Coaching Your Clients on Managing Inactive Users and External Access

When talking to your clients about security, it’s easy for them to focus on high-profile threats like ransomware or phishing. But one of the biggest, most overlooked risks is something far simpler—inactive user accounts.

As a trusted advisor in the professional services space, you have an opportunity to help your clients see why this matters, what risks they’re facing, and how they can take control of the problem. In this guide, we’ll walk through:

1. Why inactive and external users pose a major security risk
2. How to identify which clients are most at risk
3. The common (and often flawed) ways businesses handle this today
4. How to shift the conversation toward proactive solutions

By the end of this, you’ll be better equipped to guide your clients in managing this issue—and reinforcing your value as a security partner.

Why Should Your Clients Care About Inactive Users?

One of the simplest ways to frame this conversation is with a physical analogy:

Imagine a business moves offices but forgets to collect the keys from all their former employees and contractors. Those keys could be anywhere—in a desk drawer, a forgotten backpack, or in the hands of someone with bad intentions.

This is exactly what happens when companies don’t manage inactive user accounts. Every unused login is a digital key, potentially allowing unauthorized access to business-critical systems.

How This Becomes a Real Problem

Inactive users create risk in two key ways:

1. They’re an easy target for attackers. If an old account still exists and hasn’t had its password changed, hackers can use it as an entry point into company systems.
2. They leave businesses open to insider threats. A former employee or vendor who still has access—even unintentionally—could misuse company data or systems.

For businesses that deal with sensitive information, regulatory compliance, or complex supplier relationships, this isn’t just a security issue—it’s a business continuity issue.

Which Clients Should Be Paying Attention to This?

Not every business faces the same level of risk from inactive user accounts. Your best opportunities for this conversation are clients that:

• Use a lot of external suppliers, contractors, or third-party logistics (3PL) providers. These businesses are constantly granting access to new people, which increases the risk of leaving accounts open when they’re no longer needed.
• Operate across multiple regions or countries. Large, geographically diverse organizations often struggle to maintain consistent user access policies across offices and business units.
• Are involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). When a company acquires another business, it inherits not just employees and systems, but also a mess of old user accounts that may not be properly reviewed or deactivated.

If any of your clients fit these descriptions, they’re likely sitting on a pile of forgotten accounts that could become a security liability.

How Are They Handling This Today?

When you bring this up, most businesses will tell you they already have some kind of process in place. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll often find gaps in their approach.

Common (But Incomplete) Strategies:

• “We do periodic manual cleanups.”Many businesses rely on IT teams to review user lists every few months. But manual processes are slow, error-prone, and easy to deprioritize. In fast-moving businesses, accounts can sit inactive for months before anyone notices.
• “We let managers handle offboarding.” Some companies put the responsibility on department heads to request access removals. The problem? Business leaders are busy and often forget, meaning old accounts get overlooked.
• “We assume vendors will tell us when they’re done.” For external users, companies often rely on the honor system—expecting suppliers, contractors, or partners to tell them when access is no longer needed. This rarely happens, leaving a long trail of forgotten accounts.

These are all well-intentioned approaches, but they aren’t scalable or secure. As a professional services provider, your role is to help clients see these blind spots and move toward a better approach.

Shifting the Conversation Toward Proactive Solutions

Now that you’ve helped your client recognize the issue, the next step is to guide them toward a proactive solution.

Here’s how you can frame the conversation:

• Automated account deactivation: Instead of waiting for someone to manually review users, set policies that automatically disable accounts after a set period of inactivity.
• Regular access reviews: Work with clients to implement structured, quarterly reviews of who has access and why.
• Clear offboarding workflows: Ensure that every employee, contractor, and vendor has a defined offboarding process that includes account deactivation.

These steps aren’t just about security—they also help businesses stay compliant with regulations, reduce IT overhead, and protect their brand reputation.

Your Next Steps

Helping your clients take control of inactive user accounts strengthens their security posture while positioning you as a trusted advisor. Here’s how you can take action:

1. Identify which of your clients are most at risk (high supplier reliance, multi-region operations, or active in M&A).
2. Start the conversation by asking how they currently manage inactive accounts.
3. Help them see the gaps in their existing process and the risks they face.
4. Guide them toward structured, automated solutions that reduce risk and improve efficiency.

This isn’t just about selling security - it’s about helping your clients run a safer, more resilient business. In our next post, we’ll dive deeper into practical strategies to enhance compliance and improve operational efficiency. Stay tuned!