Biogen Idec Improves Identity and Access Management with Symplified’s Single Sign-OnBiogen Idec’s partnership with Symplified created a unified application delivery portal that improved employee productivity and security, while increasing compliance and cost savings.

Through cutting-edge science and medicine, Biogen Idec discovers, de-velops and delivers to patients worldwide innovative therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, hemophilia and autoimmune disorders. Founded in 1978, Biogen Idec is the world’s oldest independent biotechnology company. Patients worldwide benefit from its leading mul-tiple sclerosis therapies, and the company generates more than $5 billion in annual revenues.

CHALLENGES

UNCOORDINATED ACCESS TO MULT IPLE WEB -BASED APPL ICAT IONS

Biogen Idec used more than 100 web-based applica-tions across its business, research and administrative operations. Employees often used multiple applica-tions but they lacked a streamlined, systematic way to log in and out of them.

INSECURE AND INEFF IC IENT EMPLOYEE PASSWORD MANAGEMENT

Like many companies, Biogen Idec’s system made it difficult for employees to keep track of all their passwords and reset them when forgotten. As a result, many employees kept track of their passwords in in-secure ways, such as written down on paper or stored in a spreadsheet. Additionally, the system lacked self-service password reset capability. This forced users to call Biogen Idec’s help desk for password reset help,

impeding employee productivity.

DEL AYED EMPLOYEE TRA IN ING

Biogen Idec required employees to undergo periodic training and retraining to meet government and com-mercial compliance requirements. Biogen Idec wanted to expedite employees’ ability to sign up and attend trainings. This would improve the company’s compli-ance status and economic competitiveness, as well as the employee’s IT experience and knowledge base.

HIGH EMPLOYEE TRAVEL VENDOR COSTS

Biogen Idec worked with an outside contractor to coordinate employee travel. However, if an employee forgot his or her password to the vendor’s web ap-plication, he or she would call the vendor’s help line directly. This resulted in higher cost than if scheduled via the online service.

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“I can’t overstate that Sym-plified has the mindset to truly partner with custom-

ers. It’s a mutual part-nership. They want their

customers to succeed.”

— Art Spaziano Senior Manager of Identity

& Access Management Technical Services

Biogen Idec

“Any IT manager using external services wants

to know their service provider has their back.

Nine times out of ten, Symplified will tell us

something is wrong with our platform be-

fore we know it.”

— Art Spaziano

SOLUT ION

SECURE CLOUD -BASED IDENT I T Y

Biogen Idec wanted a vendor-managed, cloud-based solution with little or no on-premises footprint. The company sought an experienced vendor that could le-verage Biogen Idec’s existing identity store and Oracle applications to integrate multiple business-critical SaaS applications into one portal.

Security was a prime concern. The solution had to pro-tect credentials and support SAML and non-SAML HTTP integrations. Biogen Idec has standardized on SAML 2.0 and preferred to use SAML-enabled applications, but wanted the option to use non-SAML applications where appropriate.

FAST DEPLOYMENT

Biogen Idec’s new Symplified-enabled application portal went live in December 2011. Symplified built custom connectors for a number of these business-critical applications. The system protected credentials with an on-premises Identity Router virtual appliance that maintained security of those credentials through standards-based identity federation.

The deployment took roughly two weeks and went seamlessly, with the only delays related to firewall configuration. The new system’s performance, as well as Symplified’s conscientious customer service during and after deployment, has resulted in nearly 1,000 fewer password reset tickets to date. Further, applica-tion owners are actively asking for SSO integration.

BENEFITSThrough its partnership with Symplified, Biogen Idec achieved its goal of establishing a unified application portal strategy. Benefits included:

» Improved productivity The custom connectors Symplified created improved employees’ ability to seamlessly switch applications without having to log in and out of each one.

» Improved security The SSO portal leverages network credentials, mak-ing logging and out inherently more secure. Employ-ees reduced reliance on their insecure password lists kept on their computers or scrap paper. This improved operational and data security and reduced the risk of data breaches and cyber attacks.

» Company-wide expectation for SSO After initially questioning the need for an SSO portal, employees quickly expected all new applications to have SSO. SSO compatibility has since become part of the qualification process for all application vendors seeking to do business with Biogen Idec.

“We want to make sure any new application fits our

culture of, ‘one password, one time,’” Spaziano said.

» Improved training complianceSSO enabled employees to more easily log in and out of requisite training sessions, which meant they could take training in a more timely fashion and according to their planned schedule. Completing required training helped the company further meet its compliance standards.

» Improved travel savings and management Biogen Idec employees easily accessed the travel vendor online and developed their own travel itineraries. This helped the company comply with corporate travel guidelines and save money.

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THE SYMPL IF IED ADVANTAGESymplified provides seamless identity and access management across cloud, web and mobile apps used by employees, partners and customers. The company protects identities for customers across all industries, including healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and telecommunications.

Visit us at www.symplified.com.

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“Finding something like Symplified that just

works is pretty rare and valuable.”

— Art Spaziano