Introduction
You’ve carefully considered the many shortcomings of login IDs and passwords to authenticate users, especially for your deskless, blue-collar, frontline workers, and decided to make the switch to a much more efficient, time-and-cost-saving, and secure solution.
It would be great if businesses could transition to username-less and passwordless authentication as simply as:
Step 1: Stop using login IDs and passwords, and
Step 2: Start using passwordless authentication methods like biometrics.
But there are more than a few intermediate steps. Here is a step-by-step guide to implementing passwordless authentication in your organization.
Preparation
STEP 1: Audit and Assess your current authentication infrastructure
- Examine current authentication flows, data sensitivity, compliance demands, and cyber threat climate to quantify the correct security levels for each user type and system category.
- Identify areas where passwordless security solutions can be effectively implemented and have the greatest beneficial impact, such as for your frontline workers.
- Align your Information Technology Security and Risk Management (ITSRM) strategy with the inherent advantages of passwordless authentication.
- Use predetermined frameworks like NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) or ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards for guidance.
- Consider complementing passwordless authentication with additional multi-factor authentication (MFA) methods like hardware tokens.
STEP 2: Select the Optimal Solution that best complements your unique environment
- The optimal passwordless solution balances hardened security with maximized convenience and quick deployment.
- Assess its efficacy and usability for your different user bases.
- Knowledge workers will have very different requirements and capabilities than frontline workers.
- Assess vendor offerings based on cryptography standards, biometric and device support, scalability, customer success rate, and implementation timeframe.
- Evaluate the chosen passwordless solution’s ability to seamlessly integrate with your existing systems.
- Prioritize solutions configurable through user-friendly dashboards.
- Carefully consider factors such as:
- Scalability
- Larger production environment workforces benefit disproportionately over knowledge workers and often make up a much larger percentage of the total workforce, so solutions have to accommodate very large numbers of employees, in the tens or hundreds of thousands.
- Compatibility with existing systems
- The less rip-and-replace is required, the lower the cost of the initial investment is, and the more cost-effective a solution is.
- Ease of deployment
Implementation
STEP 3: Pilot Testing prior to full-scale deployment
- Identify any potential compatibility, usability, or security concerns before widespread implementation, limiting the time and cost required to remediate any problems.
STEP 4: Educate and Train Users
- Provide your users with clear and informative training materials.
- Highlight improvements over old methods in order to secure staff buy-in and increase adoption rates.
- Create required training on new login flows, highlighting enhanced ease-of-use, speed, and security.
- Include instructions for troubleshooting issues like lost factors.
- Maximize user acceptance and successful adoption of passwordless authentication.
STEP 5: Roll out deployment in phases within the limits of your staff’s capabilities
- Augment staffing with outside resources as needed.
- Prioritize which areas will see the most operational and financial benefits.
- Limit the impact on core business production and revenue as much as possible within the limitations imposed by production requirements.
- Implement in areas between work shifts where possible, or on the least active shift if not, factoring in the costs of staff overtime.
Optimization
STEP 6: Continuously Monitor the system’s performance
- Actively seek user feedback.
- Identify areas for improvement and make adjustments as needed to optimize the efficiency of the solution and consistency of the user experience.
- Peak efficiency and high user adoption rates result in faster ROI (Return on Investment).
Challenges, Considerations, Best Practices, and Potential Pitfalls
Compatibility Issues with existing legacy systems and diverse manufacturing applications
- Legacy systems may require updates or replacements.
- Third-party applications and services may need thorough testing and customization.
Regulatory Compliance
- Compliance with specific data privacy regulatory requirements such as GDPR and CCPA for regions like the EU and California, and SOX and HIPAA for industries like finance and healthcare.
User Acceptance & Adoption
- Utilize effective change management strategies, including user education and training.
- Craft compelling end-user communications.
- Keep stakeholders updated through the transition via meetings and project plans.
- Create help desk documentation for assisting users.
- Listen to user feedback before, during, and after implementation to quickly address any pain points as they arise.
- Avoid a poor user experience, such as long authentication times or technical glitches, and ensure a seamless and intuitive user experience.
Security Concerns
- Implement robust encryption and secure storage mechanisms for biometric data to address very real and often publicized concerns about privacy and the potential for misuse or unauthorized access.
- Implement device-level security measures, such as biometric authentication for accessing user devices like smartphones to protect them from theft or compromise.
Scalability
- Ensure that authentication systems can scale with limited additional investment to accommodate a growing user base without compromising performance or security.
Performance
- Optimize authentication processes system performance through load testing and optimization for a smooth user experience to avoid user frustration, low adoption, and productivity loss.
Interoperability
- Ensure interoperability between different authentication methods and technologies, as well as with industry standards such as FIDO2 (Fast Identity Online).
- Choose standards-based and vendor-agnostic solutions to reduce the risk of vendor lock-in and facilitate interoperability.
Support and Services
Don’t go it alone, reinvent the wheel, and make it up as you go. Leverage the experience and expertise that your chosen, industry-leading solution provider has gained from designing, implementing, and supporting their best-in-class solutions for countless clients across diverse industries, offering a diverse range of support services before, during, and after deployment:
- Auditing and assessing existing hardware infrastructure and software systems for compatibility.
- Deploying solutions and integrating with existing environments.
- Providing detailed installation and operation manuals.
- Overcoming unanticipated implementation challenges if/when they arise.
- Testing & troubleshooting, adjusting and optimizing.
- Stress, redundancy, failover, and penetration testing.
- Quickly addressing usability issues or system vulnerabilities as they arise.
- Quantifying system performance and user adoption.
- Providing a 24/7/365 Help Desk.
- Quickly addressing usability issues or system irregularities to minimize impact on a client’s productivity, revenue, and profitability.
Learn more about OLOID's Passwordless Authentication solution!
Conclusion
If you want to explore in more detail how OLOID helps organizations successfully navigate all the steps needed to implement their Passwordless Authentication solutions to benefit both knowledge and frontline workers, and their bottom line in the process, visit our website and Contact Us to speak with a specialist about how we’ve done so for Tyson Foods and many other companies across diverse industries over the years.
