How to Choose Your SSO Strategy
CIOs are busy moving their organizations to the cloud and finding ways to reduce demands on their IT teams. They are also faced with the challenge of developing efficient, and effective, access management. A key component of this is a Single Sign-On (SSO) strategy. SSO means that with just one log-in, a user gains access to all of his or her necessary systems.
To decide on an effective SSO strategy, CIOs need to follow three steps. First, understand the benefits of SSOs and be able to explain them to other executives. Second, identify the specific needs of the organization. And finally, choose a product that will both meet those needs and deliver the benefits.
Understanding the benefits of SSO
Firms that implement SSO gain plenty of advantages. For starters, SSO eliminates the problem of password fatigue. That's the phenomenon where adhering to the usual recommendation of a unique, complex password for every site or system actually reduces security. Faced with overwhelming password requirements, users often simply give up and adopt poor practices like using the same password across multiple services or choosing memorable passwords that are easy to crack.
With single sign-on, users can focus on memorizing one strong, high-quality password. Having just one password also reduces time-consuming calls to IT help desks asking for password resets.
Another bonus is that single sign-on can help with compliance. Because IT gains the ability to set user credentials, the user's access can be strictly controlled. For example in a company that must be mindful of financial regulations, a particular user could be allowed to see financial statements but not edit them, making Sarbanes-Oxley requirements easy to adhere to.
Identifying your SSO needs
When choosing an SSO strategy, consider two big trends that are shaping how users are accessing apps within your organization. First, businesses are moving to the cloud. Second, the workforce has become mobile and flexible.
Migrating to the cloud
Companies who aren’t working in the cloud yet may be struggling to manage user access to systems with a hodgepodge of various scripts, servers, and other cobbled-together tools. The cloud presents the opportunity for an all-in-one environment where employees can access all of their applications with just one username and password.
Cloud-based identity and access management solutions can also allow different departments to adopt applications they need to do their best work. In short, the cloud environment allows SSO to be implemented much more seamlessly than piecemeal solutions that have been devised over time on the local IT infrastructure.
Building a more flexible mobile workforce
Contingent workers, independent contractors, on-call