What is automated provisioning? Examples + tools

Starting a new job is already a nerve-racking parade of awkward handshakes, mysterious Slack channels, and wondering if it’s too soon to take your first bathroom break. The last thing a new hire needs is to fumble through locked accounts and needlessly convoluted onboarding documents like a bad escape room.

When there are robots writing novels and cars that drive themselves into ditches, it shouldn’t take five humans and three email chains to get someone access to Google Drive. Automated provisioning fixes that. It’s a smarter, faster way to set up employees with all the apps, permissions, and hardware they need before they even figure out where the bathroom is.

Ready to give your new employees a smooth, delay-free first day? Let’s explore how automation can change how you onboard new hires.

Table of contents:

What is automated provisioning?

Automated provisioning is a system of automatically preparing IT resources (like devices, apps, and user permissions) based on an employee’s role, department, and seniority. Traditionally, companies relied on manual provisioning to set up a new hire. For instance:

1. HR emails IT: “John Doe starts Monday. Can you get him a laptop, email, and CRM access?”

2. IT responds: “What’s his role? What permissions does he need? Also, we’ll need manager approval.”

3. HR forwards the job description and pings the manager.  

4. Manager eventually replies. HR loops back to IT.

5. IT sets up John’s email, installs the CRM, images the desktop, creates logins, sets temporary passwords, installs software, crosses fingers…

And that’s if nothing gets dropped.

If one step stalls or someone misses a detail, John ends up twiddling his thumbs on day one instead of hitting the ground running. And because this is a manual process, IT might forget to set up a login, give access to information they don’t need (over-privileging), or accidentally duplicate the setup effort because two people thought it was their job.

Bridging HR and IT

Automated provisioning automates a super tedious HR workflow: onboarding. You use templated, predefined rules and let machines do the work, so every onboard is fast and consistent. 

It integrates IT tools and human resources information systems (HRIS). So when a new employee joins, IT processes get automated, including:

• Granting user access to software tools and online services

• Configuring laptops, desktops, and mobile devices with credentials and security controls

• Pre-installing software on devices

• Setting permissions (admin or user) based on role and privilege requirements  

• Deploying servers or infrastructure (automated cloud provisioning) using platforms like Ansible, Terraform, or other Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools

Examples of automated provisioning

Whether you’re onboarding a single employee or unleashing an entire sales team like the white-collar version of “The Hunger Games,” automation makes the whole process faster, smoother, and way less stressful. Here’s what automated provisioning looks like in action.

Instant software and account access for new hires

Integrate provisioning tools like Okta with HR systems to create logins and accounts the moment someone’s added to the employee directory.

You can even automatically pre-program access based on role. For instance, a graphic designer can get everything they need to start creating visual, branded masterpieces on day one: Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, Adobe Creative Cloud, and a sense of belonging (ok, the last one’s on you).

Secure, one-click offboarding

Don’t stress about a disgruntled employee stealing that lead list or emailing customers defamatory info about your company. Automated user provisioning, via an Active Directory service like Microsoft Entra, Okta, or IBM Verify deactivates access with the click of a button. Access to email, tools, online services, and sacred databases vanishes like a free donut in the breakroom.

Now you can rest easy knowing that the departing employee will go quietly (even if their actual exit involved a dramatic monologue).

Pre-configured, employee-ready devices

Setting up a new device? With provisioning workflows, you can auto-install the right operating systems and role-specific software.

Device staging tools like Windows Autopilot and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit push the right software and settings onto devices without you having to baseline the OS or manually click “next” a thousand times. You can also use specialized mobile device management (MDM) solutions to handle similar configurations for mobile phones or tablets.

Automatic role-based access control (RBAC)

Ensure your new hire has just enough access to do their job. Are they a standard user or do they need admin rights? Do they have read-only permissions or do they need editing capabilities for files? Are specific modules or datasets off-limits to their curious eyes?

Automating RBAC and permission settings gives secure, role-based access on day one. Provisioning tools like Entra or Okta can run these functions for most business users across departments like sales, marketing, and admin. 

Say you’re onboarding a software engineer or programmer. In these cases, you can use tools like SailPoint or JumpCloud to grant instant access to developer resources like GitHub repositories, AWS accounts, or those over-engineered dashboards they find so mesmerizing, all based on predefined developer roles.

Auto-enforcing cybersecurity controls and policies

Does your industry fall under a strict compliance umbrella? Automation lets you auto-apply those stringent security policies across your entire workforce, including the fresh-faced new hires.

Automated user provisioning tools like CrowdStrike and SentinelOne can enforce security solutions such as encryption, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and those RBAC controls we just talked about.

Done manually, you might forget to deploy a security control or apply policies to a user. But with automation, you ensure you check every compliance box for every user—consistently.

Benefits of automated provisioning

User provisioning is one of many automatable IT processes that removes headaches and lets new hires hit the ground running. Here’s how:

• New hires get onboarded faster: IT automatically grants access and configures settings so tools, devices, and accounts are employee-ready on day one.

• Keeps your network and sensitive data secure: With one click, you can disable employee access, manage RBAC and permission settings, and enforce strict security controls.

• More onboarding consistency: Humans forget things. Like adjusting permission settings. Or that an employee even exists. Automation gives you repeatable, flawless new-hire setups.

• Saves on costs: You’ll spend less time (and money) on IT personnel manually provisioning tech resources.  

• Seamlessly scales your workforce: Need to onboard 50 people by Friday? Automated provisioning can spin up their devices, configure accounts, and send welcome emails in minutes.

• Helps you stay compliant: Avoid non-compliance penalties by incorporating security controls and enforcing policies automatically.

What to look for in an automated provisioning tool

There’s no “perfect” tool that can do it all. But many can support different provisioning needs and use cases. Here are the must-have features to look for:

• Depth of RBAC: Is it easy to grant permissions without over-privileging? How granular can you govern RBAC settings based on an employee’s job? At the network level? For individual applications? Or modules within applications? Bonus points if you can control access at the data level.  

• Integration capabilities: Can your tools connect with HR systems or IT management apps? If so, how many, and is it easy to create flows? The more extensibility, the more you can automate.

• Self-service feature: Can HR (or new employees) request access and get approved without bombarding IT?

• Robust workflow automation: What provisioning features are included in the toolset? Can you automate approvals for employee onboarding? Easily offboard existing employees? Auto-check access settings and compliance?

• Clear audit trail: Will it log IT provisioning activity, track user permissions, and leave a clear trail of recently onboarded personnel? This is super helpful for security and compliance audits.

Popular automated provisioning tools

You can bring lots of products into your stack to speed up onboarding. But some of the most common automated provisioning tools include:

• Okta: A digital “bouncer” that auto-grants permission to let specific users access specific tools while overseeing identity and access management (IAM) 

• AWS Cloud: Builds an entire cloud infrastructure for new hires (particularly software developers) in a few clicks

• SolarWinds: Gives permission control so no one is locked out of their tools (or let in where they shouldn’t be)

• SailPoint: Controls and tracks IAMs specifically for cloud or hybrid environments

• Google Cloud Platform (GCP): Spins up servers and Google Cloud services for new users without waiting

• Zluri: Lets you manage app accessibility and auto-enroll users (sort of like Okta)

Automate IT with Zapier 

You wouldn’t hire someone and then not give them a chair, right? So don’t leave your new hires staring at a blank screen with no logins, no tools, and no clue what’s happening. Automated provisioning delivers instant, secure access through RBAC management and integrating IT and HR tools. It uses workflow automation to ensure the tech stack is employee-ready on day one.

Zapier helps IT teams connect tools to oversee their network, manage support tickets, and ensure every user can access their resources. For example, you can automate Okta to automatically create new users from anywhere—a form, your HR app, a database, you name it. And you can send notifications from Okta to all the other apps you use.

Zapier’s IT help desk automation template adds AI to the mix. It provides instant answers with AI-powered responses, prioritizes tickets automatically, and updates your knowledge base with up-to-date information that’s always current. Try the template below, or build your own AI-powered workflows with Zapier.

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