Our managed SSO service, SSO stat!, includes much more than just SSO implementation and fixing any problems directly related to SSO as soon as they occur. It also covers consulting for any question or issue related to authentication. as well as periodic status updates – potential changes to your environment, new software packages, and new development projects.
Essentially, it includes anything that might directly or indirectly impact SSO or authentication in general.
Need some examples?
Advice on Security and Lotus Notes Authentication
I recently spent an afternoon with a customer — the Director of IT, the operations and development managers, a senior network support engineer, and the Windows administrator. We talked about several subjects related to SSO, where they were with various projects and where they were headed. They wanted my opinion on some of the things they were planning to do.
At some point they described a problem they were having with Domino Notes. They had Notes set up to synchronize their end users’ Notes passwords whenever they changed their Windows domain passwords. They started having problems with this setup when they began using Notes on 64-bit Windows 8 systems. They had talked to IBM support who gave them an answer that didn’t sound right to me.
The first thing I suggested was that they should increase the severity of their APAR as the answer they got wasn’t acceptable. Then I told them that there are a couple of different ways to configure Domino for SSO. Since I don’t consider myself to be a Domino expert, I connected them with a highly respected Domino expert.
I will be helping them decide which way to go with Domino and SSO. While I won’t be doing the implementation for whichever Domino option they choose, I expect to help them manage the project.
All of the BAI time on this project is covered as part of their SSO stat! service.
Changing HA Vendors
We have another customer who chose the SSO stat! High Availability expansion pack about a year ago. They have a new employee responsible for HA and are in the process of switching their HA software vendor.
Over the last six months we have had several meetings with the customer and provided written details about various aspects of SSO related to HA. We helped the customer understand how the new vendor’s HA test process would impact their SSO implementation. We also had several meetings with the customer’s HA vendor —one with the customer and the vendor and the rest just between the vendor and BAI. The vendor and BAI met and discussed the customer’s project in person at a conference earlier this spring.
All of the BAI time spent — ensuring that the customer’s SSO implementation would work after a role swap with the new vendor’s software — was covered under their SSO stat! support contract.
What Changes Are You Making?
These are just a couple of examples of customers who have been proactive in seeking out our help before they run into any problems.
If you have any upcoming changes to your environment, tell us about them!
We also try to contact every customer at least a couple of times a year to find out how things are going and whether they have any questions or issues we can help them with. Oftentimes this is how we learn of impending changes to their environment. When this happens, we can let them know what they may have to do to ensure that their SSO implementation doesn’t have any hiccups. We also tend to find out about new in-house development projects for which we can provide consulting related to SSO.
So, the next time you get a voice mail or email message from Botz & Associates saying we’re just checking in, give us a call back even if you think you have nothing to say. Who knows? There just might be something we can help you with that will save you time and not cost you a dime.
