Identity security becomes more important when AI agents start acting across enterprise systems.
That challenge can be especially acute for smaller technology teams that cannot dedicate large teams to infrastructure, security and identity management. The Professional Golfers’ Association of America has deliberately reduced much of that complexity while relying heavily on Okta and Auth0. That approach allows its developers to concentrate spending and staff on technology that directly supports members and customers, according to Kevin Scott (pictured), chief technology officer of the PGA of America.
“I think the biggest one is we don’t have much of a team – it’s small, it is lean,” Scott said. “I don’t mean to be reductive, but if we were to spend half of the technology budget on administering systems, none of our customers are ever going to come along and say thank you for that.”
Scott spoke with Krista Case and Rebecca Knight at Okta’s Oktane event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how the PGA of America is simplifying identity security while deploying AI agents in production. (* Disclosure below.)
Identity security starts with less complexity
The PGA of America’s approach has been to remove infrastructure layers instead of managing more of them. The organization no longer operates data centers, VPNs, Active Directory or even a traditional corporate network, reducing the number of systems where identity controls can become fragmented. That simplification also limits potential gaps across different user populations, Scott noted.
“The way that we’ve tried to get through it is to simplify things as much as we possibly can,” he said. “If you need to handle the same type of use case or persona management across multiple systems, that’s where you can get into trouble. We try to streamline things as much as we can.”
AI adds another layer because agents can reach enterprise tools and data on behalf of employees. The PGA of America is keeping that environment relatively centralized, steering employees toward a common AI platform and using identity controls around technologies such as MCP and agent gateways rather than allowing independent agents to multiply across the organization, Scott explained.
“We try to make ours the best option,” he said. “Use gravity to create the right defaults for people. That has allowed us to … centralize things. We don’t have a proliferation of agents around. We kind of know where they’re going to be running it from and we can authenticate … each independent user in all the ways that Okta’s been talking about this week.”
AI adoption spreads decision-making across the business
The shift also changes who participates in technology decisions. As AI deployments touch employee workflows, governance and business processes, the PGA of America is bringing finance, human resources, legal and technology closer together. Decisions that once belonged primarily to IT increasingly need several perspectives before software reaches production, Scott pointed out.
“I think it’s put greater importance on creating a shared understanding between finance and HR and legal as well as technology,” he said. “It used to be easier to make a standalone technology decision. I think now it’s more obvious that there are things that really deserve the attention of these multiple perspectives.”
The PGA of America is pairing that broader oversight with a cautious approach to AI deployment. New tools and use cases pass through an internal council, while human review remains central. Organizations can still move quickly, but experience with the technology matters because teams need enough firsthand knowledge to evaluate vendors and decide what should be built internally, Scott argued.
“You build that up by experience,” he said. “Turns out a lot of the stuff’s actually easier than you might think. My comment of confidence is that it’s all learnable. Even an old guy like me can actually understand how this stuff works and be able to get a company to a place where it makes you better at make-buy decisions, better at critiquing vendors.”
Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Okta’s Oktane event:
(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Okta’s Oktane event. Neither Okta, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)
