Passwords can be an effective way to make sure only those who should have access actually get access.

But now virtually every application demands its own password, and it’s unrealistic to expect end-users to memorize five, ten, twenty different strings of letters, numbers, and symbols to do their jobs.

It’s also unrealistic to expect system administrators not to buckle under the burden of managing these mushrooming password requirements.

For all the password pain expressed by frustrated end-users, the real pain is at the backend, where system administrators spend countless hours defining the levels of access those passwords provide for every application used by each end-user. It’s so complex that mistakes are inevitable. Add these errors to the risky ways end-users deal with passwords and it’s inevitable that the security of vital company information is jeopardized.

The best solution we’ve found is single sign-on (SSO) technology, which shifts where end-user access gets defined from the application level to the gateway. Since SSO means end-users need only a single password, system administrators can easily make and keep track of adjustments to application access.

Ask your technology partner to talk with you about SSO — because there’s a cure for those sign-on blues.