Password Problems and Solutions

Ever forget your password and have to call your IT people for help? Know other people in your company who have the same problem? Happens pretty often, doesn't it?

It's a problem, sure, but it's a problem with definite financial consequences. According to the Gartner Group, 19% of all helpdesk calls are to reset passwords, employees forget their passwords an average of four times a year, and each call to a corporate helpdesk to reset a password costs $14 to $25. If you recognized your own company in the first paragraph, by this time, as you start to do the math, you might find yourself starting to gulp.

One solution? M-Tech's software P-Synch, which provides password-synchronization & password-reset. P-Synch sells for $30 per user, with volume discounts bringing that price down to less than $10 per user.

Another solution is Courion's PasswordCourier, which lets network users automatically retrieve or reset passwords through a Web browser. Some Courion customers include Boeing, which uses the software on its 150,000 employee Intranet; Bear, Stearns, & Co.; SunTrust Banks; and Target. PasswordCourier starts at $15 per user; prices go up depending on the number of password-protected databases and applications that users need to access and use.

Source: Spangler, Todd. "The Password Plague". Interactive Week (9 July 2001): 47.