New Applications Are New Opportunities
For software creators, it is exciting to turn a new product idea into a working application (or app). The code takes shape feature by feature, until finally it is complete: a slick, well-functioning product that fulfills the vision. But sometimes overlooked along the way is consideration of how to best deploy the app, including onboarding lots of users. Does the application provide the most effective forms of authentication to draw in and keep new users?
Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication allows you to answer “yes” to this question, for seven reasons explained after the short SSO Refresher below.
Refresher: Single Sign-On Authentication In a Nutshell
SSO is an authentication mechanism that allows people to use multiple applications after logging in to just one. To achieve this, SSO-empowered applications (“service providers”) hand off user authentication decisions to other apps (“identity providers”). This kind of authentication collaboration is implemented when software designers decide that it makes sense to allow these users to share such a login session. In this way, Single Sign-On can align applications to user behaviors, giving users a streamlined, cross-application workflow.
Single Sign-On Examples
As an example, after you log into your Google SSO account, you can access all Google apps without logging in again, as well as the YouTube web app. There is also a Microsoft SSO service (Entra) available for Microsoft Cloud customers.
Social Sign-On is one of the types of SSO. It accepts authentication from social media platforms, like Meta. Implementing Social Sign-On can be extra-appealing to software creators since these platforms often provide additional user identity data, which can be used to help shape user experience.
Traditionally, many apps have relied on password-based user authentication as a default type of login. The functionality usually includes at minimum a user registration form, a secure login page, and a password reset feature. Although small in scope, these features are complicated for developers to implement, and the source of a disproportionate number of bugs.
Password-based authentication is unpopular with both users and application administrators.
The amount of effort required of users to log in is called “authentication friction,” and it reduces the likelihood that users will use a service. Users don’t like creating or managing accounts or passwords, so password authentication carries high authentication friction.
Administrators today expect to be able to integrate apps with existing users, partners, databases, and workflows. Modern Cloud-based software is modular and offers simpler integration of users and applications than standalone, password-based applications can provide.
Potentially devastating impacts of password-related hacks have sensitized software creators to the dangers of weak authentication. Even when carefully designed, passwords are inherently vulnerable to attacks like stuffing, where a hacker methodically tries passwords that have been successful in other attacks.
Authentication code is particularly high-risk to design and code because:
Authentication code is also high-risk to maintain because third-party library dependencies must be monitored for new vulnerabilities. When vulnerabilities are announced, it can be critical to patch immediately!
Developing authentication code is tricky, and not directly related to your app’s core features. In fact, working on authentication takes your developers’ energy away from the features that make your product special.
In response, many software creators release secure, feature-rich applications by focusing just on their own unique components. Then they extend their apps with third-party common application services like SSO authentication.
In step, professional software developers like NBlocks service this growing market need for cloud-based authentication-as-a-service (as well as other forms of application infrastructure).
SSO offers users:
SSO offers application and IT administrators:
Application security risks can be lowered by using authentication components that are:
Single Sign-On can provide all of those things, while taking a load off of the shoulders of application developers. It’s no wonder that so many developers and engineering managers have welcomed Single Sign-On functionality!
You might wonder: “SSO sounds like a great feature investment, but how much time and effort does it take to implement?” You will be happy to hear that SSO implementation is remarkably fast and easy. Implementing SSO with your organizational branding can be as simple as placing some standard widgets and calling some APIs. Most of the work is already done by the SSO service! In fact, you could try it out today by visiting our signup page.
Keep in mind that SSO authentication is a feature that could be implemented along with other Identity and Access Management (IAM) features.
NBlocks Can Pave the Way to Application Release
In addition to the SSO feature contained in “authentication-as-a-service,” we offer several more “a la carte” application services to carry you all the way to successful deployment:
For example, how would you like to just snap in user management as a service, including invitations, password management, and administrative UI?
A related challenge is that user permissions are tricky to implement. To solve those challenges, you can define tailored roles for your users through our authorization as a service.
If you would like to offer varying features based on user subscription tiers, you can do that with the feature flag management service.
Lastly, are you ready to ship? Congratulations! You can confidently use NBlocks’ cloud marketplace integration platform to make your application available on Azure Marketplace or Microsoft AppSource, and then move on to plan the release celebrations.