Beyond security: Passwordless authentication transforms enterprise user experience

The true cost of passwords

Many businesses take the password for granted. It’s been a part of our online lives, essentially unchanged, for as long as we can remember. However, a closer look at the password reveals many issues that can hinder business goals. 

For example, many organizations spend considerable time and resources on password management. Today’s employees typically have many business accounts, meaning they spend excessive time creating, storing, and even resetting passwords: time that could be spent on their actual work. Not only does this impact staff productivity, but it can also frustrate and damage employee satisfaction. As such, many organizations have been forced to purchase and maintain costly password and access management solutions, but even these don’t fully recoup productivity losses.  Password fatigue is a real issue for all modern businesses.

Moreover, passwords are an insecure authentication mechanism, susceptible to a number of attack methods. For example, attackers can take advantage of password vulnerabilities through credential stuffing attacks, during which they leverage automated tools to test stolen username and password combinations and gain unauthorized access to user accounts, brute-force attacks that involve systematically trying all possible combinations of passwords or encryption keys, or phishing scams that socially engineer users into giving up their username and password combinations. 

What is passwordless authentication

Passwordless authentication is, as the name suggests, authentication without passwords. Instead of passwords, passwordless authentication uses other authenticators – such as biometrics, FIDO security keys, synced and device-based passkeys, or authenticator apps – to verify a user’s identity. 

The passwordless authentication market has exploded in recent years, growing from $1.84bn in 2020 to $3.27bn in 2023. And this growth shows no signs of slowing down: KuppingerCole analysts predict the market will reach $6.6bn by 2025.  

The passwordless authentication market’s meteoric rise can be attributed to two key drivers: a desire for enhanced user experience and a need for improved security. Passwordless authentication provides both.  

User experience transformation

We’ve mentioned a couple of times now that passwordless authentication enhances user experience but have yet to delve into how. So, let’s dive in. 

Passwordless authentication methods, like biometrics or security tokens, provide near-instant authentication and simplified access. For example, fingerprint or face scans take only a second or two, whereas remembering, entering, and sometimes resetting a password can be extremely time-consuming.  

Similarly, passwordless authentication can boost employee productivity, removing the need for staff to create, store, enter, or reset long, complex passwords and instead focus more on their work.  

Finally, since consumer attention spans are shorter than ever, clunky authentication methods will result in lost customers. Passwordless authentication reduces sign-in friction, meaning users can sign up quickly and easily. This results in higher retention rates and grants you an advantage over your competitors.  

Security enhancement

However, enhanced user experience is only one of two key benefits of passwordless authentication. As we’ve covered above, passwords are susceptible to a wide array of common attacks, but passwordless authentication mitigates many of such attacks. 

Adopting passwordless authentication and its security benefits not only enhances user experience but also inspires trust in your customers. Aside from helping protect your organization from threats, simply having a passwordless authentication method in place proves to consumers that you can be trusted with their data, granting your organization a competitive advantage.  

Implementing passwordless authentication in the enterprise

Adopting passwordless authentication isn’t difficult, but it can go wrong. Keep the following best practices in mind to ensure you get the most out of your passwordless authentication implementation:  

• Collaborate: Ensure all relevant stakeholders understand and agree with your passwordless authentication goals. Craft a compelling business case demonstrating ROI and cost implications and anticipating the need for change management initiatives. 
• Prioritize: You can’t implement passwordless everywhere all at once. Analyze workflows and weaknesses and identify critical systems to prioritize the most high-impact use cases. 
• Select: Choose the right authenticator for your organization and your employees. Employees in different departments have varying authentication needs. Consider compatibility with existing devices and systems, cost implications, and business needs.  
• Manage: Consider how you need to manage authenticators, particularly at the end of their life cycle.  

It’s also essential to take a 360° approach to passwordless authentication to ensure full passwordless coverage. This means adopting a solution that can manage passwordless authentication policies for both your workforce and your external users. The solution must be based on context and risk signals to ensure comprehensive coverage.  

Conclusion

Overall, adopting passwordless authentication can dramatically improve user experience and authentication security. It streamlines and speeds up user authentication while reducing an organization’s susceptibility to brute force, credential stuffing, and phishing attacks. Explore and adopt passwordless authentication today to gain an edge over competitors, secure your organization, and future-proof your operations.