Self-Service Reset Password Solutions: Issues Addressed and Problems Solved

You're thinking about implementing a self-service reset password solution, but you are not quite sure if it is worth it or if it will benefit your organization. The following checklist provides an easy overview of issues you might face, as well as provides solutions to how a password reset solution can easily solve these issues in addition to saving you time and money. 

First, take a look at the following checklist. Following that we'll dig into some of the specific issues organizations face and how self-service reset password solutions address these problems. First, though, does your organization face many or all of these issues? 

• Large percent of calls to your help desk is for password resets
• Employees working off hours or in different time zones
• Employees wasting time/productivity waiting for a password reset from the help desk
• Your employees work with customers or patients, and their work is time sensitive
• Password resets that need to be performed in many different systems and applications
• Many of your employees work outside of the network and still need password resets
• Your organization requires complex passwords, which many of your employees forget

If you have a number of these issues, you may be overwhelmed by the level of responsibility required for managing your manual processes; specifically, related to the management of resetting and serving access to employee's systems.

That said, here are a number of issues your peers may be facing because they are not effectively addressing self-service access issues: 

Your Helpdesk Receives Too Many Password Calls

On average, 25 percent of the calls to a help desk are estimated to be password related, like resetting employees' forgotten passwords. At some organizations this number is even higher, of course. Though password resets are an easy problem for the help desk to solve, when there are many of these types of calls a day, this becomes time consuming for staff. This also may require additional staff for an organization that has many employees resetting passwords. If your organization's help desk calls are a large percent for password resets, a self-service password reset solution can easily and drastically reduce the amount of calls by up to 90 percent. This allows help desk staff to focus on other, more important, issues. In some cases, these solutions also decreases the amount of staff needed. 

Multiple Locations or Working in Different Time Zones

Some large or multi-located organizations have offices or employees across several regions, and many times their help desks are located only at their headquarters. Other companies have employees or users who need access to systems and applications outside the operational hours of the help desk. Take, for example, a school whose students need to access an application after school hours to complete their homework. If they need to reset their password after school then they are unable to contact the help desk. 

This can also be a problem for other types of organizations, such as banks or hospitals, which might not have a 24/7 help desk staff. If employees forget their passwords or are locked out of their accounts on weekends or after the hours of the help desk then they are not able to reset their passwords and access the systems or applications that they need. 

Time Spent on Waiting for a Password Reset

In many organizations the process of resetting a password is time consuming. The employee has to contact the help desk, who then places a work order, resets the password then contacts the users back. This process can take up to half an hour or more, during which the employee cannot complete their work. With a self-service reset password solution employees can be more productive and not waste time on simple issues like password resets. They can proactively reset their own password and continue with their work. 

Your Employees Work with Customers or Patients on Time-sensitive Issues

In many circumstances, it is important that your employees are able to log in quickly and access their accounts to properly serve their customers. When a customer has to wait for your employee to call the help desk and reset their password it can be an annoyance and a bad customer experience. This is extremely important in the case of care organizations where they need to quickly access systems and applications to serve their patients. In addition, other industries such as those with direct client contact, for example a bank, waiting for a password to be reset can be a huge annoyance for both the employee and customer. 

Password Resets Need to be Performed in Many Different Kinds of Systems and Applications

Organizations often use several different types of platforms, including often a variety of web applications. Employees often need to reset their passwords in many different types of applications, sometimes all at once, especially after a long break, such as summer break for schools. With a self-service password reset solution end users can reset as many passwords they need, in virtually any application or platform without having to burden the help desk. 

Many of Your Employees Work Outside of the Network and Still Need Password Resets

Many organizations have employees who work outside of the company's network, on the road or from a remote location or from home and use mobile devices. These employees often have the same issues as employees who work in the office with password resets. With a self-service password reset solution, employees can reset their password from anywhere and continue with their work. 

Your Organization Requires Complex Passwords that Many of Your Employees Forget

To ensure security of the network, organizations often require employees to use complex passwords, including using symbols and a certain number of characters. Though this can increase security, it can also lead them to forget and need to reset their password. A password reset solution can ensure that employees follow a certain password policy that follows the organizations guidelines, when they are resetting their password. 

In addition to the many issues that a self-service solution solves, there also are several additional benefits: 

Advanced Authentication
Advanced authentication in the form of two-factor authentication or SMS authentication can ensure security by requiring two forms of authentication for the user to reset their password. This will usually be an answer to a personal verification question in addition to a code sent via text message or email. This ensures that the person resetting the password is who they claim to be. 

Password resets for mobile devices
Since employees often use mobile devices, many password reset solutions have the ability to work with a web interface. This means that users who are on their cell phone or any other mobile device can also enjoy the benefits of the self-service password reset solution. 

For more information, please visit our website at: https://www.tools4ever.com/software/self-service-reset-password-management/

Health IT Savings Must Factor into ROI

No matter the industry, each time a purchase is made, business leaders always want to know what they are getting in return for their financial investment. Questions frequently asked include: “How is this going to help me?” and “What is my return on investment?” Another phrase, often uttered by “Mr. Wonderful” Kevin O’Leary from the popular show Shark Tank is, “What am I getting for my investment?”

By examining the answers to these questions, business managers and organizational leaders must ensure that their budget is being adhered to and that purchases by the organization are considered, or proven, not to be a “waste” of money.” Often, return on investment (ROI) is a combination of both “hard” and “soft” costs and savings, which can often be difficult to determine. The “hard” cost is easy to define: What am I spending now versus what will I be spending on a different product, solution or system, or by doing nothing? Alternately, how is this solution going to allow me to save money in the long run? In this scenario – “hard” costs and savings — there is a definitive dollar figure that is able to be applied to implementing a solution.

“Soft” savings are a bit more of a complex issue; they are more difficult to determine and to document. For example, time and labor saved, or stress saved by employees completing a task that takes 10 minutes versus 35 minutes are soft savings. Soft savings also might be seen in improvements in customer service or in the customer experience. It is difficult to put a dollar amount on these scenarios and improvements, but they do impact a business, its success and its financial performance.

Time is money, of course, but in the case of healthcare perhaps it’s more fitting to say that “time is life.” This savings equates to valuable potential life-saving time, as we well know, and, in turn, improves patient care. As healthcare organizations seek ways to allow clinicians the ability to focus more on patients rather than on information technology, there are some solutions available — many that that are often overlooked that allow them to reach their goals. Some of these technology solutions provide a direct correlation between a physician’s ability to enter an information system, retrieve or enter information and get back to focusing on patient care. Essentially, with these types of solutions, like access and identity management, physicians can get back to work more quickly and their interaction with the technology is reduced.

Because of proven soft savings, most health executives are able to justify some expenses related to hard dollar investment for these types of solutions. For example, access management solutions allow IT leaders the ability to automate account management processes – accessing system information, resetting passwords and ensuring proper access to proper individuals — rather than requiring hospital system admin employees to provision, delete and manage employee’s accounts. Thus, these employees can focus on more important issues and devote time to higher priorities.

In healthcare specifically, identity and access management software plays a key role in optimizing “hard” costs. They reduce costs by automating the user account lifecycle, allowing accounts to be quickly provisioned for clinicians or account changes to easily be made so that they have access to what they need, when they need it. Other password management solutions, such as single sign-on, further allow clinicians to easily move from room to room without needing to enter separate credentials for each application repeatedly each time they switch computers or workstations.

Therefore, when thinking of making a decision to purchase new IT solutions, healthcare leaders should keep in mind questions like, “How is this going to help me?” and “What is my return on investment?” At the same time, they also need to remember to keep soft dollar savings in mind.

For more information, please visit our website: https://www.tools4ever.com/industries/healthcare/