According to Gartner's 2010 CIO survey, identity management was ranked as the top security technology priority. More than 20% of the respondants listing it as a spending priority. Gartner Managing Vice President Vic Wheatman said the interest in identity management is tied to several trends – increased focus on the integration of self-service applications, both internally and to trusted external partners; the need to ensure strong authentication for systems that provide sensitive data; and the necessity of passing compliance audits.