Can we all just agree that the cloud-based software revolution is, perhaps, the best thing to happen since “Hanson” broke up?
I’m writing this article using Google docs.
I’m tracking time for a project using Harvest project management.
I blast out vast quantities of emails using MailChimp.
I’m keeping track of tasks using Asana.
I share files using Dropbox, I chat with clients via Hipchat, I do video calls with Skype. The list goes on and on.
Basically, if Wargames ever becomes a reality and the cloud goes down, I’ll be reduced to a quivering heap of nothingness. I live in the cloud.
Help me Matthew Broderick. You’re my only hope.
And I’m not the only one who finds that cloud-based software and “Software-as-a-Service” (SaaS) kicks their productivity into overdrive. Millions of employees around the world are hopping on the cloud.
Of course, this raises some seriously sticky issues for companies. Each cloud-based software requires a different login with a different password. More logins and passwords mean more opportunities for security breaches. Security breaches lead to lost money and CTO’s sobbing into bottles of Jack Daniel’s.
So how can companies allow their employees to access all the productivity-enhancing software without compromising security?
Bitium aims to solve just that problem.
Bitium provides cloud-based identity and access management solutions, including single sign-on and password management. Companies can manage access to all their cloud-based applications from a single place. What used to be done by IT administrators locking down all the privileges in Windows is now done by Bitium.
Employees don’t have to manage and remember fifty different passwords using Excel spreadsheets or notecards hidden under their keyboards. They log in exactly once to Bitium, which then gives them access to all their favorite apps.
Bitium also makes it incredibly simple for IT departments to add or remove users or groups of users to applications. No more worrying about an ex-employee still having access and running off with stacks and stacks of critical data. And Bitium’s reporting functions make it easy for IT admins to access key data about who is using apps and how they’re being used.
CEO Scott Kriz says: 
Companies are seeing that by empowering employees with Bitium, the role of IT is changing from gatekeeper to curator. We enable companies to realize long-term strategic advantages over their competition with increased efficiency and agility, by allowing them to focus on their core business instead of locking down the organization for the sake of security.
The $6.5 million dollars recently raised by Bitium indicates that Kriz might just be on to something.
Stephen Altrogge
Stephen Altrogge is a freelance writer based in Tallahassee, Florida. He writes about tech, marketing, faith, and lots of other things. He’s married to Jen and has three young girls. Every day he consumes more coffee than the entire population of Colombia. He knows more about Star Wars than any respectable man should, and he runs more than any sane man would. He once attempted to eat a 2 pound hamburger in under an hour. He failed.
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Now that I am starting to use the cloud for more things, I am more interested in what ways it can be used or expanded for consumers like myself. I guess this would be one waay.
This is huge. The reason I’m so interested in this type of service is that I used to work at a company that was paid by hospitals to go into their records and pull data. The problem was that every hospital had usernames and passwords, and they expired every 30 days or so. So you constantly had to update your passwords or at least log into the hospital. It was maddening because you would be assigned to hundreds of hospitals and would only go in a few. This company’s password people were the biggest group of idiots I’ve ever seen. I’m 90% sure they didn’t actually do anything. If you password expired, you had to call them up and get it reassigned.
Anyway, this is really great stuff and I hope that it’s implemented by it departments across the country.