--- Identity management seems like just a small piece of the puzzle that keeps your business running smoothly. If there's basic functionality for your system that gets people where they need to be, you should be all set, right?
Unfortunately, it isn't that simple.
Identity management is more than just being able to stick a username and password into a login box. It's very difficult to do right, and login will throw a wrench in the works if it's done wrong. But when you're committed to the best practices for login management, your business can benefit in ways you might not have realized.
And that's where outsourcing your identity management comes in. There are many reasons why your company needs identity and access management, but these five are a good place to start.
1. Attracting more users
If your business is B2B or B2C, you're always thinking about attracting new users. Maybe you:
- Step up your game to craft some killer ads for social media and A/B test your ads with a platform like AdEspresso to get the best results from your ad budget.
- Reconfigure your onboarding process to help people realize the value of your product from their first session.
- Run extensive mobile analytics for your new app to figure out exactly what you need to tweak to make it better.
But eventually just going through traditional channels like ads and analytics isn't enough.
One of the most effective, but oft-forgotten ways to drive conversions is simply to change login. User-friendly options like single sign-on and social login can make a big difference in how many people actually sign up — to the tune of a 20% increase in conversions.
But then there's the daunting prospect of configuring across platforms for SSO and potential security concerns for social login. To create a great login experience that converts users, you need a good identity and access management system (IAM).
With Auth0, you can implement frictionless sign-up options like social login almost instantly. Using an IAM system to implement a secure, user-friendly login is one of the most compelling changes you can make to convert a user.
2. Securing your data
Unfortunately, we can't even go a few months without hearing about breaches of login information. As more companies implement an online or app presence and more consumers sign up for those accounts, the stakes of a security compromise only grow with each passing year.
The thought of having a problem with login security should strike fear into every business's heart, but it can be daunting to find the best way to implement a watertight login system.
Your business can't budget in an entire, 24/7 security detail, right?
Well, no, you probably can't. However, when you outsource your identity management, you can get all the strength and expertise of your own security detail without keeping an army of engineers in your office.
From encryption to password breach detection, your login will be as secure as possible when you outsource your identity management. You can't spend every second of every day making sure that your login is the most secure, but that is precisely what an IAM company does. That way, you can sleep at night knowing that you and your customer's data is safe and sound.
3. Supercharging your marketing
Selling and upselling your product means having a clear picture of your customers' interests, behaviors, and desires to make marketing materials that really hook them in.
The problem is that, more often than not, a customer's information is spread out over different platforms. You might have one platform for analytics, one for email messaging, one place where you store login information. Ultimately, the more you utilize customer information, the more platforms you'll have.
What you need is the ability to consolidate this information to create a powerful, information-rich profile. With Auth0, you can streamline the process of creating a profile by automating the transfer of information at login.
The easiest way to do this is with Auth0 Rules: snippets of code that trigger at login with Auth0.
For example, you grab someone's profile information from their social login when they sign up. Then, you use a Rule to automatically enter that information into your platform of choice, say your email messaging platform. Easy as that, you've nailed that next happy birthday discount message.
4. Keeping up with the trends
Whether it's the latest social login or the latest security protocol, it's paramount that you keep up to date on the best login practices. You've got to be able to transition to the latest, greatest versions of login (passwordless login, for example).
There's a lot of new technology, and much of it could radically change the way that we log in to everyday accounts and devices. Embracing the future of login means being prepared to use biometric data and increasingly integrated devices in a rapidly growing Internet of Things.
Staying on top of these shifting technologies is a key to business (especially startup) success — unfortunately, it's also not usually your first priority when the bread and butter of your business isn't login.
This is why outsourcing your identity management can continue to return value to you in the long run. An IAM solution will be able to keep up with changes in social login, add relevant and novel features as they are adopted, and keep security on the cutting edge.
That means you can continuously update your login with almost no work on your end. You'll always be ahead of the login curve, giving customers confidence in your security and the newest, most convenient logins.
5. Making life easier for your company
Identity management can make a huge difference in the lives of your employees. When you have disparate systems that you need to connect to conduct your business, login can become a hassle.
If you're a smaller business, taking the time to sync up all of your systems to an easy login can be a difficult thing to do with limited time and resources. If you're a larger company, the number of employees you have to sync and the permissions you have to manage can be overwhelming.
And that's without even getting into industry requirements.
With Auth0, you can streamline your internal systems with a single sign-on. This will allow your employees to get into all the systems they need with just one login and password, and to stay logged in across platforms throughout the day. That streamlines the process of getting work done.
A robust IAM system will also allow you to implement the correct permissions and add new accounts without having to think twice. Oh, and any industry requirements that crop up? Using an IAM solution takes the headaches out of adopting new protocols for your login if ever they come your way.
Auth0 provides the simplest and easiest to use user interface tools to help administrators manage user identities including password resets, creating and provisioning, blocking and deleting users.
Leave your login to the professionals
The best way to take full advantage of all that an IAM solution can offer you is to outsource your identity management. Unless you decide to sink your resources into building a full-scale identity management team, you simply won't be able to tap into the benefits that a robust IAM solution can offer you. Besides that, outsourcing identity management can help you increase productivity, collaboration, efficiency and security in your organization through consolidated identity.
Identity management is more than a simple login. It can offer a real value to your business, for everything from employee quality of life to revenue generation, and it has the potential to be an integral component of your success.
