August 22, 2025

Privileged Access Management (PAM) is a cornerstone of modern cybersecurity. Done right, it reduces risk, improves audit readiness, and can even lower your cyber insurance premiums. Done wrong, it creates chaos, breaks workflows, and sends users scrambling for shadow IT.

The reality is, most PAM failures aren’t about the technology. They’re about misaligned expectations, lack of planning, and ignoring the humans behind the keyboard. Whether you’re rolling out PAM for the first time or rebooting a stalled project, here are the top three missteps to avoid—and what to do instead.

Step 1: Set Unrealistic Timelines and Try to “Boil the Ocean”

It’s tempting to go big out of the gate: lock down every admin account, vault every credential, and solve privileged access in 90 days. Ambitious—but totally impractical.

The truth? PAM touches everything: infrastructure, users, scripts, automation tools, and legacy systems. A rush job increases the risk of downtime, broken integrations, and frustrated users who will find workarounds faster than you can say “compliance audit.”

PAM is not just a software install—it’s a foundational change to how people access critical systems. Every environment is full of unique edge cases: old service accounts, custom scripts, third-party integrations, and ad hoc exceptions that have been duct-taped together over time. When you try to do it all at once—without phasing, planning, or breathing room—things break. Credentials get cycled too soon. Admins get locked out. And the workaround culture kicks in.

What to Do Instead:
Take a phased approach. Start with your highest-risk accounts and work outward. Run PAM alongside legacy access where needed, and pilot your rollout with trusted users. Think “minimum blast radius.” The smoother the rollout, the faster you’ll see real results.  

Step 2: Ignore the Human Factor

Too many organizations treat PAM like a purely technical project. It’s not.  It’s an operational shift that directly affects the people who keep your systems running. It touches people across engineering, ops, and security. And when those people aren’t looped in early, you’re setting yourself up for resistance—or worse, noncompliance. When users feel surprised or constrained by a PAM rollout, they often respond in unpredictable (and dangerous) ways:

• Creating hidden admin accounts “just in case”
• Sharing credentials outside of policy
• Delaying or avoiding onboarding into the new system

The result? Shadow IT, audit gaps, and weakened controls—exactly what PAM is supposed to prevent.

What to Do Instead:
Communicate early and often. Treat privileged users like stakeholders, not speed bumps. Hold discovery sessions with devops and sysadmin teams. Run “show-and-tell” meetings to preview workflows. Explain the why, not just the what. When people feel heard and supported, they’re more likely to engage, and less likely to resist. Empathy is a security control.  

Skip the Discovery and Dependency Mapping

PAM failures often stem from the same root cause: not knowing what’s out there. You can’t secure what you can’t see—and most organizations dramatically underestimate the number of privileged accounts and credential dependencies in their environment.

Consider:

• Human accounts used in automated tasks
• Legacy credentials hardcoded into scripts or applications
• Shared admin logins embedded in third-party tools

If you onboard these accounts without understanding their dependencies, expect outages, broken integrations, and long nights.

What to Do Instead:
Use discovery tools to find and classify privileged accounts before rollout—both human and machine. Map out where credentials are used and what systems they touch. Flag overlaps between users and services. Then onboard in waves, with full communication and rollback plans in place. Discovery isn’t a delay. It’s your insurance against disruption.

Bonus Mistake: Treating PAM as a “One and Done”

New systems, new hires, and evolving threat vectors mean your access landscape is always shifting. Treating PAM as a one-time deployment instead of a living program is a fast path back to privilege creep, audit failures, and risk exposure.What to Do Instead:
Build PAM into your security governance framework. Schedule regular access reviews. Tune policies based on emerging needs. Incorporate PAM into your incident response and audit readiness plans. And keep the lines of communication open with stakeholders—especially when roles or systems change.

The Strategic Payoff

A thoughtful, well-executed PAM program doesn’t just reduce risk—it creates measurable business value:

• 48% reduction in security incidents for organizations with mature PAM programs
• 780 hours saved annually through automation—freeing up teams to focus on strategic initiatives
• $104,900 saved in operational efficiency gains and an additional $152,435 in audit and compliance labor savings over three years (CyberArk Total Economic Impact™ Study)

Those aren’t theoretical numbers. They’re based on real-world deployments with documented ROI. And let’s not forget risk transfer: PAM has become a baseline requirement for cyber insurance and regulatory compliance. No controls? Expect higher premiums, reduced coverage—or flat-out denial.

If You Want Better Control, Don’t Skip the Planning

Rushing PAM is like doing surgery without a diagnosis. You might cut something—but it won’t be the risk. Invest in planning, involve your people, and treat PAM as an evolving journey. The payoff is worth it: tighter control, lower risk, and a stronger security posture that scales with your business.

Ready to build it right? Download the white paper for recommended rollout practices, an implementation checklist, and strategies for long-term success.