What is the purpose of "Salesforce Customer Identity"?

The purpose of "Salesforce Customer Identity" primarily revolves around enabling secure access for external users through centralized identity management. This feature allows organizations to manage and authenticate external users effectively, ensuring that they can access Salesforce resources safely and securely. By providing a streamlined way to handle user identities, Salesforce Customer Identity enhances security measures while simplifying the access process for users who are not internal employees, such as customers or partners.

Centralized identity management means that all user access and permissions can be handled from a single location, making it easier to enforce security policies, monitor access, and ensure compliance with organizational standards. This is especially important for organizations that engage with multiple external stakeholders, as it allows them to provide tailored access while maintaining control over their data.

In contrast, the other options focus on different aspects of identity and access management that do not specifically encapsulate the primary goal of Salesforce Customer Identity. Automated user provisioning, user auditing and compliance, and managing data sharing rules serve important roles in the broader context of Salesforce's identity and access management capabilities, but they do not specifically highlight the secure access aspect for external users that is central to Salesforce Customer Identity.