As the physical and virtual demands of our workspace continually evolve and security challenges become increasingly complex, the importance surrounding intuitive, yet watertight identity security has never been higher.

In this blog, we’re taking a closer look at Okta; the creators of the Identity Access Management (IAM) space and their mission to secure our personal and professional virtual identities.

Solving Identity Challenges

Founded in 2009 by Salesforce colleagues Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest, Okta was created to address to growing challenge of ‘identity’ and to ensure organisations can remain agile, efficient and achieve fast, global growth whilst retaining the levels of security businesses needed.

Fast-forward to 2021, and the identity solutions have been developed for two key areas: workforce and customer experience. Underpinned by a ‘Zero-Trust’ concept, the technology ensures businesses can forget about the day-to-day worries of their teams or customers accessing their accounts or company applications, reduce the number of helpdesk requests for password resets and increase efficiencies.

The starting point of the workforce solution lies in the lifecycle management module. This nifty tool creates automation amongst your joiners, movers & leavers meaning everyone has access to the right applications, and more importantly the right information, at the right time. Team grouping and seniority within the company will be the main factors for determining the applications and information required for the individuals to do their jobs efficiently and with ease.

This module has been critical for businesses throughout 2020 by enabling instant agility through the cloud-based solution and creating a synergy between HR and IT teams as people move in, around and out of the business. As an individual’s role or team changes, such as during a promotion, the applications accessible will evolve, as well as the level of detail visible within that tool.

This level of agility is crucial for businesses experiencing a merger and/or acquisition or those going through aggressive growth and fast recruitment drives to support their business challenges and ensure all employees have access to the right tools to do their job from day one.

Security Baked in as Standard

In addition to the efficiencies Okta can bring, one of the simpler features that businesses can benefit from is the authentication tool which ensures users login to their account via an approved email address backed up by a second form of authentication such as a push notification, or even a solution layer which sees technology such as software or hardware tokens effectively remove the password altogether and thereby creating a passwordless environment for the user.

One of the main reasons behind Okta’s success has been its focus on building an extensive integration network, and it currently boasts the biggest network of any SSO solution on the market with over 7,200 integrations and counting to date.

What this means is businesses don’t need custom code and a developer team to build the integrations needed from scratch saving time and resource during implementation and ultimately creating a smooth onboarding process.

A Superior Customer Experience

As mentioned earlier, it’s not just the workforce that benefit from Okta’s features. Customers can too benefit from Okta via the Customer Identity Access Management (CIAM) tools which enhance the user experience for any customer logging in to a private and customisable portal. The benefits of a streamlined and secure account experience cannot go underestimated. We’re all aware of the detrimental effects of a stilted online purchase flow including abandoned carts, complaints and switching of providers should you be offering a service as opposed to a physical product.

To sum up, whether you’re logging in for work or for pleasure, Okta are leading the way when it comes to your online account experiences. With household brands choosing Okta as their IAM or CIAM product of choice, it’s worth a look if you’re struggling with helpdesk demands, friction amongst teams or customer complaints around your online portals.

Speak with our workspace team to find out more about the technologies available to you today via Distology.