How Eliminating Password Reset Tickets Can Increase Profits

Ask any Tier I or Tier II technician about the most common help desk ticket they receive and you’ll invariably get the same answer: password reset. Whether it’s the password for an email, application, or system account, customers repeatedly run into the same issue—forgetting their password and needing to set a new one in order to log in.

For the technicians among us, a password reset may be an easy task. But faced with dozens of reset requests, technicians can easily become bogged down with a repetitive activity that takes time away from more complicated services. They use up time that could be better spent on more challenging, important, and satisfying tasks.

Among managed services provider (MSP) executives and managers, the prevalence of password reset tickets is a major thorn in the side. According to Gartner Group, 20% to 50% of all IT help desk tickets are for password resets. For every hour spent on a password reset, an hour is taken away from more high-value strategic MSP projects. Given the opportunity, MSP executives and managers could easily reallocate these hours to the expansion of their business, taking on a greater volume of tasks and even new clients. Simply put, by allowing MSP technicians to spend time manually resetting passwords, you are putting a drain on your company’s bottom line.

What Is Self-Service Password Reset?

So how do you rid yourself of those pesky and persistent password reset tickets? Enter self-service password reset (SSPR). SSPR is a technology that allows users who have forgotten their password or have been locked out accidentally to authenticate their identity with an alternative factor and reset their password on their own. This means no need for calls to a help desk ticketing system, no trivial tasks, and no wasted time—for all involved.

Here’s how they work. Imagine one of your customers arrives at the office early after a holiday break, intent on getting a head start on their work. Coffee and croissant in hand, he sits down at his desk and goes to sign in to his workstation. It’s only then he realizes that he’s forgotten his password.

Whereas in the past, this customer would have had to deposit a request into your MSP’s support ticket system, he can instead open what’s called a self-service password application from his workstation. Using this application, he can establish his identity by answering a series of preset questions or by successfully passing through another authentication method. From there, he can either create a new password or have one generated on his behalf—which lets him more rapidly return to his work and ultimately feel more satisfied with his MSP.

Benefits of Self-Service Password Reset

By now, at least one of the benefits of self-service password reset should be obvious—fewer password reset calls to the help desk. For MSPs, this means less demand for IT staff, which translates to cost savings. Self-service password reset abilities allow you to reallocate hours of labor from a menial task to more important objectives—ones that may enable you to generate new revenue streams and expand business.

But the benefits don’t stop there. Using a self-service reset tool offered as an add-on integration to your password manager can also:

• Preserve security by integrating two-factor or multi-factor authentication
• Prevent social engineering attacks by ensuring that your customers know they can reset their own passwords—and thus shouldn’t be fooled into messages that try to trick them into clicking untrustworthy links to change their password
• Save your customers time and effort
• Provide customers with usability and flexibility around the clock
• Offer seamless integration with other applications and programs

Eliminating Password Reset Tickets with Passportal Blink

Built by MSPs for MSPs, N‑able^® Passportal + Documentation Manager offers efficient password management for MSPs to best serve their customers.

MSPs already utilizing SolarWinds Passportal have the option to implement the Blink feature, a self-service password reset integration that allows customers to reset their own Microsoft login passwords in under 60 seconds. All in all, Passportal Blink is a win for security and a win for user experience.

As an MSP leader, you have a relatively easy choice to make. On one hand, you can continue slowing down your technicians with redundant and needless password reset tickets. On the other, you can liberate them by presenting your customers with a self-service password reset application, which empowers their employees to quickly and independently resolve this recurring problem.