when selling into identity & access management buyers — and what we build to clear them.
Microsoft Entra Is The Default Competitor In Every Deal
For Microsoft 365 customers, Entra is bundled into the existing licence. Outbound has to articulate why the additional vendor commitment is worth it — usually around lifecycle automation, developer experience, customer identity, or specific integration depth — not on basic SSO functionality.
Workforce And Customer Identity Are Different Buyers
Workforce IAM (employee SSO, lifecycle) sells to the CISO and Head of IT. Customer Identity (CIAM) sells to VP Engineering and Product. Outbound that mixes the two personas loses both; the messaging has to be persona-specific.
Lifecycle Automation Is The Real Operational Pain
CISOs care about provisioning, deprovisioning, and access review automation. Reps spend more on operational identity overhead than on the platform itself when these workflows are manual. Outbound that opens with lifecycle automation lands; outbound that pitches SSO is generic and dismissed.
Security Breach Headlines Reshape The Conversation
When a high-profile breach happens (Okta itself, Microsoft Storm-0558, MFA bypass attacks), every IAM evaluation pauses for incident review. Outbound has to acknowledge the recent threat landscape and position the platform against current risk patterns, not last year's.
Long Procurement With Multi-Year Commitments
IAM purchases are typically multi-year, six and seven-figure ACVs. That triggers full procurement review — security audit, legal contract, finance commitment, vendor risk management. Outbound has to plant the seed early enough to clear the 6-9 month procurement window.
Migration Risk From The Incumbent Identity Provider
Switching identity providers means re-federating every SaaS application, retraining every user, and accepting transient disruption to the most critical access workflows. The objection is real; outbound that ignores migration risk loses, outbound that addresses it with a structured migration path earns the conversation.
The Buyer Dossier
Who Okta sells to
The shape of Okta's buyer — who they are, what they care about, and what triggers a purchase decision.
Buyer summary
Okta sells across mid-market through global Fortune 500. For commercial outbound, the meaningful buyers are CISOs, Heads of IT, and increasingly VP Engineering (for customer identity) at companies with significant application sprawl, workforce growth, or customer-facing identity needs. The buyer is typically migrating off Microsoft Entra (for non-bundled workloads), legacy enterprise IAM, or homegrown SSO.
Primary buyer titles
Company profile
- Size
- Mid-market to Fortune 500 — Okta customers range from 200-employee SaaS to global enterprises
- Geographies
- North America (primary) · EMEA (UK, Germany, France, Netherlands) · APAC (Japan, Australia, Singapore) · LATAM (Brazil, Mexico)
- Tech-stack signals
- Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace deployment
- High SaaS application count (50+ apps requiring SSO)
- Existing legacy IAM (CA, IBM, RSA, OneLogin, ADFS)
- Recent CISO, Head of IT, or VP Security hires
What they care about
- Lifecycle automation — provisioning and deprovisioning users across hundreds of SaaS apps without manual work.
- MFA coverage and phishing-resistance — protecting against modern credential attacks at scale.
- Access review compliance — auditable quarterly access reviews for regulated industries.
- Customer identity capability — secure authentication for customer-facing products without engineering build.
- Total cost of ownership — multi-year identity spend predictability against bundled Microsoft alternatives.
Buying triggers
- New CISO, VP Security, or Head of IT hire (typical 90-180 day evaluation window)
- Public security incident driving identity-platform review
- M&A driving identity consolidation across multiple acquired companies
- Compliance milestone (SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP) requiring access review automation
- Workforce scale-up driving SaaS application count growth
Common objections
- "Microsoft Entra is included in our M365 licence — why add Okta?"
- "We just deployed Auth0 / Ping / OneLogin; migration now is not feasible."
- "Okta's own 2022-2023 breach incidents make us cautious about cloud-IAM dependency."
- "Total cost is substantial once you add workforce + CIAM + lifecycle management."
- "Our regulated industry requires specific data-residency Okta's architecture may not support."
How We Help
Our services tailored for the identity & access management sector.
- IT-stack-signal-led ICP definition — filter on observable identity stack (Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace, existing SSO, application count, recent CISO hires)
- Persona-specific sequencing — workforce IAM into CISO + Head of IT; customer identity into VP Engineering + Head of Product. Never mixed in a single sequence
- Trigger-driven list refresh: CISO or VP Security hires, post-breach press cycles, compliance milestone announcements (SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, FedRAMP), M&A driving identity consolidation
- Compliance-aware copy review — generic security marketing copy is dismissed by CISO buyers; specific operational gaps with framework references (NIST, ISO) earn replies
- Dedicated sending infrastructure with active deliverability monitoring — security teams maintain aggressive spam filtering and quarantine more than other functions
- Reporting in the buyer's vocabulary — access review cadence, MFA coverage, MTTR for access incidents, license consolidation — the operational metrics CISO teams use internally
The Outbound Angle
How we'd run outbound here
For an identity platform, the angle anchors in the buyer's observable identity reality — application sprawl, lifecycle manual overhead, customer identity gaps, compliance pressure — and frames the platform as the consolidation layer the buyer's current stack cannot provide.
Channel mix
- EmailPrimary
CISOs and Heads of IT read substantive security email when the targeting is precise. Cold email earns reply rates of 3-6% with operational specifics and compliance framing.
- LinkedinSecondary
Security leaders publish on LinkedIn around hiring, conference talks, and incident-response reflections. Engagement before outreach lifts cold-email reply rates with this buyer.
- PhoneSupport
Used only after engagement signal or specific trigger event. Security buyers are phone-resistant unless the signal is sharp.
Who & when
Target titles
Signal types
Sequencing shape
Multi-touch (6-8 touches over 28-35 days), multi-threaded into CISO + Head of IT + VP Engineering in parallel. Each sequence pegs to an observable security or operational signal so the outreach is grounded.
What we won't do
- No FUD-driven copy referencing breaches at the prospect or competitor. Security leaders reject scare-tactics outbound.
- No outreach into companies without observable identity-scale signal — sub-25-employee shops are not the fit.
- No FUD against Microsoft Entra. We position the operational gap, not the competitive trash-talk.
The shape, not the script.
Want the actual sequences, queries, and angles? That's the discovery call.
Example Campaigns
How outbound works in practice for identity & access management companies.
M&A-Driven Identity Consolidation
Companies post-acquisition need to consolidate identity across multiple legacy IAM systems, often within 18-24 months for full integration. Outbound targets the CISO and Head of IT leading the consolidation with the migration-playbook angle.
CIAM For New Customer-Facing Products
Companies launching new B2C or B2B-customer-facing products need customer identity infrastructure separate from the workforce IAM. Outbound targets VP Engineering and Head of Product with the CIAM-specific platform story.
Zero-Trust Architecture Implementation
Companies adopting zero-trust security architectures need identity at the centre — every access decision flows through the identity provider. Outbound targets the CISO and Head of Security Architecture leading the zero-trust transition.
Real-World Success Stories
See how companies in identity & access management have grown their pipeline with outbound.
Okta
Security / Identity & Access ManagementChallenge
Okta built the category-defining independent identity platform, competing against Microsoft's bundled-into-the-stack default position and against legacy enterprise IAM (CA, IBM, RSA). The challenge was articulating the independent-platform value while navigating the operational reality that most customers run Microsoft as well.
Approach
Okta built one of the most successful enterprise outbound machines in B2B software. Reps were trained to speak about lifecycle automation, application integration breadth, and developer experience. The Okta Identity Cloud + Auth0 acquisition (2021) expanded the platform into customer identity, doubling the buyer base.
Results
- Public company (NASDAQ: OKTA) with $2.5B+ ARR
- Customer roster includes 19,000+ organisations worldwide
- Acquired Auth0 in 2021 for $6.5B to expand into customer identity
Source: Based on Okta 10-K and 2021 Auth0 acquisition announcement
Auth0 (Okta)
Security / Customer IdentityChallenge
Auth0 built the developer-first customer identity category, growing through bottom-up adoption among engineering teams building login and authentication into their products. The challenge was reaching enterprise buyers requiring commercial agreements and compliance certifications without losing the developer-first brand.
Approach
Auth0 ran developer-led PLG combined with enterprise outbound targeting VPs of Engineering and Heads of Product at companies building customer-facing applications. The outbound positioned the platform as the customer identity layer that bundled-IAM solutions could not provide.
Results
- Acquired by Okta in 2021 for $6.5B as the category-leading customer identity platform
- Built developer-first brand with millions of developers using the platform
- Established CIAM as a distinct category alongside workforce IAM
Source: Based on Okta 2021 Auth0 acquisition press release
Ping Identity
Security / Enterprise IdentityChallenge
Ping Identity competed in the enterprise identity market from a federation and customer-identity angle, eventually going private with Thoma Bravo in 2022 for $2.8B. The challenge was differentiating from Okta and Microsoft in a category where the platform-of-default options were strengthening.
Approach
Ping Identity focused outbound on Fortune 1000 enterprises with complex federation requirements — multi-cloud, multi-region, regulated industries. The opening hypothesis was always specific to enterprise-scale identity complexity that bundled solutions could not address.
Results
- Acquired by Thoma Bravo in 2022 for $2.8B in take-private transaction
- Maintained enterprise customer base including major financial services and Fortune 500
- Established complex-federation enterprise positioning against Okta and Microsoft
Source: Based on Thoma Bravo 2022 Ping Identity acquisition announcement
We help companies like Okta, Auth0 (Okta), and Ping Identity build predictable outbound pipelines. Yours could be next.
Your Pipeline, Built From Scratch
We build your outbound pipeline from scratch — targeting the right prospects, booking qualified meetings, and filling your calendar so you can focus on closing. Or let us handle the full sales cycle and close deals on your behalf.
Identity Platform Pipeline Calculator
Leads
400
Intent
52
Booked
10
Deals
2
Monthly Revenue
£220,000
2 deals × £110,000
Annual Revenue
£2,640,000
12-Month Revenue Forecast
Forecast Assumptions
- Month 1: 30% of target (setup & warming)
- Month 2: 60% (campaigns ramping)
- Month 3: 85% (optimising)
- Month 4+: 100% (full run rate)
Revenue = meetings × close rate × deal size
12-Month Current Revenue
£660,000
12-Month With BookedCalls
£2,010,250
Additional Revenue
+£1,350,250
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