Why Should Websites Adopt Passwordless Authentication?

The world is going passwordless, and renowned brands have already jumped on the bandwagon to accelerate their customer experience to the next level. 

Whether we talk about multiple touch points for a single platform or accessing different platforms from one device, brands are now emphasizing removing every bit of friction to ensure their customers enjoy a seamless user experience. 

And when it comes to creating rich customer experiences and reducing friction from a customer experience point of view, passwordless authentication is undoubtedly the key to business success. 

Admit it, we all don’t wish to squander our precious time authenticating ourselves by providing long passwords with special characters, capital letters, and numbers, especially when we’re in a hurry to purchase a product. 

Over the past few years, removing passwords from the authentication process has been one of the priorities of global brands with a vast market share. And passwordless authentication is swiftly becoming one of their preferences. 

Let’s uncover some aspects of passwordless and how it helps businesses stay ahead of their competitors and win customer trust. 

What is Passwordless Authentication? How Does it Work? 

Passwordless authentication removes the need to enter passwords for registration and log-in purposes by offering a seamless and quick authentication mechanism. 

The passwordless authentication mechanism swaps the conventional password mechanism with more vital factors. 

A passwordless authentication mechanism works by offering secure magic links, fingerprints, or a secret token delivered via text message or email. Users can quickly click the links or provide a one-time password to authenticate themselves.

Why Do Businesses Need to Adopt a Passwordless Landscape? 

With passwordless authentication, businesses can quickly eliminate the need to generate long passwords, improving user experience and enhancing user trust as they need not type passwords anymore, leading to a great screen time experience. 

On the other hand, passwordless authentication shuns any chances of account takeovers or password hijacking, decreasing data breaches and identity thefts. 

Let’s understand some of the leading business advantages of incorporating a passwordless authentication solution. 

#1. Streamlined and Unified User Experience

One of the most significant advantages of incorporating a passwordless authentication solution is that it streamlines the user experience. 

Whenever users find it difficult to log in to their account or face any friction in remembering passwords or resetting them, they lose interest in the platform since the market is flooded with endless options. 

Passwordless authentication takes only a few steps to authenticate users on any platform and device. Users can quickly access their accounts or resources on mobile apps or websites. 

#2. Robust Security 

Since user controlled-passwords are vulnerable to various risks like phishing, credential stuffing, corporate account takeover, and brute force attacks, passwordless authentication mitigates the risk associated with these attacks. 

As there’s no password to exploit in the first place, the vulnerabilities mentioned above would automatically decrease. 

Most businesses prefer adding passwordless authentication into their cybersecurity policy because they’re more concerned about their customers’ personal information than anything else. 

#3. Increased Cost-Effectiveness

Another advantage of adding a passwordless authentication solution to a business is lowering IT costs. 

Since passwords always require proper maintenance, their annual maintenance cost could be a concern for enterprises, especially those with a limited overall security budget. 

Moreover, data breaches may lead to financial losses and instability. Passwordless authentication minimizes the risks and ensures robust security for business data and consumer information. 

#4. Complete Transparency and Control 

Password reuse, phishing, and password sharing are some of the major concerns of the information technology department within an organization. When passwords are removed, IT teams can quickly reclaim their purpose of having greater visibility over identity management and access management. 

Also, CISOs and IT teams could focus more on aspects like employee training, compliance management, and other elements for improving the cybersecurity hygiene of the organization when they don’t have to squander their precious time maintaining passwords. 

#5. Builds Customer Trust

Since the global data regulations, including the GDPR and CCPA, are becoming more stringent, customers know how their personal information is used, stored, and managed.  Hence, they expect the vendors collecting their sensitive data should use it sensibly. 

Also, the brands that can build trust in users generate more revenues since their conversion rate is usually higher than their competitors. Hence, passwordless authentication is undeniably key to deriving growth for a business. 

In Conclusion 

Since businesses are adopting cutting-edge technologies to jump on the digital transformation bandwagon, securing customer information and delivering a seamless user experience is often overlooked. 

And when it comes to delivering a perfect harmony of rich user experience with robust security, passwordless authentication leaves no stone unturned. 

Hence, enterprises striving for business success must put their best foot forward in incorporating a passwordless authentication solution into their platform to build trust and derive overall growth.