DigiKey’s “MFA Everywhere and Passwordless” Strategy Saves Hundreds of Thousands, while Better Serving and Protecting its Global Team and Customers

DigiKey Goes Passwordless to Fight Fraud, Save Millions

Challenge

DigiKey has experienced explosive growth and Ping has kept pace with the company’s expanding needs. DigiKey is always looking for ways to fight ever-increasing threats while providing optimal experiences for its users–all while improving cost efficiencies. The company embarked on an ambitious passwordless strategy and identity update to meet these goals.

Results

Digikey has seen significant results, including: 1) Saved millions with fraud reduction; 2) Reduced daily MFA prompts by 82%; 3) Saved $570K annually in recovered productivity time.

Objective

DigiKey began its relationship with Ping in 2015, deploying single sign-on (SSO) to improve the user experience for its workforce. Today, DigiKey uses Ping to authenticate and authorize employees and customers, allowing them to access the right apps and data physically, digitally and remotely, all working together to create a positive, efficient, secure and successful enterprise.

One of the positive impacts we've seen from our implementation of customer MFA Ping Protect has been an 88% reduction in fraud, which accounts for millions of dollars. It goes back into the business.

Jeff Johnson

Director, Information Technology Security

Challenge

DigiKey wanted to find the right balance between boosting security while providing exceptional user experiences–all while keeping costs down.

Solution

DigiKey began its Ping journey in 2015 with PingFederate, providing SSO to its workforce. In 2017, DigiKey bought the Ping platform in order to support its customers and add more capabilities to its workforce identity implementation. This included PingOne Protect.

Millions

By reducing fraud, DigiKey saved millions, which has gone back into the business

Results

DigiKey’s "MFA Everywhere" project delivered substantial gains in user productivity and user experience, driven by reducing the need for daily MFA prompts by approximately 82%. This decrease equates to approximately $570,000 annually in recovered productivity time, as users are no longer interrupted by frequent authentication prompts. “We started using Ping in 2015 for Workforce. One of the biggest impacts that we've had on the workforce is implementing Ping Risk. It allowed us to cut out passwords over 80% of the time. It also reduced our MFA fatigue,” said Jeff. Also, Jeff stated, “One of the positive impacts we've seen from our implementation of customer MFA Ping Protect has been an 88% reduction in fraud, which accounts for millions of dollars. It goes back into the business.

When we implemented Ping Protect, we called it Forever Session. And what that does for us is 95% of interactions on our website do not require a password. Our customers come to our site, they can go right to purchasing product or searching. That type of frictionless digital experience is what we're driving for. It helps grow our customer count and helps us grow sales.”

In 2017 we bought the whole Ping stack. We were able to secure their accounts, offer better capabilities long-term and higher performance than what we had before.

Jeff Johnson

Director, Information Technology Security

Industry

Solutions Used