Introducing single sign-on (SSO) on Cropin – enabling businesses to ensure scalability, security, and ease of use

Team Cropin
November 24, 2020
4 min read

Recent studies state that an average person can have anywhere between 60 to 90 online accounts, which means that many passwords to remember, too. Even if one uses the same or similar passwords for multiple accounts, it still amounts to a lot of information one retains but does not recall frequently. Sufficient to say, easy-to-remember passwords, reusing the same passwords, or even keeping them written/typed somewhere result in poor password hygiene. Within the workplace, this can lead to disastrous results where sensitive information or critical data can be stolen or misused by hackers. To avoid this, organisations the world over have adopted identity and access management (IAM) to simplify the way digital identity is verified before the application provides authorised access to the user.

IAM systems play a critical role in protecting or limiting access to this data, often by employing federated identity management (FIM). Going along the lines of ‘one identity per individual’, FIM permits users to access various services and applications using one digital identity, known as the federated identity.

Federated identity and single sign-on

One of the functions of FIM is Single Sign-On (SSO), a feature that everyone with an online user account would have come across at least once. SSO is built on the federated-identity approach that allows the user to access diverse web or mobile applications using one set of login and password. An everyday example of this would be how many of us use the credentials of our Google or social identities, such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, when we log in to video conference apps, news websites, or the productivity apps on our phones. Essentially, SSO significantly reduces the number of times one has to hit the ‘Forgot Password’, thereby reducing frustrations and improving the user experience. Combining SSO with two-factor authentication (2FA) or multi-factor authentication (MFA) also enhances security.

Enable federated access through Cropin’s SSO feature

At Cropin, we have been incorporating several new features on our agritech platform to provide a smooth user experience and increase efficiency. One such aspect is enabling federated access for your workforce through SSO and MFA.

How does this work? Let us say that your organisation uses CRM (customer relationship management) solutions like SAP or Salesforce. Cropin enables integration with their identity providers to facilitate logging into Cropin’s apps using the user’s credentials for the CRM.

Cropin’s out-of-the-box functionality provides for the most usable and friction-free authentication experience. We achieve this with:

Modern, industry-standard authentication schemes like SAML, Oauth2, OpenID connect
Third-party identity federation like Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Github, and the like
Advanced MFA using either a guardian application like Google Authenticator or SMS/email
Centralised provisioning and de-provisioning of user accounts
Role-based permissions
Multi-tenant and cloud-enabled authentication

What are the benefits?

The new SSO feature in Cropin’s applications guarantees a positive impact on productivity. Firstly, it helps users skip the process of inputting log-in credentials each time they need to access a service. Secondly, it also reduces the burden of having to remember multiple, 10 to 18 characters long passwords (alphanumeric, uppercase, and special characters included), and the frustration of having to reset it whenever you forget it. Instead, it establishes a one-point secure entry to all of CropIn’s apps at a click of a button and prevents security breaches caused by compromised credentials.

SSO makes it easier for organisations to enforce information security policies. Organisations can link and administer Cropin application access through access and roles defined centrally in the organisation. For instance, when an employee leaves or changes departments, separate user management (enabling/disabling access) within Cropin applications is not required. It also improves cost-efficiency by eliminating the costs associated with password reset and downtimes.