When security professionals arrive at a new organization—especially as external consultants or interim leaders—they often discover that the required tooling either doesn’t exist or is deeply embedded in slow-moving enterprise processes. Waiting for proper integration can take months or even years. But access reviews are required now, not after the next budget cycle.
This is exactly why many security leaders end up using Squarum.
The Reality of Access Reviews
Access reviews are not optional. They are required for compliance frameworks such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, and many internal governance policies. Organizations must regularly verify:
- Who has access to which systems
- Whether that access is still required
- Whether privileges are appropriate for the user’s role
Ideally, an Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) system would handle this automatically. But the reality in many companies looks different.
- Security teams often face environments where:
- Access data lives in multiple systems
- No central identity platform exists
- Procurement cycles for security tools take months
- Integrations between systems are missing
As a result, security teams frequently fall back to spreadsheets.
The Excel Problem
Excel is the default tool for access reviews in many organizations. But spreadsheets introduce serious problems:
- High error risk when handling thousands of permissions
- No audit-friendly workflows
- Difficult collaboration between reviewers
- Version chaos across email attachments
- Manual consolidation of results
In large organizations, a single access review can involve hundreds of systems and thousands of users. Managing this in Excel quickly becomes fragile and inefficient.
Why Squarum Works Better
Squarum solves a very practical problem: running structured access reviews without needing integrations or complex setup. Security teams can upload user lists and immediately start review workflows.
Compared to spreadsheets, Squarum provides:
- Structured review workflows instead of free-form tables
- Clear decision tracking (approve, revoke, modify access)
- Audit-ready documentation
- Centralized collaboration with reviewers
- Fast setup with no integration required
This makes it ideal for situations where a full identity governance platform is unavailable.
The Consultant Reality
A common scenario in security consulting looks like this: A company hires an external Principal Security Engineer, vCISO, or Security Program Manager to improve governance and compliance. The first task: run access reviews.
But when the consultant arrives, they discover:
- No identity governance platform
- No integrated review workflow
- No automation
- Only fragmented exports from different systems
And of course, the organization still expects the review to be completed. In these cases, planning a new enterprise tool is unrealistic. Procurement, architecture design, and integration could take 6–12 months. The review must happen within weeks. This is exactly where Squarum fits.
Security Work Needs Pragmatic Tools
Security leadership roles are often temporary, external, or project-based. That means security professionals frequently enter environments where the ideal tooling simply doesn’t exist. Waiting for perfect infrastructure is not an option.
What they need instead are tools that are:
- Immediate to deploy
- Independent of integrations
- Structured enough for audits
- Simple enough for business reviewers
Squarum provides exactly that balance.
Conclusion
User Access Reviews are a mandatory part of modern security governance, but the tools to perform them are often missing. While organizations work toward long-term identity governance solutions, security professionals still need to execute reviews efficiently today. That’s why many Principal Security Engineers and Security Managers rely on Squarum: it allows them to run structured, auditable access reviews quickly—without waiting for enterprise integrations that may never arrive.
Register now and perfom your first user access review in 10 minutes. Squarum comes with a free plan that includes a maximum of 25 annual user access reviews.