# What is Cakewalk ### :fire: **The Problems Teams Face** Modern scale-ups do not just run on SaaS apps and cloud platforms anymore. AI apps and agents are now everywhere. Without a governance layer, IT and Security teams are left exposed: * **Shadow IT and Shadow AI**: Employees spin up apps or AI tools without approval, multiplying risk and compliance headaches. * **Onboarding friction**: New hires wait days for the right apps because access has to be granted manually. * **Mover complexity**: Role changes and team transfers leave users with too much access or too little, often discovered only during audits. * **Offboarding gaps**: Departing employees keep lingering access to apps, exposing sensitive data. * **Audit fatigue**: Security and compliance teams spend weeks chasing spreadsheets to prove who has access to what. * **Admin overload**: IT admins waste hours provisioning, deprovisioning and fielding repetitive requests. * **End-user resistance**: Employees struggle with poor UX in order to get timely access and contribute to healthy IGA practices. *** ### :cupcake: **How Cakewalk Solves It** Cakewalk is the AI powered control plane for Access Management that makes employees part of the solution, and is built around three core pillars: #### 1. Consolidate Bring all access data, identities and systems into one source of truth. * **App and AI Discovery:** Capture all apps, tools and identities (via browser extension, Google Workspace, IdP, etc.) and bring them into your governance plane. * **Unified Directory:** merge HR, IdP and app accounts so every person (or system) maps to a single identity. * **Smart Tables & Dashboards:** Instantly see who has access to what, across your environment, your data shown how you want it. :white\_check\_mark: **Outcome:** No more silos. You always know the full access landscape. #### 2. Automate Turn access workflows into self-running processes with guardrails. * **JML Automation:** “Joiner / Mover / Leaver” flows automatically grant, adjust or revoke access based on role, attribute or lifecycle changes. * **Policies & Approval Workflows:** Fully customizable and enforceable approval workflows that ensures consistency and compliance. * **Interoperability through Integrations:** Your HRIS, IdP, SaaS tools and Slack all connect to Cakewalk so changes ripple in real time. * **Auto Provisioning by Agent Cake:** Enable real-time access for users with Cakewalk's agentic provisioning automation, minimizing repetitive IT tasks. :white\_check\_mark: **Outcome:** Less manual work, fewer mistakes, faster access changes. #### 3. Guide Give every user the visibility and context to make smart access decisions. * **Self-Serve Access in Slack:** Employees request access where they already live (Slack) while getting routing, contextual info and transparency. * **Contextual Approvals and Reviews**: Detailed insights into the identity, purpose, application and associated AI risks at each decision stage. * **Access Visibility**: Employees always see which apps and AI tools they can use, reducing IT tickets. * **Insights and Governance Actions**: Highlight excessive access, dormant accounts and risky AI usage for remediation. :white\_check\_mark: **Outcome:** Decisions are informed, fast and traceable while users aren’t blocked waiting on IT. *** ### :bulb: **Why you need Cakewalk** * **Save time**: IT & Security teams can cut up to **80% of manual effort** in access management. * **Close security gaps**: Orphaned accounts, over-permissioned users and unknown AI use is discovered and addressed automatically. * **Stay audit-ready**: Generate clean reports showing who has access to what, how it was approved and when it was last reviewed. * **Enable scale**: Onboard faster, manage complex org structures with confidence. * **Empower teams**: Give employees autonomy to request tools they need while ensuring managers and app owners remain in control. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.getcakewalk.io/introduction/readme.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.