Digital business is driving the need for reusable, easily accessible identities.
With the rise of digital business comes a great increase in the number of systems that each of us has to log into as part of our business and personal lives. Yes, that’s right – even more passwords and user names to remember.
Although employer-provided single sign-on can reduce the number of employer systems requiring a separate login, it still leaves users with many other systems requiring a login. Many cases have emerged where allowing a consumer or other user to “bring your own identity” (BYOI), particularly their social media identity (such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter), provides benefits to both the user and the organisation.
In her presentation at the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in Sydney this week, Anne Robins, research director at Gartner, explained that while reusing social identities is still relatively new, and many organisations still aren’t sold on it due to risk concerns, a significant number are, especially for identifying existing and potential customers.
“Social identities enable digital business by reducing friction, risk and overhead, while increasing conversion rates,” said Ms. Robins. “This is particularly attractive for organisations conducting low risk transactions, where dealing with identity and authentication isn’t their core business. They don’t have to bear the cost of collecting, storing and protecting user information. It also makes it much easier for users to return and transact again because the process is seamless.”
Using social identities can significantly improve the customer’s experience by reducing login and account creation friction, as well as providing attributes that enable a website to provide a richer, more personalised experience.
But before you race in, there are a few important factors to consider. To find out more about these factors, visit Smarter With Gartner website.
