Authorization in the Age of Multi-Tenant SaaS, APIs, and AI Agents

Our next AITP Lehigh Valley regional meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, in the Gambet Center, Room 206 on campus at DeSales University.

This presentation is open for members and non-members, faculty, staff, and students.

ABSTRACT:
“Who Are You?” Is No Longer the Hard Question: Authorization in the Age of Multi-Tenant SaaS, APIs, and AI Agents

Authentication has become increasingly standardized, but authorization remains one of the harder problems in modern applications. Knowing who a user or agent is does not answer which tenant they are acting in, which application or environment they are accessing, what privileges they hold, or whether a specific action should be allowed in the current context.

This presentation explores how authorization changes in multi-tenant SaaS environments and becomes even more important as AI agents begin calling APIs, using MCP tools, and taking actions on behalf of users and organizations. It will cover tenant-aware authorization, application-scoped roles and privileges, contextual policies, environment boundaries, and the difference between giving an agent access to a tool and authorizing the action it is attempting to perform.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Raj Nukala is a technology executive and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in software engineering, enterprise architecture, IoT, and smart grid technologies. As a senior leader at Itron, he has helped utilities modernize their infrastructure, supporting deployments of over 30 million connected devices serving more than 50 million customers. His career includes roles at IBM/Lotus and KPMG, along with founding and advising technology ventures. His current interests include AI, cybersecurity, cloud platforms, and connected technologies. Raj holds an Executive MBA from Quantic and an M.S. in Computer Science from Widener University.

LOCATION & DIRECTIONS:

Address: DeSales University, Gambet Center (Room 206), 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA 18034

Building Navigation: Enter through the parking lot side and take the middle staircase to the second floor. Room 206 is directly behind you and down the hallway to the right.

Building Access: Please note: Doors will be unlocked from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Please arrive during this time period.

Click here for Driving Directions (Link)

DINNER FEES:
If you are planning to join us for the in-person optional networking dinner at 6 PM, there is a $20 fee via cash or credit/debit at the door. If you are not planning for dinner, please join us at 7 p.m. complimentary presentation (in-person or remote).

If you wish to attend the presentation portion virtually, you are welcome to use this Zoom connection: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89922802458.

AGENDA:

5:00 – 6:00 PM (Arrival and professional networking)
6:00 – 7:00 PM (Networking Dinner)
7:00 – 8:00 or 8:30 PM EST (Presentation -- FREE)

For a listing of our AITP Lehigh Valley Chapter events, please visit our website at http://www.lv-aitp.org/

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18th!