Sticking with an on-premise infrastructure is, for many enterprises, one of the biggest mistakes they make. But on the other hand, those same enterprises are hesitant to make the switch to a cloud infrastructure, because there are a lot of things that are holding them back. And they need every help they can get.
One of those things that help significantly in dealing with all the user credentials that are required for employees and customers to access various touchpoints and applications by using a single sign-on solution. There are a couple of reasons why, so let’s discuss them for a moment, and see the SSO you should be looking into, which is the Shibboleth Service Provider.
What Actually Is an SSO?
An SSO, or a single sign-on solution, is basically an authentication scheme where each user can log on to multiple related touchpoints or apps with a single set of credentials. The touchpoints should be related, but they can be independent, as long as they’re all tied in with the same SSO provider. When you opt for a quality solution, you’ll be able to switch between the services without authentication being required again.
The way it works is pretty simple. The user should sign up only once, and in that scenario, the app or touchpoint will send the user’s credentials to the SSO provider using an authentication token. The SSO provider then checks if the user has been authenticated for any other related app or touchpoint, and if they have, it approves the access for the user. It’s really simple, and it’s an easy and secure way to streamline the user experience and prevent people from needing multiple passwords within the enterprise.
Do You Need One?
Well, if you’re within an enterprise, you could probably have a lot of things be easier by using one. From a security standpoint, users will only need to remember a single password. And sure, theoretically, it’s not a good idea to have a single password grant access to everything, but in practice, things are a bit different. Having only one password means that you can make it incredibly complex and difficult to guess, and you don’t have to write it down because it’s only a single password. This takes away the problem known as password fatigue, which is something all of us have struggled with at some point.
The other big benefit is the significantly improved software adoption rates. Let’s face it – you’ve probably skipped an app or two within the enterprise just because they were notoriously difficult to implement in terms of the signup process. It required employee training, plenty of headaches for your IT support team, and a slew of other issues that you aren’t in the mood to deal with. A single sign-on solves that, because your users won’t need to log on – the SSO solution will take care of that.
With that in mind, the SSO solution you want is Shibboleth – and here’s why.
Go With Shibboleth!
Shibboleth is, at the moment, one of the fastest-growing solutions when it comes to a single sign-on solution for the enterprise industry.
The main reason why enterprises opt for Shibboleth is the open-source implementation and the fact that it works very well with existing systems and infrastructures. It can be managed both on-premises, or in the cloud, and the fact that it is open source makes it very easy to tailor the solution to what you need. When you consider that it leverages IAM (identity and access management) infrastructures like Active Directory and LDAP, deployment is surprisingly easy.
Shibboleth makes use of PKI, or Public Key Infrastructure, which is a tried-and-tested security and encryption method that has been around for a good while. Independent experts and security companies test and review it each year, and it’s an incredibly secure way of transferring user data, so the security aspect of the SSO is top-notch.
What’s also top-notch is the app compatibility – it works with over 5,500 enterprise apps, which means that you probably won’t need to be doing any changes in that regard. Chances are it covers the ones you need, and the way it’s made ensures optimal compatibility with any future apps that you might want to use, too.
When you consider everything, implementation of a single sign-on solution is a no-brainer, together with having at least two internet providers to avoid losing data due to internet outages. It’s almost certain that your enterprise could use a single sign-on solution when you work with more than a single app. And Shibboleth is the one you should go for, because not only does it improve overall security and streamline the user experience, but it’s also compatible with a vast variety of apps and is very easy to implement. If you ask us, you should stop weighing the pros and cons, and instead start looking into ways to implement Shibboleth!
