How can businesses ensure that their security measures don’t detract from the customer experience?

Customer security and customer experience are in a constant play-off within businesses today. Let's start with the former: the increasingly dangerous threat landscape necessitates that businesses take extra steps to protect their customers. Particularly in the retail space or in transaction-based arenas, businesses know that the aftermath of a hack is detrimental, not only to the company reputation and share value, but the consumer, whose sensitive information (such as credit card details) end up compromised.

Simultaneously, businesses also want to deliver the best possible customer experience for consumers. Today, this entails fluidity and convenience, while also understanding the individual's concerns over their personal data.

The tipping point of the security versus experience sales is very sensitive. On one hand, storing passwords for your customers can be worrisome for users who are conscious of the company data breaches we see in the news all the time. They have to trust organisations to keep them and their data safe, but with even the most high-profile companies succumbing to cyber attacks, who's to guarantee your company won't endure the same?

On the other hand, enforcing multiple login steps or lengthy password reset processes can be very frustrating for the customer. If the sign-in experience you deliver is too much hassle, they may well switch to one of your competitors.

Businesses, the nervous consumer, and the convenience-seeking consumer have to meet in the middle somehow. Fortunately, customer identity and access management (CIAM) enables companies to do exactly that – and so much more.

Benefits of CIAM

CIAM marries up everything you need from a convenient login verification process and customer data storage. Therefore, not only do you deliver a streamlined, secure sign-in experience, but you can make the most out of customer data for your business initiatives too.

Typically, CIAM provides features such as social media profile integration and single sign-on. Single sign-on alleviates the need for users to log in over and over again, which is understandably frustrating. Instead, customers will be able to quickly access their account no matter the digital touch point or device. As a result, customers are likelier to return given the ease of access. However, consumers are not restricted to single sign-on. CIAM often gives customers the option of using second factor authentication if they so wish.

Contrary to what we are taught, in this case, ease of access does not equate to poor security. CIAM security features are handily built-in to protect data and safeguard account access. The features have capabilities to spot unusual activity, such as sign-in from a device overseas. Should this arise, multi-factor authentication will then kick in. A popular example of this is via SMS, where the user will be sent a text to verify it's them attempting to login.

While CIAM addresses security and experience troubles, a great byproduct is the ability it has to enhance customer data collation. In particular, CIAM helps organisations leverage identity data to attract customers. Contact forms, sign-up forms, and activity tracking are just three valuable avenues for data analysis. CIAM gathers all of this in one place, giving you a holistic view of their journey. In turn, you can understand their behaviour better and be quickly responsive.

EM360 recommends...

Any business undergoing a digital transformation will need an all-encompassing CIAM solution. One that stands out from the multitude of offerings out there is OneLogin. Their Trusted Experience Platform™ envelopes the concerns of customers and businesses alike and delivers a simple, intuitive platform in turn. Their impressive client portfolio speaks volumes about this surefire solution for your CIAM needs.

Check out our Top 10 Tech Conferences for the First Half of 2020!