Remote work and workplaces that are connected digitally have never been more common. This means that employees are using more devices and more internet-based applications on an unprecedented scale. While this is a benefit in terms of worker connectivity and communication, it can create a challenge for IT specialists and departments.
With so many applications, employees can also have a lot of passwords. The more passwords there are in your organization, the more risk you have of a data breach. Passwords are hard to keep track of, and many employees choose simple ones that are easy to remember. Plus, managing all of those passwords gets very complicated. Because of this, many organizations are finding it beneficial to make the switch to single sign-on (SSO).
What is SSO?
Single sign-on allows users to access many different applications or software with a single set of credentials instead of a set for each one. Many organizations implement it for their employees or their customers, and it makes things simpler for everyone.
How it works is that the SSO solution integrates with the applications, which trust the original SSO program. When the user enters those credentials, an authentication request is sent to the applications to allow access for the user. The user will not have to track many different passwords, and the organization is protected since there are fewer opportunities for password breaches.
Benefits of SSO
Nobody likes to either memorize or have a file of all of their passwords for the applications they use on a regular basis. Implementing a password manager with SSO provides many benefits through simplifying the authorization process. Here are some of the top ones.
Better Security
You might think that having many passwords is actually a good thing. With so many passwords, a hacker couldn’t possibly access all of them, right? Plus, it seems apparent that having one password for everything means that if that password is compromised, everything can be accessed.
The good thing is that these concerns are unfounded. If you have a strong security culture within your organization, it makes you more secure to use SSO. The more passwords your employees have and the more they have to do to keep you secure, the more likely it is that there will be lapses. For example, instead of having one very strong password, an employee might have several mediocre or weak ones that are easily memorized.
An SSO password can be very strong, and combined with either two-factor authentication or biometrics for extra security. That way your employees only have to manage one complex password, plus access can only be achieved if the employee or another designated device is present at the time of the request.
Better Productivity
It might not seem like it, but using SSO can improve the productivity of your workforce. They will not have to deal with signing on to many different applications in the morning or have to sign in to them all again if they get timed out. Logging into all of these apps throughout the day can waste a lot of time. On top of that, the more passwords they have, the more often they have to update them. There is also more of a chance that they have to reset forgotten passwords, which is also a waste of time.
The fact is, having password difficulties is annoying. Forgotten passwords, or even software glitches, can lead to frustration and interrupted productivity. With SSO they can work without any interruptions after they’ve signed on, and your employee morale and job satisfaction will be better for it.
Customer Experience
While SSO is very beneficial for employees, it will also help with your customer experience. You want customers to buy into using your services and software. If they are having trouble using your applications or accessing them, then they will be dissatisfied. You might be losing customers and you don’t know why.
With SSO, it streamlines all authorization processes for customers. They can log in and access any applications that you have available. The last thing you want to do is make things more difficult for your customers. SSO provides an easier way for them to interact with your brand, which can only be a good thing.
Less IT Investment
If you are part of an enterprise business or at least have an IT department, then SSO can help to reduce their burden. This can help with your staffing costs and your overall IT budget. A lot of the work that IT departments do is related to password issues. With SSO you can almost eliminate password problems since there is less of a chance of forgetting one. Plus, the SSO service is specifically designed to help with authentication, so there is less of a risk of software glitches or other problems like auto-fills that create confusion.
