Ennova offers clients a secure and user-friendly SSO solution
Ennova developed an SSO solution due to an increase in demand. However, a number of ensuing problems convinced the company that it would be more profitable to establish a partnership with a specialised company.
Globeteam provided a secure solution to access control and single sign-on based on the federation product Safewhere Identify.
Safewhere Identify has made possible significant cost reductions both in development and operations and puts Ennova in a position to focus on its core business.
User-friendly SSO solution with only one single login
Ennova is among the biggest companies in Scandinavia when it comes to employee and customer surveys and is experiencing an increasing market demand for single signon (SSO). Therefore, Globeteam provided a secure solution to access control based on the federation product Safewhere Identify which made possible significant cost reductions both in development and operations and puts Ennova in a position to focus on its core business.
Ennova off ers satisfaction surveys in fields such as employee satisfaction, 360 degrees management surveys, and customer surveys. Its client portfolio includes well-known names such as Grundfos, Shell, and Danske Bank, which means hundreds of thousands of employees and thousands of managers who need secure access to the surveys and results that Ennova bases its consultancy and reporting on.
Globeteam has implemented an SSO solution for Ennova based on the flexible and scalable federation product Safewhere Identify which also supports Ennova’s business. The reason for this being that Ennova’s bigger clients demanded SSO access to surveys including the results of the surveys Ennova conducted for the companies. SSO means that certain employees will gain access to the systems connected to the federation using only a single login. This means that a user will only have to log in once to gain access to all the data the user has permission to without the requirement of additional logins at later stages.
Since the solution is connected to the clients’ own Active Directory, the users will most often not even have to log in as they are already logged into their work computer.
Now we have an SSO solution which is updated and maintained by a serious and professional company, and I proudly attest to the quality of this product.”
A focus on cyber security
To Ennova, security when handling confidential client data is key. It is therefore important that the right employees are granted access to surveys, including the results, and that the access is cancelled when employments end.
“The bigger the company we work with, the bigger the importance of IT security becomes, and the more SSO becomes a necessity”, says Michael Torp, Head of IT.
The administrative processes are manageable and can be handled satisfactorily when it comes to smaller clients, but when it comes to the biggest international companies with thousands of changing employment relations each month, automation in the form of SSO for proper IT security is a necessity, and at the same time it improves the user experience significantly.
Ennova’s own solution
Ennova not only wanted to maintain good relations with the bigger clients, who represent a reasonable part of Ennova’s turnover, but interpreted the increasing popularity of SSO as a general market trend. Therefore, Ennova initially began developing its own solution for the biggest clients.
“Our own solution worked, but at an unsustainable operating cost. Each time a manager was replaced and each time e-mail addresses were changed etc., we had day-to-day support issues, requests, and a plethora of problems we never imagined when we began,” says Michael Torp.
Ultimately, this solution resulted in such costs and unforeseen problems that Ennova decided to enter into a partnership with experts on federation and SSO. They ended up opting for Globeteam and the federation product Safewhere Identify.
A profitable partnership
In the course of two workshops, Ennova was convinced that Globeteam and Safewhere were the right partners.
The federation was subsequently implemented, and the partnership has run smoothly since. “We felt we were in good hands and were convinced that it wasn’t necessary to scan the market for alternative partners. The implementation and the following operations assured us that we made the right decision”, Michael Torp says, and continues:
“We use as little time on it as possible. Once the federation is installed between us and our client, our work there is done and it works flawlessly”.
In addition, Michael Torp emphasises that he has full confidence in the partnership due to competent consultants, a high degree of flexibility, and a product so effective the IT department hardly notice when new clients are connected. “It has been a quantum leap compared to our own solutions. We are simply far better prepared now”, says Michael Torp.
Commercial advantages
Working with Globeteam and Safewhere resulted in several commercial advantages for Ennova. First and foremost, the problems presented by Ennova’s own solution have been solved, reducing both operating and development costs and at the same time the partnership offers a scalable solution to the clients regardless of size or the number of employees who need access to the results. The cost reductions enable Ennova to focus on its core business:
“Ideally, my developers shouldn’t have to waste any energy on SSO. They should focus on building up Ennova’s core functionality that we bring to market”, says Michael Torp.
Ennova now has a trustworthy and secure solution that handles all current and future security threats. In addition, Ennova now offers its clients user-friendly experience, and backed by a professional and reliable partner it improves the quality of the counselling and the overall experience when buying Ennova’s services.
“It is paramount for us to offer a secure IT solution and a good user experience.”
A solution with new opportunities
In addition to the fact that Ennova now offers SSO to the clients who requested this solution, it has produced additional commercial advantages.
“We were in the midst of solving a project for a client, but we ended up with far more options.” – Michael Torp, Head of IT at Ennova.
During the course of the workshops it became apparent that a satisfactory user experience only heightens the client’s expectations, which caused Ennova to offer SSO to all clients as an extra option, which only further strengthens the company in the face of increasing demands and desires from the clients.
“We now have a solution clients are willing to pay for,” says Michael Torp. Not only the clients have higher expectations. As it is, Ennova is working on expanding the agreement and currently considers if its own employees should be offered the improved user experience of the SSO solution also.
Challenges and benefits
Ennova developed an SSO solution due to an increase in demand. However, a number of ensuing problems convinced the company that it would be more profitable to establish a partnership with a specialised company.
The problems with Ennova’s own solution were:
- High operating costs
- Insufficient IT security
- The solution was impossible to scale
- The solution took resources from the core business
- Insufficient expertise resulted in an ineffective counselling of clients
- The accumulation of new clients was severely time consuming
- It was difficult to troubleshoot
With Safewhere Identify Ennova is able to offer their clients:
- Single sign-on (SSO) internally in the organisation and for the systems of external partners and clients
- A solution that is compatible with pc, Mac, mobile devices, and tablets
- The possibility to choose between a series of different login methods from username/password to login via social media such as Facebook
- The option of two-factor or multi-factor authentication
- Reset or change of their passwords and profile info
Can I help?
Do you want to learn more about how Globeteam can help you with a similar solution? Please feel free to contact me at +45 3086 4343 or pl@globeteam.com