Just keeping track of my own passwords is a headache, but business owners have more than only their own passwords to worry about. The same applies to people who manage nonprofits, campaigns, or any other organization with multiple people.
And that can lead to disaster if you don’t have things organized.
At Dauntless Communications, all too often new clients come to us telling us somebody they trusted to set up an account is no longer with their company, and they took their login credentials with them.
The consequences can mean the business was locked out of its website or social media accounts. In a worst case scenario, it can even mean financial information was compromised.
If the former staff member, who has the password, is disgruntled, resolving the problem can be difficult and time consuming. This is not to say the problem cannot be resolved. We resolve these problems all the time. But why not save yourself some money and time by taking some simple measures now before you end up with a bigger problem later?
Each of your team members may have access to different accounts and passwords. Do you know what accounts these are? Do you know the passwords?
If not, you need to create a policy:
Policy (noun): a definite course or method of action selected from among alternatives and in light of given conditions to guide and determine present and future decisions — Merriam Webster
For some organizations, this may be to use one of numerous popular password managers for business out there. That link is just included as a resource for you (I don’t get anything if you sign up for one of them).
The reality is what matters isn’t what password management system you use — what matters is simply that you use one and that the policy you choose is known and enforced throughout your organization.
Bad password management is costing companies money. A study that examined workers in the US and UK estimated the typical company loses $400/year per employee because of lost productivity related to password management. Survey respondents also reported password issues were more frustrating than losing their car keys.
Eric Eisenhammer is CEO of Dauntless Communications a political strategy and technology company based in the Western US.
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