Authentication ensures that employees can access their data – and also ensures that they’re the only ones who can. But as we’ve uncovered, many employees don’t create great passwords. Even more worringly (gasp!), they might even use them over and over.

By reducing the common error of weak and re-used passwords, an enterprise password manager can be a great risk management strategy for your business.

Never heard of password managers? Check out our guide to forgetting your password, to get yourself up to speed on this essential tool.

This software miracle can help to prevent the ‘Chain of Destruction’ – what happens when a single leaked password that’s been used for everything from internal email, Google Drive to Windows login within your company becomes compromised. As well, it can take the responsibility of password-keeping off your team’s shoulders.

It also puts you, the employer, in the driver’s seat of your company’s data security. Changing your company’s passwords regularly is no longer a hassle; simply change the password within the manager and everyone will be updated automatically.

In this way, you can amp up to bank-level security with very little effort. We think your data is worth it. Other great perks include tracking your employee’s compliance with your data policy.

Choosing a Solution.

Just like password managers for the consumer market, there’s a huge array of packages available for businesses. These include enterprise-level offerings from popular consumer providers like LastPass and 1Password, as well as providers unique to the business-facing market.

Anti-virus companies are also jumping on board, with Kaspersky and Trend Micro both releasing their own solutions for corporate users.

In fact, there’s so many that it’s difficult to provide any firm recommendation of which is best. Carefully consider your company’s needs before diving in, and once you do, take some time to teach your team how to use the new software.

Small Business? Listen Up.

You might be thinking: “Well, I’m a small business. This is all a bit of an overkill.” Even small and medium-sized businesses are still vulnerable to many of the same security pitfalls as their larger counterparts. In fact, they might even have an extra layer of complexity. Why?

Increasingly, there’s been an upward trend of “Bring Your Own Device” policies: employees carrying out work and accessing company data from their own laptops, smartphones and tablets.

If this applies to your company, have you considered that your employees might be running outdated antivirus software, have current malware infections, or have poor information security habits?

These risks can’t always be entirely controlled by you, but they can be managed. An enterprise-wide password manager can help to reduce any damage from a breach, and remove the problem of user error.

If they share access to a particular service – for example, social media – your employees can share the passwords with other team members. This eliminates the use of a risky medium like email for sharing important and current logins, and will keep unauthorised users out of the account.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the benefits an enterprise password manager can bring to your business:

Increased Efficiency

• Sharing passwords with among users
• Enabling frequent password changes
• Managing passwords across multiple platforms
• Managing passwords across multiple license keys and documents.

Strengthened Security

• Storing encypted passwords
• Controlling password access
• Tracking & auditing password usage
• Eliminating manual reset of passwords
• Enforcing password policies more easily
• Ensuring compliance
• Exercising centralized control