By Randall - The AttivaSoft Blog Team

One of the keys to increasing service desk productivity is to create an effective password management process. In order to do business, or to support your agency’s mission, end-users must have access to various systems and applications. Each could require the end-user to manage and remember a different password.  This becomes an increasingly difficult task for end-users as more applications and systems are implemented. The text contained in the balance of this post will show how both efficiency and productivity can be increased through effective password management. 

In an effort to secure information and to monitor access to critical systems, password policies are adopted to require end-users to reset their password on a regular basis.  However, with the increasing number of systems, the more often the end-user must reset their password. This can become a time consuming process that can strain Service Desk resources.

If you are looking for a way to increase your Service Desk productivity, consider implementing a Password Management solution. It has been estimated that up to 30% of all calls to the Service Desk are password related. Service Desk personnel are quite often overwhelmed with password reset requests from end users who have forgotten their passwords. These requests can overload the Service desk, consume IT Staff resources, and increase operating cost. By implementing a centralized password management solution you can increase your service desk productivity and increase the overall security. Benefits of implementing a Password Management Solution: 

• Eliminate many help-desk calls, reducing operational costs and increase productivity
• Enforce user compliance with standard password security policy and eliminate the practice of recycled passwords.
• Improve the end user experience by allowing them to make routine password changes via an easy-to-use Web browser interface
• Empower the end users to reset forgotten passwords through a challenge-response mechanism. 

If you are using BMC Remedy IT Service Management, consider implementing BMC Password Management because of the integration with Remedy ARS. This integration will provide you automated ticket generation and it allows service desk personnel to make resets directly from the Remedy ARS form. Other considerations when reviewing a Password Management Solution: 

• Does the solution provide a self-service password reset capability?
• Is the self-service password management application available via Web browser, enabling end users to reset their passwords remotely across the intranet/Internet?
• Does the solution provide end users with an online status report of their password changes?
• Does the solution provide IVR integration to allow end users to reset their passwords using an automated voice service?
• Does the solution integrate with service/help desk applications?
• Does the solution provide password histories and password dictionaries?
• Does the solution enable the central enforcement of certain password policies across the organization, such as policies for challenges and responses, password length, password expiration and other policies?

For more information on the Password Management, or other Identity Management solutions we invite you to contact us at info@attivasoft.com