What is Single Sign-On (SSO) and how can it help your business and website visitors?

By using a single set of login credentials, Single Sign-On (SSO) provides a secure authentication method that enables users to access multiple applications and websites. This simplifies the sign-in process and helps first-time users sign up easily.

SSO eliminates the need for users to remember multiple usernames and passwords for various websites, thereby saving time and reducing the risk of security breaches. It can also help with better mobile-thumb navigation by reducing thumb movement. Before reaching out to your Web Development agency or WordPress developer for SSO, here are some things to consider.

How having Single Sign-On on your website can help you with your website engagement

1. Streamlines user access to their accounts

SSO can be a fast and convenient way to authenticate sign-ups and logins, using existing accounts such as Google or Facebook, users can gain access to an account on your website with their personal information such as name, email, address and more – a feature that can be helpful for E-commerce sites.

This reduces the load of memorising different passwords for different accounts, decreasing log-in time, with the added benefit of staying logged in.

2. Boosts user productivity on E-commerce sites

With a quick sign-in function like SSO, users can easily gain access to their account and add items into cart or favourites. This increases the chances of products being bought as users will be encouraged to save items that can be reviewed at a later time, instead of window shopping without an account.

3. Increase sales due to the convenience of checking out

The user’s address is often recorded in their SSO-available accounts, such as Google. This information will be available to you and readily inserted into the shipping details, allowing for easy transactions and a smooth online shopping experience with your website.

4. Padded security with 2-Factor Authentication (2 FA)

To increase security, you will also have the ability to add a 2-step verification for users, this can act as an extra layer of protection against hackers or scammers.

5. Saves time from IT Help Desk

SSO can lower IT costs by saving time on password resets, decreasing the need to call technical support to solve issues related to password security. It can also help reduce cost, time and effort to store passwords in your database.

What you should know before implementing Single Sign-On on your website

1. Single point of failure

If a user’s SSO provider (e.g. Facebook account) is hacked, there is a possibility that their account on your website can be compromised. To negate this, include 2-factor authentication for added protection.

2. Requires high availability

If SSO service is down, users will not be able to access their accounts, resulting in considerable downtime on your website. You can reduce this risk by having a multi-factor authentication, i.e. having more than one type of SSO such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

3. Not a plug-and-play integration

SSO is not easy to integrate as it is not just plug-and-play. Your business will also have to be trustworthy enough for SSO to provide services to your business.

4. Costly to implement

SSO vendors tend to charge each feature individually, where most core features are set as an add-on pricing. This can include multi-factor authentication (MFA), directory services and SSO-enabled licenses from their SaaS provider.

5. Additional clarifications

In some cases, users might not have their complete information when logged in with SSO. For example, not having address information. This can result in businesses having to spend additional effort to request user’s details.

Types of Single Sign-On (SSO) that we would like to see in the near future

At the forefront, combining biometrics and SSO has been a go-to for major associations like Singpass, where user information security is of paramount importance. So, these are a few types of SSO features we would like to see get higher security authentication:

• Thumbprint SSO
• Iris recognition SSO
• Voice command SSO

Interested in finding out how to add SingPass SSO?

Drop us a line — we can help you integrate your portal’s login with Singpass via VerifyAPI. With this, you will not need a new set of user credentials and instead have the ability to sign-in to your services through Singpass SSO.

Note that this requires higher-level integration with Singpass, more information available at Singpass’ website.

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