Enterprise Single Sign-on Improving Usability And Productivity

By Author: Appsian
Total Articles: 115
Comment this article

Enterprise Single Sign-On: Improving Usability And Productivity

Enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) refers to the simplicity of employees signing in with a single set of credentials only once to access all business software, websites, and data for which they have permission. SSO solves the key issues of the company by providing improved security and compliance, enhanced employee satisfaction and usability, and lower IT costs.

A significant fragmentation challenge has been the proliferation of enterprise cloud applications and services, often in addition to on-site ones. Heterogeneity in the company is an obstacle for IT and customers. IT must handle shadow IT as well as deal with the many apps in the business. Staff need to use more and more applications every day to complete their work, which includes logging in and switching between various apps and websites. Enterprise Single Sign-On helps solve the problem of heterogeneity of businesses.

Enterprise SSO: The Security And Compliance Benefits

Usernames and passwords are the primary subject of interest for cybercriminals. Any time a user logs in to a ...
... new program, it's an opening for hackers. Enterprise Single Sign-On reduces the number of attack surfaces since users only log in once a day and use only one set of credentials.

By reducing the username to a single collection of credentials, corporate protection is improved. Typically, when employees have to use multiple passwords for each app, they don't. Presently, 59 percent use the same or identical passwords on different accounts. Hackers are likely to be able to penetrate other corporate networks if they obtain access through one poorly secured website.

SSO deals in the monitoring of regulatory compliance as well. Regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley require that IT controls be registered and that businesses demonstrate that there are appropriate methods of data protection in place. SSO is a tool for meeting requirements for data access and antivirus protection.

Rules such as HIPAA, requiring efficient authentication of users accessing electronic documents, or requiring audit controls to govern operation and access may also be endorsed by SSO. Regulations, such as HIPAA, also require automatic user log-off, which most SSO solutions allow for.

It uses a central directory that handles the access of users to resources at a more granular level, while SSO is part of the IAM solution. This helps organizations to comply with laws requiring users to be given the required consent. Single Sign-On is enabled by UAM systems with role-based access control (RBAC) and security policies. This type of SSO solution also easily or even immediately provides users with another common enforcement requirement to ensure that former employees, spouses, or others cannot access sensitive data.

Enterprise SSO: Enhancing Usability For Employees

With the transition to the cloud, workers are using increasingly more software in the workplace. For employees to need separate usernames and passwords for each app is a huge burden, and, frankly, it is impractical. A Single Sign-On minimizes the cognitive burden.

Signing in once also saves time, thereby improving workers' productivity. Since 68% of employees move between ten apps per hour, eliminating multiple logins will save a company significant time and money.

For SSO solutions that are part of an identity and access management system, an app gateway is usually available. In order to use an app, workers choose it from the portal. If the user doesn't have an app, he or she can request it via the portal, and it is added (SSO enabled). It all happens immediately, so users who might be discouraged from requesting or using apps are more likely to use them.

Enterprise SSO: Reducing IT Costs

SSO reduces IT costs by saving time on password resets. It is highly likely that employees would forget passwords if each app requires a different username and password for each employee, which means helping to rack up tickets for password resets.

With SSO, users have only one set of credentials to remember, reducing the amount of help tickets. And most SSO solutions make resetting their passwords themselves easy for users, reducing the need for IT participation.

A single directory is used by SSO, which is part of a centralized access management system, to provide and de-provision users, making the process simpler and cheaper. Policies may be defined based on user role, location, and other user characteristics. And in one action, workers, partners, and consumers can be conveniently supplied through several applications rather than having to separately supply each application. De-provisioning time is similarly saved by IT and can be done in minutes instead of hours. It adds security, improves usability, and saves the IT department time and money when businesses implement a quality SSO solution.

Appsian One of the leading ERP data security,compliance,implementation solutions provider that gives organizations to complete control and visibility over their ERP data.