Overcoming Barriers to Single Sign-On Adoption for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently released a report highlighting the challenges small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face when adopting Single Sign-On (SSO) solutions. Some key takeaways.

1. The "SSO Tax" Problem

CISA emphasizes that essential security features, including SSO, should be part of basic service offerings rather than premium add-ons. This "SSO tax" can discourage organizations, especially those with limited resources, from implementing robust identity and access management systems.

2. Manual vs. Automated Approaches

Many SMBs opt for manual password management over SSO due to lower initial costs. However, this doesn't account for long-term administrative expenses.

3. Technical Barriers and User Experience

CISA found that lack of technical expertise and perceived complexity are significant hurdles to SSO adoption. Even tech-savvy users reported difficulties with implementation and support.

4. The Way Forward

CISA calls for improvements in economics, user experience, service offering structure, and technical guidance to increase SSO adoption among SMBs.

For more details, I encourage you to read the full CISA report and their blog post.