Forcing Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) Registration to Increase ROI

When your organization invests in a new product or service, it
is essential that you take advantage of all the features it has to
offer. This will help you to maximize your return on investment
(ROI). If you have purchased or are thinking about purchasing a
self-service password reset (SSPR) tool, one of the most important
things you will need to do is make sure that 100% of users are
registered to use it.

If you leave user enrollment optional, many people will delay
registration, or decide not to use it at all. This often happens
because people think that they will not ever be locked out of their
account, or that it is fast and easy to contact the help desk if
they do. While your help desk may be able to provide great support
to your users, it comes at a significant cost. According to one
study from Forrester Research, every password reset that the help
desk performs costs approximately $70^[1]. With that price, it is
easy to see that every user who isn’t enrolled in uReset is a major
liability.

If you are paying for an SSPR solution, it would not be very
smart to continue covering the costs of manual password resets.
These are some features that can help you force user registration.
You’ll want to keep these in mind when evaluating a password reset
solution.

Administrative Registration

The easiest way to get all your users enrolled is to have the
system take care of it for them. The software should allow you to
add users into the system, without any action from the users
themselves. One solution from Specops
Software^[2] allows your system
administrators to configure the password reset software to access
various Active Directory identifiers.

Users are automatically enrolled, and can immediately use
existing verification information to manage their passwords. This
is done by sending a verification code to the user’s Mobile Phone
Number in Active Directory.

Alternatively, if your organization is using third-party
authentication methods such as Duo, Okta Verify, PingID, and
Symantec VIP, the user can use the same identifiers during a
password reset.

The best part about using the administrative registration is
that other than enabling the feature when setting up the system,
the administrator does not have to do any manual work. This means
there is virtually no manual work required from either IT staff, or
end-users, to get everything configured correctly.

There is one potential downside to using the administrative
registration option. Since the system will be set up automatically
without user involvement, employees and other users may not fully
understand how to use the system when they lock their account or
forget their password. It will be important to ensure everyone is
properly trained on this system, so they are not contacting the
helpdesk.

Mandatory Enrollment Screen

If you want your end-users involved in the enrollment process,
you will need multiple options available. The fastest way to get
everyone registered for the system is by forcing registration with
an unclosable full-screen browser.

With this option, the next time a user logs into their system, a
browser will be opened to the registration page. This browser will
take up the entire screen and will not allow the users to close it
out until they complete the registration process. Registration only
takes moments, so this will not be a major disruption for most
users. It will also allow you to reach 100% registration within a
very short amount of time.

If you choose to go with this option, make sure you alert your
users that this requirement will be coming soon, so they are
expecting it. If the registration window pops up unexpectedly, some
users may be suspicious and calling the help desk for
assistance.

Optional Reminder Options

The other option from enrollment reminder mode is to give users
constant reminders to complete their registration but make it
optional. This is less invasive than the full-screen option but
still gets great results since users will quickly get tired of the
notifications.

The reminders can be set to be delivered as frequently as you
would like. In the Specops password reset solution, the options for reminders^[3] include balloon tip
pop-ups and emails to unregistered users. Both options will provide
direct links to the registration forms and can also include
instructions or other information about the system.

Never Leave Money on the Table

Every organization has a limited IT budget that needs to be
stretched as far as possible. Investing in Specops uReset^[4]
is an excellent way to get the most bang for your buck, but only if
you take full advantage of everything that it has to offer.

By forcing SSPR registration, you will be able to eliminate a
huge number of calls to your help desk each year, which will save
you a lot of money. In addition, this system will get your users
back up and working after an account lockout faster than ever
before, which means less downtime.

Whether you are just setting up uReset for the first time, or
you have been using it for a while, it is important to ensure you
have 100% user registration. Take advantage of the built-in
reporting features to see how many of your users are already
enrolled, and if you haven’t already, implement mandatory
enrollment policies to get everyone on board as soon as
possible.