SSO – What it is and How it Can Help Organize Your Business
In a 2018 survey, small firms used an average of 73 software applications. That number has been rising steadily over the years and is almost certainly higher now. The average employee has to log into multiple business applications each week ranging from company email to customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Each would require a distinct password for access. Not too bad if you are talking about two or three applications but it’s a whole different ball game when there are a dozen or more.
In a 2018 survey, small firms used an average of 73 applications
It’s difficult to remember so many passwords. That can lead to delays as staff struggle to recall what password they used. Single sign-on (SSO) technology alleviates the stress of having a myriad of passwords by having employees use one credential to access diverse applications, platforms and services. Google and Facebook logins are perhaps the best examples of SSO for consumer facing applications.
How can enterprise SSO technology help your business?
Stronger Passwords
The stronger the password, the harder it is for hackers to guess or crack it. That’s all well and good until you have to create complex unique passwords for a dozen applications. So, what do employees do instead? They formulate simple, easy to remember passwords. Sometimes, they’ll write these down, an act that endangers enterprise applications and data if the password falls into the wrong hands.
Deploying SSO technology means employees need only recall one password. With that, they can create a complex password that reduces the risk of hacking and identity theft. You can even include multi factor authentication (MFA) and it won’t feel as much of an inconvenience as it would if you had to have it on a dozen different logins.
Increased Productivity
Think about the time it would take you to log in to a dozen applications in succession with each accessed using a distinct password. It will be a while. And that’s before you factor the repeated attempts at signing in because you have forgotten some of them. For those you are completely unable to remember and thus reach the maximum number of failed attempts allowed, your account is locked, and you need the IT department to sort it out. This leads to a decline in employee productivity.
By consolidating all logins into SSO, you cut down this potential waste of time and increase the productivity per employee. No more hassle of multiple login attempts across multiple applications. Employees can devote more of their time to the things they are hired to do. Also, your IT staff do not have to get bogged down daily with helpdesk tickets requesting a password reset or account unlocking.
Employees can devote more of their time to the things they are hired to do
Access Management
An organization’s body of employees is in a state of flux. New employees joining, existing employees leaving, and current employees assigned to new roles. Imagine a system administrator having to manage these constant changes to system access for staff across multiple distinct applications. It’s almost inevitable that some tasks will fall through the cracks from time to time given the steps it will take to onboard, offboard or reassign an employee.
SSO simplifies access management. System administrators can easily grant, revoke, or amend access for staff with just a couple of clicks.
Scalability
As your business grows in customers, employees, products and transactions, chances are you will need an ever-greater number of applications to keep things moving smoothly or to improve efficiency.
With SSO, scaling is easy and quick
Without SSO technology, employees would have to create a new profile and password for each new application. With SSO, scaling is easy and quick. Workers do not have to go through a time-consuming process of signing up. Just add each new application to the SSO platform and employees can proceed with the same credentials they use for every other application.
Wrapping Up
Controlling access to enterprise applications is crucial but only in as much as it isn’t a cause of inconvenience. SSO not only allows you to deploy multi-level security clearance across your organization but also makes the management of multiple applications easier.
It provides you with a more efficient means for onboarding new customers, vendors and business partners to enterprise applications. Users can create complex passwords because they need only remember one.
Thinking about moving your business systems to SSO? We can help. Call 407-536-8381 or reach us online.