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Three Reasons to Use a Certificate Management Service

Three Reasons to Use a Certificate Management Service

We’ve covered in several previous blogs how digital certificates provide an answer to a number of cybersecurity issues, such as requirements for multi factor authenticationdocument signatures or email encryption.

As the number of connected devices and people within an organization increases, deploying individual certificates for each application can become a challenge for IT managers: making sure that only authorized users can request certificates, keeping up with multiple renewal dates, and ensuring uninterrupted security against cyberthreats.

In this blog, we’ll show you how using a managed service can help by giving you the necessary tools to fully control your PKI requirements and help offload some of the repetitive administrative tasks.  Let’s take a look at three of the biggest benefits to using a management service.

 

1. Centralized management & reporting

Whether you are a small company, or a large enterprise with a vast variety of entities, departments and users, managed PKI solutions streamline workflows by enabling issuance, cancellation, renewal, reissuance or revocation of certificates at the click of a button.

Most CAs offer a SaaS platform which can be accessed 24/7 to manage the lifecycle of all your certificates in one place. This means that you can get granular reporting on all the certificates used throughout your organization, no matter what application they are used for. Keeping track of certificates couldn’t be easier, so you’re unlikely to stumble upon an expired certificate you forgot existed!

 

2. Delegated administration

There are usually a number of stakeholders involved in the deployment of digital certificates in an organization. Managed services can be accessed by an unlimited number of users for around the clock monitoring, ensuring mission critical applications will run consistently. Roles and privileges can also be assigned to ensure only authorized users can access critical features. For example, billing and payment privileges can be assigned to a Finance Manager, while certificate issuance rights can be limited to a select few.  

This means that responsibility for managing digital certificates doesn’t have to fall to one person, while administrators can still ensure tight control.  

 

3. Time and cost savings

As the number of certificates used in an organization grows, so does the cost and staff time associated with managing higher volumes.

Every time you order a retail certificate, your company must be vetted – the process is repeated for each individual application. When you use a managed service, your company profile is pre-vetted, meaning that you get your certificates instantly, and that you also need to do a lot less work providing the necessary corporate documentation.

With these advantages, managed solutions significantly reduce operating costs. And if that wasn’t enough, most CAs will usually offer volume discounts with their managed services, so you save time and money all round.

Even if you only have a handful of users, it’s surprising how quickly a certificate lifecycle management solution can pay off.

Not only does it free up time compared to applying for and managing certificates manually, it also guarantees full control, facilitating the deployment of security for all your devices, applications and users.

simplifying digital cert mgmt

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