Okta & Deloitte join forces on AI identity controls

Okta has formed a strategic alliance with Deloitte aimed at organisations in highly regulated and complex sectors in Australia.

The partnership will initially focus on financial services, government, healthcare and other industries undergoing large-scale digital transformation. It centres on identity management as businesses face rising demands for governance, visibility, control and oversight.

Both companies are targeting a market in which organisations are adopting AI, automation and cloud systems while also dealing with tighter regulatory requirements. In Australia, rules such as APRA CPS 230 are increasing pressure on organisations to review how they manage access and accountability across their systems.

That pressure extends beyond staff and customers. As AI agents, software applications and automated systems gain access to internal resources, companies must manage a broader mix of human and non-human identities, including what they can access and who is responsible for them.

The alliance combines Deloitte's cyber, identity and business transformation capabilities with Okta's Workforce Identity and Customer Identity products. The aim is to help organisations embed identity controls into broader security, transformation and AI programs, while improving access management across more complex technology environments.

Legacy identity systems remain a central issue for many large organisations. Businesses have invested heavily in modern digital infrastructure, but many identity frameworks were built for older environments and can struggle when applications, devices, automated systems and AI tools all interact with the same enterprise systems.

Okta said this shift is changing the role of identity inside organisations. What was once seen largely as a tool for managing employee logins is now treated as part of cyber security, compliance and AI governance.

“Organisations are no longer managing access solely for employees and customers. They are increasingly managing access for AI agents and other non-human identities as well,” said Mike Reddie, Vice President and General Manager, ANZ, Okta. “Identity has become a critical foundation for digital transformation, cyber resilience and AI adoption. As organisations introduce more AI agents and non-human identities into their environments, maintaining visibility, accountability and control is becoming increasingly important. Together with Deloitte, we are helping organisations build the capabilities needed to strengthen security, support regulatory obligations and adopt AI with confidence.”

Deloitte linked the partnership to a broader wave of technology change across Australian organisations, with many businesses trying to modernise legacy environments while preparing for more extensive AI use.

“Organisations across Australia are modernising legacy environments at the same time as they prepare for a new wave of AI-driven transformation. Identity is becoming increasingly important to both, particularly as the number of people, applications, devices and AI agents interacting with enterprise systems continues to grow.

“Identity now sits at the intersection of cyber security, regulatory compliance, customer experience and AI governance. Working with Okta enables us to help organisations address identity as part of broader business and technology transformation, while putting the governance and controls in place to support the next phase of digital and AI adoption,” said Shweta Pandey, Partner, Cyber, Technology & Transformation, Deloitte.

AI controls

The alliance also builds on Okta's recent push into tools for managing AI agents and other non-human identities. Earlier this year, the company made Okta for AI Agents generally available, saying it allows organisations to discover, onboard, manage and govern AI agents across the enterprise.

In August, Okta also launched Agent SSO, designed to extend identity controls to agent-to-application connections. It said this would help organisations manage what AI agents can access and what actions they can take under existing identity policies.

Okta is also expanding Cross App Access, an open protocol intended to give organisations more visibility and control over agent-to-app and app-to-app connections. More than 25 technology companies have announced support or early adoption, including Anthropic, Atlassian, Canva, Cloudflare and Zoom.

Those product moves point to a broader shift in how companies are approaching AI inside the enterprise. Rather than treating AI systems simply as software features, organisations are increasingly being pushed to manage them as identities with defined ownership, access rights and governance requirements throughout their lifecycle.

For Deloitte, the partnership provides another route into large transformation projects where identity, compliance and cyber security are becoming more closely tied to AI deployment. For Okta, it broadens access to sectors where regulatory scrutiny and operational complexity make identity management a board-level concern.

The work will focus on helping organisations establish clearer governance and stronger oversight as automated systems take on a larger role in business operations and decision-making.