BT saves £5m annually with simplified sign-on

BT has claimed annual savings of more than £4.5 million since implementing an identity and access management tool.

The telecoms provider implemented CA SiteMinder in 2004, using the system to create a central authentication point for its main web applications.

BT has four portals in total, including BT.com, enabling customers to view bills, setup direct debits, and administer accounts. Some 36 million transactions are processed daily.

It said the savings come from cutting the amount of work needed on administration, password reset requests, and on supporting auditing and compliance. It has also cut application development work as fewer systems are required to handle customers logging in.

BT said that putting the system in place was also an “essential” security effort to ensure that only authorised customers gain access to their own records.

Robert Temple, chief security architect at BT, said: “Customers expect us to get security right and don’t want to worry about issues such as identity theft.” Any data breach could be “very damaging”, he said.

The simplified central sign-on has also helped staff to access systems quickly, and cut administration, Temple said. “By using CA SiteMinder we have been able to decrease the number of internal passwords by enabling simplified sign-on, which has helped to increase efficiency and reduce the volume of password resets,” he added.

Additionally, the system will enable BT to share information “more easily” with suppliers, as the speed of access to information is improved with simplified authentication, he said.