Businesses at Work 2025
Security. Security. Security. We’ve analysed global customer app trends for over a decade, and it’s clear: Security has never been more critical.
In this year’s Businesses at Work report, we dive into a decade of anonymised customer data, explore the dominance of security and compliance tools, and track the move toward passwordless.
Why should you read the report?
Businesses at Work is your guide to the global app and business trends shaping the world today.
Okta co-founder and CEO Todd Mckinnon shares why it’s so important.
A decade of data
What apps have gone from buzzworthy to business-critical over the past 10 years? Our fastest-growing apps section lays it all out.
When we introduced this ranking in 2015, the list featured tools from multiple categories, with one notable absence: security products. Now? Security tools account for 40% of the fastest-growing apps.
Dive into the full report to see how priorities and tools have shifted.
There have also been some big changes when it comes to authentication.
Over the past 10 years, the popularity of weaker factors such as security questions has dwindled. Stronger factors such as Okta Verify, security keys, and biometrics have increasingly replaced them.
Threats are on the rise
Bringing things back to the present, the world is facing an increased level of threats.
Security looks good on you
There are two stand-out app categories this year — and they’re all about looking good and feeling safe. Adoption of security tools grew across almost all industries, with design tools also proving very popular again this year.
7%
YoY growth for design tools
12%
YoY growth in government investment for security tools
But what about the fastest-growing app categories by country?
Analytics proved most popular in France and Japan
Design led the way in Germany and Australia
Legal topped the charts in the US
Familiar faces and new additions are growing fast
When it comes to this year’s fastest-growing apps, security-focused tools take all three top spots and make up 40% of the list overall.
Bitwarden and Tailscale lead for security, with Drata and Vanta taking the crown for data compliance tools.
However, it’s not a two-horse race: Newcomers to the list — Zip, Uber, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure — also rank high and represent expense management, transportation, and cloud infrastructure.
That’s a lot of apps to secure
The global average number of apps per customer has topped 100 for the first time, thanks to 9% YoY growth this year. This is a major restart: From 2019 through 2023, this number was stuck below 90.
More apps, of course, create a bigger attack surface. But what if those apps all adhered to a single security standard?
Enter IPSIE (Interoperability Profiling for Secure Identity in the Enterprise). This working group, of which Okta is a founding member, is developing the first unified Identity security standard for enterprise apps and resources.
Read about IPSIE in this year's report
Get the full picture
Access insights from around the world.
“Securing the workforce is becoming increasingly challenging. But our report found reason for optimism: Companies are doubling down on security tools, investing in higher assurance factors, and bringing us all closer to a passwordless future.”
Arnab Bose
Chief Product Officer, Okta Platform
Waving goodbye to security questions
This year, organisations across the globe continue their move away from lower-assurance factors such as phone and security questions.
And growth is skyrocketing for Okta FastPass, a phishing-resistant authenticator whose deployment (often enhanced with biometrics) provides insight into the swift adoption of passwordless authentication.
377%
YoY growth in total number of FastPass authentications
288%
YoY increase in biometrics used, such as fingerprints or facial recognition, for FastPass authentications
It’s good to do good
We want to end on a high note.
Benevity once again tops the chart as the most popular charitable giving app, but Bright Funds had the highest growth by users assigned, at 37% YoY.
This was followed by CareerVillage.org at 28% YoY, and then Vote.gov rising 17%.
1.9M
Individual users that now have access to charitable giving apps through Apps for Good
6%
YoY growth in access to charitable giving apps through Apps for Good
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