Datamonitor, a market research firm, released a new report, “A New Look at the ROI for Enterprise Smart Cards,” that surveyed more than 200 organizations on the state of passwords in the enterprise and the adoption of smart card identification.  The research found that only 21 percent of respondents believe that passwords alone provide sufficient protection to the enterprise.

“Our research indicates that the password as a security measure has practical limitations within today’s IT organizations,” says Tim Gower, senior research director at Datamonitor.  “The market is reaching the tipping point for broader adoption of stronger forms of identification and authentication within the enterprise.”

62 percent of enterprises stated that they have experienced problems relating to passwords being shared, borrowed or stolen from within their organizations.  Moreover, enterprises that operate on different password systems for applications and databases, networks and workstations spend nearly 40 man hours per week on employee identification systems.  The majority of those surveyed see the industry moving towards a streamlined, single ID for physical and logical access.   By eliminating previous, inefficient means of employee identification, organizations could save approximately US$ 465,000 in three years, and this number does not take into account the IT hours wasted on password resets or enterprise-mandated password changes.

“We believe this report is an important look at the state of the smart card ID adoption curve, and aligns with trends that we are seeing in the market today,” said Thomas Jahn, CEO of ActivIdentity.  “An increasing number of organizations have recognized the security benefits of multi-function smart cards.  As a result, they are replacing passwords, traditional tokens, photo ID and proximity cards with multi-function smart card solutions such as the ActivIdentity Smart Employee ID, to converge physical and logical security for a greater return on enterprise investment.”

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