Social for Much More than Social

The new social integration with Office 365 and Extranet User Manager makes sign in easier than ever before

How many times a day do you check the various social media channels that you rely on for up-to-date information from your friends, followers, connections, etc.? We are here to reassure you, you're not the only one, “In 2019, it is estimated that there will be around 2.77 billion social media users around the globe, up from 2.46 billion in 2017. North America ranks first among regions where social media is highly popular, with a social media penetration rate of 66 percent." (Statista, 2017) The fast-paced adoption of social networking has prompted us at Extranet User Manager to look at how we can also leverage this great tool!

We are pleased to announce we are integrating social identities into the core Extranet User Manager product. This provides external users the option to associate an EUM account with a given social identity rather than setting a password for it. The user will be able to associate their EUM account with their existing account from Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft. This may seem like a minor improvement, however, there are many advantages to leveraging this type of integration:

• Increase adoption with external user base
• No password management because this is all managed by the Social Identity Provider
• Social Identity Provider verifies the email associated to the user
• Seamless login after initial association of their account during onboarding process

Now let's dive a little deeper on how these social integrations are going to work with Extranet User Manager

When leveraging Social Identity Providers, Extranet User Manager does not actually see the credentials (username/password) of the user as those credentials are entered within the Google, Facebook, Twitter or Microsoft login form. Once successfully authenticated, Extranet User Manager will receive a secure token that is digitally signed by the issuer and provides Extranet User Manager with the least amount of information available to uniquely identify the individual.

Below is an example of registering for an EUM account and utilizing a Google Account to perform a successful login. The other social providers have a very similar process flow for a user performing the association and successfully logging in.

Step One

User receives their Welcome Email after being invited to the extranet or successfully being approved after self-registering.

Step Two

When the user clicks the Set a Password link, they will be prompted with the Set Password page where they can either set their password or choose their preferred Social Identity Provider. In this example, we will be choosing Google.

Step Three

The user will then be prompted to insert their Google credentials, or they will be able to select their existing Google Account.

Step Four

Once the user inputs their desired Google credentials, they will then progress to the Enter your Password page. As pictured below, if the user has forgotten their password, the responsibility is put on Google to walk the end user through the resetting of their password.

Step Five

Once their password has successfully been inputted, the user will receive a confirmation from Extranet User Manager letting them know their account has successfully been associated.

Step Six

When the user progresses to the login form, instead of inserting their email and password, they will now click the Google button under the External Login section of the login form. If the user is within the same browser session they performed the initial association with, they will have a seamless login experience and will not be prompted for their credentials.

For future login attempts, if the user has a tab open within their browser session that is logged into Google they can progress to the extranet assets they have been given access to, and they will be seamlessly signed in without being prompted for credentials. Providing this simple experience for end users can help drive adoption of your content and enable your external users to leverage their existing credentials. It's truly a win-win scenario and that's why we've incorporated this into our core Extranet User Manager product.

If you would like to see this in action, our President Peter Carson delivered a webinar on January 16 discussing this newly integrated technology with EUM. Feel free to review the webinar recording on the Share Your Office 365 Securely with Social Users Event Page.

Sources

Statista. (2017). Number of social media users worldwide 2010-2021 | Statista. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/ [Accessed 22 Dec. 2017].