Managing employee access for a remote workforce can be complicated; not only does IT need to ensure that remote employees have access to the resources required for their role, but they also need to ensure that every interaction with those business resources is secure. This increases in complexity depending on the number of employees at the company, the amount of applications in use and the variety of devices in which employees are accessing the business resources from.
Single sign-on (SSO) can help secure and simplify managing access, whether employees are working in the office or remote. IT can assign access to business applications to employees from a centralized view to maintain security, and employees are able to access all of their assigned applications without having to type a password to maintain productivity.
Maintain Complete Visibility and Control Over Employee Access
Single sign-on uses a protocol, such as the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), to establish a secure relationship between an identity provider and a service provider. An identity provider is where IT manages employee access information from, and a service provider is an application an employee would use at work.
IT can delegate employee access to an application through single sign-on, and that application then appears in the employee’s single sign-on portal. From that portal, employees can simply navigate to all their assigned applications. IT teams can manage access at the individual user level, defined groups or even by job role. They can then monitor which employees are logging into which applications, from when and where, and adjust access controls as needed. This offers IT the insight to revoke access if suspicious behavior is detected, or implement policies to restrict access based on specific requirements.
Single sign-on helps IT securely connect employees to the business resources they need to get their job done, as well as offers the insight needed when employees aren’t in the office to maintain complete visibility and control.
Eliminate Passwords from the Login Experience and Enhance Productivity
Single sign-on also helps eliminate password frustrations and risks. The secure connection allows employees to securely authenticate into their work without needing to type a password for every application. Employees authenticate just once into their identity provider, and then with single sign-on will gain access to all the applications that have been assigned to them by IT in one centralized view.
Passwords are frustrating and having to type out a strong password for every application decreases productivity, but having weak passwords that are easy to type generates risk. Single sign-on helps balance security and productivity by securely connecting employees to their work no matter where they are working from, without the frustrations of a password.
Simple Security, Across Every Access Point
Single sign-on is a crucial component of an identity and access management strategy that can help organizations simply and securely manage access for their remote workforce. IT can maintain visibility and control across the business, and employees stay securely connected to their work, wherever they are working from.
To learn more about how identity and access management can secure your remote workforce, view our on-demand webinar Empower and Secure Your Remote Workforce.
