Enterprise Insights

Blog archive

The Need for Single Sign-On

Are you spending more time writing secure usernames and passwords on sticky notes -- or wracking your brain about what to enter in login boxes -- than you should?  For half of respondents in a recent survey, the answer is yes.

Exostar has begun conducting monthly polls of its 75,000 customers to get a handle on "the strategic plans and tactical responses firms are formulating and executing."

Their latest survey examined the number of usernames/passwords individuals had to manage to conduct business with its customers. To no one's surprise, more than one in five (over 20 percent) respondents said they maintained six or more sets of usernames and passwords in order to login and access the systems of a single customer. Almost a third (30 percent) had to work with three to five sets; half only struggled with one or two sets.

"Clearly, username/password proliferation is a real problem, and single sign-on solutions are needed to enhance security and user productivity," an Exostar spokesman told me.

How is your enterprise dealing with single sign-on? Are you making headway or falling behind?

- James E. Powell
Editorial Director, ESJ

Posted by James E. Powell on 06/04/2010


Must Read Articles