Enterprise Single Sign-On: The Fast Lane To Identity And Access Management

Desktop or enterprise single sign-on (E-SSO) is a relatively easy way to provide end user convenience and to get started in identity and access management (IAM). The end user benefits of E-SSO are obvious. Because E-SSO automatically logs end users in to their applications, they no longer have to remember multiple IDs and passwords and they no longer waste time contacting the help desk when they forget their credentials. However, few security professionals are aware of the security benefits of E-SSO — of which there are many. It: 1) allows system administrators to hide passwords from users and revoke user access quickly when necessary; 2) enables multifactor authentication of any application; and 3) paves the way for a broader IAM initiative. Forrester expects that in the future, E-SSO will allow security professionals to perform more effective entitlement enforcement in legacy applications and support less expensive employee fraud prevention. We recommend that you use E-SSO as the first point of entry into IAM and use its benefits to build the business case for implementing more complex technologies such as provisioning, access recertifications, and role management.