How 83% of IT and Admin Leaders Increased Productivity in Their Organizations

IT’s time and resources are generally taken up by three main business activities: building or operating line of business applications, maintaining IT infrastructure, and integrating new systems. These responsibilities are so crucial to an organization’s commercial and operational livelihood that IT employees simply can’t afford to lose time and productivity by manually handling a deluge of administrative tasks, like resetting passwords and provisioning users.

A surefire way to keep IT productive is to implement a centralized, cloud-based identity solution. For instance, the ability to attach one set of credentials to a user across all of an organization’s apps (or maybe even remove passwords altogether) could seriously cut down password resets or password-related helpdesk calls. Likewise, implementing a solution that automates user provisioning and deprovisioning frees up IT’s time to focus on tasks that could really advance your business.

End users, too, can reap the benefits. Through quicker provisioning, they can adapt faster to any new systems and accounts they need to use. Reducing password problems means their day-to-day working lives go by much smoother as well. All in all, identity and access management (IAM) solutions can save time and encourage operational efficiencies.

This has recently been recognized in the working world. At Okta, we interviewed hundreds of our customers, including IT and admin leaders. Eightly-three percent of these customers stated that our solutions increased their productivity; while 71% said we helped them reduce the time spent onboarding and offboarding users.

To understand this benefit, let’s dive into some of the main productivity pain points in the workforce, and examine how centralized, cloud-based IAM solutions can mitigate them and boost productivity.

Lost passwords = lost time

The challenge

Losing access to accounts thanks to forgotten or lost passwords can disrupt anyone’s day—from the end users locked out of their accounts to the IT admin staff that handle password resets. It’s a serious enough issue that 82% of people said password resets were a problem in their organization.

The fix

By implementing Okta, 57% of people cut down on password-related helpdesk tickets. Okta Single Sign-On makes this happen by providing a single set of credentials for a user across every integrated app in the organization, making it easier to remember passwords and 50% faster to log in and use new apps.

Sometimes, machines do it better

The challenge

Organizations looking to work at a competitive pace can’t afford to pour hours of labor into menial tasks like provisioning, as such manual administration is inefficient, and prone to human error. In fact, 81% of people named provisioning applications as a hassle.

The fix

Thanks to Okta, 71% reduced the time spent onboarding and offboarding users. Okta Lifecycle Management helps to streamline organizations by automating on/offboarding and provisioning/deprovisioning, meaning users are rapidly set up with all the permissions they need to do their jobs, and are cleared from the system when leaving, reducing the risk of unwanted access breaches.

Connections are everything

The challenge

For many, a normal work day consists of flipping back and forth between different programs and apps. The modern workforce requires these seamless, secure, and stable connections.

The fix

Out of our respondents, 87% found that Okta was succeeding in its mission to connect people to the best-of-breed technology. The Okta Integration Network provides built-in integrations for over 5,500 apps, from HR systems to network security programs and everyday applications like Box and Microsoft Office, meaning organizations can securely access the programs they need to best do their jobs without vendor lock-in.

Ultimately, a productive organization is a profitable one. Here’s a snapshot of the average ROI that IAM tools can bring your business in annual savings:

• $1,643,553 annually on helpdesk related support
• $811,267 annually on user provisioning and deprovisioning
• $2,216,133 on security-related issues

Curious to know how your organization could save time and costs? Try out our ROI Calculator.