QuickLaunch is a cloud-based, self-service Identity as a Service (IDaaS) application integration platform helping enterprises and institutions build secure connection between their applications and their device irrespective of their integration protocol e.g. LDAP integrated Apps, Secure Web Authentication, CAS/SAML/OAUTH enabled Apps. It’s Single Sign-On marketplace has more than 2000+ pre-integrated applications, providing an out-of-box integration to the most commonly known Enterprise Systems alongwith a single logout support system for all applications, thus enhancing the overall IT security.
Kevin William David interviewed Sam Sundhar, VP of Marketing at Quicklaunch to know more.
Hi Sam, So tell us about QuickLaunch?
QuickLaunch is a leading identity platform that is turning out to be THE one-stop shop solution for Identity & Access-related challenges for institutions, organizations and government bodies. It is smart, AI-driven and has helped provide smart authorized access to millions of users across 1000s of organizations, thereby helping them make the best use of their IT resources through seamless, streamlined access management.
QuickLaunch is an Identity platform that offers multiple capabilities such as Single Sign-On, Self-Service Password Management/Reset, Multi-Factor authentication(not limited to just email & SMS but smart techniques such as geo-location, geo-fence, authorization through push notifications, browser push etc.). Identity Provisioning and mobile SSO.
Tell me more about the problem are you trying to solve?
We saw a problem that was common across many institutions & organizations when it comes to remembering multiple credentials. We also saw the power of Single Sign-On in not just fixiing password fatigue as a problem but to manage identities in a streamlined manner. Institutions have several IT applications in use and students/users had to remember all those usernames and passwords just to gain access. We saw this problem and built our own single sign-on (SSO) product to reduce the user’s effort (by reducing the number of logins) while increasing security and reducing costs. Over the years, our platform evolved with several other capabilities such as self-service password reset that helps reduce help desk costs, multi-factor authentication that helps tackle the problem of unauthorized access etc. We are now building Artificial Intelligence into the system thereby making it future-ready.
How is QuickLaunch different from what already exists in the market?
Here are some key areas where we have a huge advantage compared to competition:
a. 100% SaaS-based and self-service while most other players in this space make millions of dollars in revenue through merely Technical Consulting and implementation fees.
b. Our post-implementation support has been phenomenal with less than a minute spent per call. You need a system that can secure employee, external partner and customer access to information. It should be simple, scalable and easy to use.
c. QuickLaunch is an award-winning platform for Great User Experience and we have a much evolved UI compared to our competitors such as Ping Identity, Okta & OneLogin.
Who uses QuickLaunch? What types of roles do your customers have at their companies?
Authentication is a fundamental requirement. QuickLaunch is a vertical-agnostic platform. Pretty much any organization that needs to secure, streamline and control access management is a good fit for us. We are predominantly prevalent in the US Higher Education space. We are acquiring our first set of customers in other verticals such as BI, Healthcare, Retail etc.
It is a platform that helps facilitate end-users of IT in the organization. The admin interface is typically managed by IT Managers where they manage access for end-users to specific applications. From an end-user standpoint, it brings all the essentials apps they need for work under a single window which they can access using just one set of credentials. This helps them save a lot of time which would otherwise be wasted in juggling across multiple windows with multiple credentials. When a user needs to reset password or recover an account, they could do it on a self-service interface without having to call the IT help desk. This not just saves help desk costs but also saves a lot of time for the end-users.
Apart from that, the QuickLaunch platform has Multi-Factor Authentication capabilities that helps organizations authenticate a user through multiple modes such as phone, email, OTP and more. MFA is no longer a good-to-have but a must-have in the IT ecosystem of any organization.
How are your customers using QuickLaunch? Could you share a few different use cases?
Relief from Password Fatigue
Users no longer have to remember multiple passwords, thanks to single sign-on which grants them access to multiple applications using just one set of credentials. Organizations and users no longer suffer from password fatigue.
Help Desk Cost Savings
Self-Service Password resets are a great way to cut IT Help Desk costs. Users can reset their passwords on their own without having to call the IT help desk.
Faster & Easier access to Apps
A lot of time is saved by bypassing the need to reset multiple passwords that they would otherwise need to remember. Single Sign-On offers 1-click access to multiple applications thereby delivering them a superior user experience.
Use Cases:
Student Portal SSO
Partner Portal SSO
Portal Access to Staff & Faculty at Universities
Have there been unique use cases for QuickLaunch that you hadn’t thought of or expected?
Initially, QuickLaunch was a single sign-on solution. But, in a span of just a couple of years, it has evolved into a full-fledged Identity Platform, all thanks to our customers who trusted us to build and implement additional capabilities such as Password Manager, MultiFactor Authentication and more.
Were there any early ‘growth hacks’ or tactics that have contributed to your current success?
We involved the CIOs and the IT teams of our initial set of customers as part of a serious Customer Advisory Board. This helped us gain a much deeper understanding of the challenges faced by our target audience. Not just that, it also helped in good word-of-mouth marketing that helped us get more customers. There’s no tool that’s more powerful than customer evangelism. Our secret growth hack is to create a set of delighted customers through a great product.
What were some of the biggest challenges while building the product early on and how did you solve them?
The biggest challenge that we have faced over the past two years has been managing growth without wasting resources. We have too much work as a small team, but after we add teammates, we have to maintain a steady stream of work to pay new teammates.
QuickLaunch is working on overcoming this challenge by promoting more recurring work. We are also working on a referral system to get more qualified leads through existing clients.
What have been some of the most interesting integrations you’ve added? Are there any that have been particularly impactful for you?
Jenzabar — It is a widely used Student Information System in the Higher-Ed space and this integration helped make us a popular choice
Ellucian Banner — This is arguably the most used ERP system in Higher-Ed. This integration further opened us newer avenues to go to.
Salesforce — The most recent SSO integration that we achieved is opening our gates outside of the Education industry. The prospects of going full-fledged B2B look very promising and we are looking forward to a game-changing 2018.
Before we end, What are the top products that you depend on to run the company & how do you use them?
AWS — Secure Cloud service platform for QuickLaunch infrastructure services such as computing power, storage, networking and databases. It’s reliability is why we like it.
JIRA — Agile Product Development and Defect Tracking. Clean User Experience & high usability.
Mautic — Email marketing campaigns, Basic marketing automation. One of the most effective FREE tools ever.
Connectwise — CRM to track the status of our lead-customer conversion funnel. It serves more than just a CRM.
Adobe Creative Cloud — To design user interfaces for the product, graphic designs for marketing & create documents that are aesthetically pleasing.
Originally published at siftery.com.