Password Policy Management

Password Policy Management

"Password Policy Management" does not mean putting the sticky notes with your passwords on them on the back of the monitor. But your users do it anyway. It's a challenge for organizations worldwide. New applications and systems often require new user names and passwords, and users resort to writing them down to remember them all. If they don't write them down, they'll create weak passwords that are easy to remember. Either way, the security of your network is compromised.

"With the number of applications we have, we absolutely needed single sign-on. Many of our users were required to remember 8–12 passwords. Now they can get much of what they need with a single ID and password."
John Jahne, Vice President of Network Services, Webster Bank

But decreased security is not the only problem. When users have to keep track of so many passwords, their overall productivity suffers, too. Entering and managing passwords takes time—and when users hit a wall, they call the helpdesk, which impacts the productivity of the IT staff as well.

To make matter worse, these problems you face every day can become even bigger when it's time for compliance audits. Your company can incur stiff fines and penalties if you can't prove compliance with government and industry regulations—and that will be hard to do if you have no way to enforce strong password policies.

Secure Single Sign-On

Password Policy Management from Novell unites all of a user's passwords into a single strong login, eliminating the risk and hassle associated with multiple passwords. It also makes it easy for you to enforce strong password policies while securely and automatically managing user access.

Novell SecureLogin, which is part of our comprehensive solution, fully supports advanced authentication methods such as smart cards, biometrics or proximity cards. So no matter the level of security your company needs, Novell has your back.

Immediate ROI

Our solution delivers immediate return on investment (ROI) by lowering the number of password-related calls your users make to the helpdesk. Its self-service features increase user and IT staff productivity because users can manage their own credentials rather than calling the helpdesk to reset passwords. In an organization with 5,000 users, Novell SecureLogin allows you to recover the full investment in only 10.2 months. Your savings over the following year could be as high as US$440,000.

Increase Productivity

Is your IT department straining to handle all of its password-related work? Is user productivity suffering at the expense of password-related issues? Then it's time for a Novell solution. Password Policy Management delivers automatic password synchronization. That means that when data from one system changes, Novell Identity Manager detects and propagates these changes to other systems based on the business policies you define. There's no need for manual intervention from a member of IT. Your IT staff can work on value-added projects, and your users save time they would usually spend waiting for IT staff to come help them.

Gundersen Lutheran reduced user management time by 95 percent with a Novell identity management solution. Just two existing IT personnel can now administer 9,000 users.

It may not seem like much, but when you add up all the time it takes users to enter passwords and IT staff to manage them, it can quickly impact your bottom line. You can reallocate the money you'll save to projects that have been waiting for funding. And your IT staff can finally explore the limits of their innovation since they won't be tied up with user account administration. What could your organization do with greater productivity and lower costs? The possibilities are endless.

Automation = Simplicity

Password Policy Management from Novell automates user provisioning and password management throughout the user life cycle. Your new hires can be productive their first day because they receive appropriate access based on their identities. When employees' roles change, you can instantly modify or rescind access across all systems. And the solution takes care of synchronizing multiple passwords throughout your network.

Our solution also enables line-of-business managers and departments to manage their own users' access needs instead of having to rely on a network administrator. With our feature-rich solution, increased productivity in your enterprise is just around the corner.

Auto-sync Passwords

No other solution automatically synchronizes passwords throughout all of a user's applications when a password is changed. You can decrease administration costs and enable user productivity because a user has to change just one password instead of all of them—and Password Policy Management does the rest.

Reduce Helpdesk Costs

Doesn't your IT department have better things to do than hassle with user account administration? We think so. Since it costs you money each time a user calls the helpdesk, you need Password Policy Management from Novell. With its password self service functions, your users can help themselves and save your IT department time, which increases both user and IT staff productivity.

With Novell Identity Manager, which is part of the solution, you can control user administration costs, eliminate complex manual processes, ensure security and enforce compliance enterprisewide—all while delivering the right resources so your users can do their jobs.

An organization with 5,000 users can recover its full investment in as little as 10.2 months with Password Policy Management from Novell.

Simply put, our solution decreases time and money spent on password-related issues, while increasing productivity and return on investment. In fact, Novell SecureLogin allows an organization with 5,000 users to recover the full investment in only 10.2 months. Not only that, but your savings over the following year could be as high as US$440,000.

Novell SecureLogin also reduces costs through its broad support for applications, Web and terminal servers, and popular directories and clients. With the client-based flexibility of Novel SecureLogin, you can leverage your investments in existing systems and avoid expensive hardware upgrades.

When you're saving significant time and money, you'll be able to make a strong business case for further IT infrastructure improvements.

Customization Capabilities

Password Policy Management allows for the following customizable options:

• Password hint: Your policies decide whether the system delivers the hint immediately on the screen or by e-mail
• Password reset with challenge and response

One or more challenge questions are displayed on screen. These can include questions originally created by the user, by the appropriate administrator or a combination of both. When users answer the questions correctly, they are permitted to change their own password. The new password is automatically checked for policy compliance, then updated and synchronized with all connected systems.

Password management and self service have never been easier.

Reduce Helpdesk Calls Related to Passwords

Did you know that nearly 30 percent of helpdesk calls are password related? There's a simple way to reduce that workload. Password self-service keeps employees from getting derailed from their work and reduces distractions. Password Policy Management lets them manage their passwords and identities according to your business policy and removes your helpdesk from that loop.