Executive Summary
This paper focuses on the end-to-end migration of 30 million+ customer accounts from a legacy Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) platform (SAP Gigya) to Microsoft Azure AD B2C across a complex ecosystem of mobile applications, web portals, and third-party integrations. It highlights the operational, security, and cost challenges of legacy proprietary identity systems and the risks associated with large-scale identity transitions.
The paper explores the architectural strategies and technologies employed to achieve a seamless, zero-downtime migration without forcing a single user to re-create their account. Additionally, it discusses the dual-IDP coexistence architecture, centralized token exchange, real-time bidirectional synchronization on AWS, feature-flag-controlled canary rollouts, and the measurable business outcomes including a ~90% reduction in licensing costs, enterprise-grade SSO, and modernized OAuth 2.0/OIDC security.
Key Highlights
- Background & Drivers for CIAM Migration
- Architectural Overview: Legacy State vs. Proposed IDP-Agnostic Architecture
- Dual-IDP Coexistence, Token Exchange, and Bidirectional Sync Layer
- Key Migration Challenges & Solutions (SSO, Rate Limiting, Third-Party Token Transfer, Data Migration)
- Phased Canary Rollout Strategy with Feature Flags
- OAuth 2.0 / OIDC Security Best Practices & Lessons Learned
- Benefits Achieved: Cost Optimization (~90% Savings), Operational Excellence, Resiliency, and Security
