Re-think your SSO strategy or get left in the Stone Age

A CEO recently told me his company cant take their solution upmarket without the stronger authentication and single sign-on (SSO) capabilities that Fortune 500 companies need.

Adapting to the wide array of new identity platforms and tools that customers are requesting, he explained, requires too much precious developer time, risking a slower pace of innovation and forcing
uncomfortable conversations about pricing models that the market may consider exploitive. (Check
out the SSO Wall of Shame, a list of vendors that one GitHub member believes are overcharging for
SSO capabilities.)

I challenged the CEO that he needs to be three steps ahead of customers. Just as no one would
think of building an HTTP website today when HTTPS is standard, he needs to deliver Burger King-
style have it your way SSO and other access and provisioning capabilities now because these are
going to be table steaks before long.

Login freedom is a must.

Lets back up a bit. Security risks abound, so implementing the security your customers need cant be
an option, even if theyre not explicitly asking for it today. One thing automotive CEOs Elon Musk
and James Farley agree on: Powerful, responsive automotive braking systems are not optional. I
believe that we are at this same place now with respect to SSO, and we will be there sooner than
you think with tomorrows security protocols.

Companies are adopting any number of modern identity platforms such as Okta, Azure AD and
Google to increase security, enable SSO and multi-factor authentication (MFA), offer better and
more productive user experiences and provide visibility into user activity. The complexity of
optimizing SaaS software to run in any cloud, and support any IAM platform has opened the door to
what I believe borders predatory pricing. Customers should not have to pay double or even triple the
standard price for B2B SSO integration because the market has not settled on one IAM winner yet,
and its too costly to incrementally support what individual customers are using.

Breaches are unfortunately all too common. So whether your customer is a manufacturer, school
district or government agency, they either have or will soon have a tool to identify and set access
privileges for employees, partners, and customers. From the perspective of your sales team,
supporting all possible SSO options today is a dream. Doing so is one less detail that can knock your
solution out of the qualification process. I would go so far as to say that it should be part of any
minimum viable solution.

However, the challenge doesnt stop at SSO. Companies are constantly looking for new ways to
make it easier and safer for users and customers to access applications, which may involve a mix of
strategies. The latest trend is social logins.

Zoom is a great example of this, and its becoming a must-have feature of B2B applications. As a vendor, you dont have a crystal ball to see whats next
and the last thing you want to do is sink costs into constantly responding to the latest access
management strategy.

But then again, can you afford not to if your competitors are doing it?

The cost and pricing predicament.

One rosy way to get around the challenge of evolving login strategies is to charge premium fees for
SSO and whatever comes next. Mature SaaS vendors can better afford the development costs
including headcount for a couple of extra security experts. And many larger enterprises are more
than willing to pay those premium fees because verifying access is essential for security and tools
like SSO deliver a more acceptable user experience.

Its a legitimate approach, but how long until this falls out of favor? Are you pricing yourself out of
customers who dont want to pay the SSO tax? Will hiring development and security resources cut
into your already razor-thin margins?

Is have-it-your-way SSO a realistic mantra?
Learn more...