Access all areas with 1 credential: Why Australian workplaces need identity convergence now

Many Australian workplaces are now permanently hybrid, mobile and distributed, with employees moving between corporate offices, home workspaces, customer sites and cloud platforms throughout the working day. This mobility empowers productivity but demands secure, robust and frictionless credentialing across every touchpoint. 

Today's workers demand instant, adaptive authentication that blends biometrics, tokens and passwords into a single, trusted credential. Meanwhile, employers prioritise resilience against escalating threats, such as phishing and AI-driven attacks, while building unified technology platforms that integrate physical and digital systems. 

This convergence of physical/digital identities is gaining greater momentum. According to the HID 2026 State of Security and Identity Report, a global survey of more than 1,500 end users and industry partners, 75% of organisations have either deployed or are evaluating integrated identity solutions. For Australian businesses, that shift is becoming increasingly urgent as cyber threats intensify and compliance expectations rise. The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) continues to report increases in malicious cyber activity, including an 83% increase in the 2024-25 financial year alone.  

Convergence unifies disparate systems into a single, resilient framework, eliminating siloes and slashing vulnerabilities at their source. It positions organisations to thrive securely in an era of relentless cyber evolution, while meeting the expectations of the modern workforce. 

In many organisations, physical and network security operate separately, typically backed by different vendors and credentials. An employee might swipe a badge to enter the building, enter a password for their workstation and use yet another method to access cloud apps. These disconnected systems multiply vulnerabilities, complicate audits and increase the cost and effort of managing identity across the enterprise. 

Managing multiple credentials across dispersed workforces creates operational complexity and expands the attack surface for cybercriminals. 

For identity and access management (IAM) leaders, the business case increasingly comes down to governance, evidence and operations. Convergence applies consistent policies and assurance levels across every access point; evidence provides auditable proof of who had access and why; and operations reduces manual work while making identity management more scalable across the employee lifecycle. 

Converged credentials that unify physical badges, passwords and digital tokens into a single layer reduce points of failure from disparate siloes. This holistic approach enables centralised policy enforcement, real-time threat detection across domains and streamlined audits that can bolster resilience against AI-driven attacks. 

Companies Keen on Unifying Technologies 

As identity management takes on increased importance, organisations are exploring the merger of physical and digital through converged technologies, according to the HID report. 

Organisations are prioritising seamless integration to simplify security operations, with 73% of survey respondents ranking it as the leading trend. This marks a pivotal shift toward holistic protection, as firms consolidate fragmented systems into unified platforms. 

Managing multiple disparate systems is the main pain point, cited by 52% of respondents, prompting 60% to boost spending on streamlined solutions. Enterprises seek fewer vendors and less complexity, moving toward single platforms that handle employee credentials, visitor access, multi-factor authentication and physical identity and access management (PIAM) in one system. Just as important, these platforms must support clear governance and consistent assurance levels across the joiner/mover/leaver journey, ensuring access is granted, adjusted and removed appropriately as people enter, move through and exit the organisation. Persistent challenges like limited budgets (41%), user friction (42%), compliance pressures (29%) and cloud integration snags (27%) loom large, yet consolidation promises clear ROI through lower overhead, fortified security and more seamless experiences. 

Physical-digital identity convergence accelerates this trend, with 75% of organisations either deploying unified solutions (29%) or evaluating them (46%). A single credential unlocking buildings, networks and cloud apps reduces complexity while amplifying resilience. At this point, enterprises are no longer debating the adoption of converged solutions; instead, they are turning to questions of how to execute them to best suit organisational needs. 

Why converged credentials are the solution for Australian enterprises 

Converged credentials provide the unified solution enterprises need by enabling a single, secure authenticator for both physical and logical access. By leveraging phishing-resistant FIDO2 and PKI standards, this approach directly counters credential phishing and AI threats by replacing isolated credentials with a hardened, centralised layer. 

Core advantages include unified visibility across all access points to eliminate blind spots; simplified compliance through streamlined auditing within a single system; and efficient provisioning/revocation that spans environments instantly. 

This convergence extends beyond convenience to operational efficiency. New hires gain immediate access to facilities, devices and applications upon onboarding, while offboarding revokes privileges instantly enterprise wide. Additionally, because zero-trust principles are embedded, converged credentials enforce continuous verification regardless of location or device. 

Regarding technology that connects physical and digital identities, 84% of Asia Pacific respondents to the HID survey said they either had deployed (32%) or were evaluating (52%) convergence technology.  

Converged Credential Features to Look For 

When evaluating credential solutions, look for those that streamline and unify the credential lifecycle across physical and logical access. They should deliver high assurance through stronger credentials, simplified operations, a consistent user experience and audit and compliance evidence. 

The most effective solutions will also offer multiple form factors to fit the way the organisation and its employees actually work, including: 

• A single card for physical door access and phishing-resistant digital login that supports FIDO2, PKI and OATH with no separate token required 

• Portable FIDO2/PKI authenticators for high-assurance access to workstations and cloud applications  

• Compact NFC-enabled readers that extend converged access to workstations and environments where carrying a phone is not practical. 

Together, these options enable organisations to deploy the appropriate credentials for each user and use case while maintaining a unified identity and access framework across the enterprise. 

Looking to a Converged Future 

As hybrid work continues to expand across Australia, enabling people to work more seamlessly in cities and across remote communities in an environment where cyber threats grow more sophisticated, organisations can no longer afford to manage physical and logical access as separate systems. Converged credentials address this challenge by enabling a single, phishing-resistant credential to secure buildings, workstations and cloud applications. This approach reduces complexity, closes security gaps, simplifies compliance and improves the user experience. 

By consolidating identity into one secure framework, Australian organisations can strengthen security, streamline operations and provide employees with seamless access wherever and however they work.