Many organizations are aware of the merits of utilizing SAML as a protocol for sharing a person’s identity between systems. More specifically, how SAML (leveraging ADFS and Shibboleth as identity providers) can be used for controlling access to your systems, providing a single control point for authentication in your organization. These benefits are why GreyHeller developed SAML Single Signon for PeopleSoft:
- 1 password vs. multiple passwords (w/ different expirations and controls)
- Improved security with the reduction of lost, stolen, or weak passwords
- Improved adoption of Fluid pages and overall mobility
- Lessen the impact of password management on IT teams
But what are the potential consequences of not utilizing SAML for SSO?
While expensive, embarrassing, and overall damaging to your reputation - security breaches (resulting from compromised passwords) are most likely to capture the headlines. However, there are opportunity costs that (while not as headline-grabbing as a breach) you should be keenly aware of:
1) Over 50% of support calls are generally related to password resets
Every IT person can relate to this. The stopping and starting of your daily objectives due to constant user interruptions, all needing the same thing – a password reset or an unlocking of an account due to too many incorrect login attempts.
2) Loss of productivity PLUS the troubleshooting of end-user authentication issues can take up to 30 minutes
Now that we know what IT’s biggest time waster is, lets break down that lost time. If your user is locked out of their account, they are useless - merely sitting at their desk waiting to be rescued. This is lost productivity that can be costly if aggregated across the organization throughout the year. The 30 minute time loss includes:
- Time spent attempting to get into the system
- Productivity loss on the part of the user waiting for their access
- The help desk administrator’s time spent troubleshooting the issue
Given that (on average) every user in your organization is requesting (1) password reset each month – this lost productivity can be staggering.
3) Higher Education institutions are the most susceptible to this waste
According to a 2014 Forrester study of one large US-based university, “the university’s users requested an average of 8,000 password resets per month and that nearly 50% of users requesting a password reset could not complete that action via self-service.” That is 4,000 individually executed (by an IT administrator) password resets each month!
Considering the productivity loss for IT (chasing down password issues) Forrester Research went on to state "the average help desk labor cost for a single password reset is about $70."
GreyHeller’s SAML Single Signon for PeopleSoft
Now that you understand, not just the benefits of SAML, but the soft and hard costs associated with not utilizing it for password management - where do you go from here? To address these needs, GreyHeller has extended its security suite to provide native SAML support to PeopleSoft. Single Signon customers need only install the plug-in, register the identity provider(s), and the solution will automatically accept SAML tokens – from ADFS or Shibboleth – to get end-users seamlessly into PeopleSoft. There has never been an easier and more cost-effective way of addressing PeopleSoft password management!
We encourage anyone who is interested in previewing this feature to reach out to us directly, so we can Schedule a Demonstration at your convenience.