The Metropolitan Police has revealed details of its investment in single sign-on (SSO) identity management software to improve the security of and access to information.
Due to the wide ranging roles and responsibilities of the organisation, staff members often need to access up to 10 core and numerous other subsidiary applications on a daily basis.
As a result, the force identified SSO as the most cost-effective means of streamlining this access, while keeping the reliance on new or extra IT resources to a minimum.
"One of my main aims is to eliminate unproductive use of police officers' time," said Ailsa Beaton, The Met's director of information. "Adopting a scalable SSO solution is an important component of our strategy for reducing administrative load and freeing up resources to serve London better."
The Met chose an enterprise single sign on (SSO) system from digital identity assurance provider ActivIdentity, which was deployed in partnership with Capgemini, as the force's information, communications and technology outsourcing partner.
The Met and its suppliers implemented ActivIdentity SecureLogin SSO licences for 50,000 users to enhance the efficiency and security of access to six core applications as it was found to offer the greatest ease of use, configuration and scalability, with minimal impact on the existing IT infrastructure.
The deployment to the estate of around 30,000 desktops and laptops was completed at the end of March, following a six-month deployment programme for 20,000 users.
