4 reasons why Visma chose 1Password as its enterprise password manager

Visma is a European powerhouse that builds software for schools, governments, accounting departments, and more. They often acquire other software companies, which means they’re constantly onboarding new employees and teaching them about their security policies.

Vlad Boldura, security manager at Visma, and Daytona Earley, customer success manager at 1Password, joined the Random but Memorable podcast to discuss:

• Why Visma chose 1Password.
• How they successfully rolled it out across the organization.
• The expected, and unexpected impact 1Password has made since implementation.

Read the interview below or listen to the full episode on your podcast app of choice.

Listen to episode 112 ›

Michael “Roo” Fey: Can you tell us about the importance of cybersecurity and credential security at Visma?

Vlad Boldura: The focus on security in Visma is top-notch. Since we build mission-critical systems, security is built into the heart of these products. You can imagine how important it is for data to be secure in the public sector, like in schools, defense, public transportation, accounting, or any area that handles personal sensitive information.

Whatever applications we build, we need to make sure we build them securely and correctly. Credential security is especially important these days. After being in the industry for so long, we realized that building bigger, better walls, or more and more advanced tools, or scanning more and more often wasn’t the way to go.

There’s a very important aspect in security these days: many hacks and breaches begin with credential theft. We realized that we need to invest in this area and not have it as a blind spot.

MF: How did you manage password security prior to 1Password, and what were some of the pain points with how you were doing it before?

VB: We had a password policy and all the standard stuff that you would expect in an enterprise customer. But we really didn’t have a centralized solution. The biggest pain point was the lack of visibility.

If you don’t have a solution like 1Password deployed in your enterprise, you have no idea about the level of the problem you have with passwords.

You don’t know how many passwords are being reused, how your employees are sharing credentials, if they’re sharing insecurely through text messages or if they’re putting sticky notes on their monitors with admin passwords. We had no idea about these things.

“If you don’t have a [password manager], you have no idea about the level of the problem you have with passwords."

Credential and secret sharing for our technical teams – which includes 6,000 developers, as well as DevOps teams and IT teams – was cumbersome. We found out that our average engineer had around 150 to 200 logins that they used every week and sharing between teams was a complicated process.

MF: What was it that made you choose 1Password?

VB: We had a thorough due diligence process and eventually chose 1Password for four reasons:

1. The varying level of features in 1Password. It’s a tool that can help the most advanced developers solve their problems. It’s also useful to the least technical person you can find among Visma’s 18,000 employees. That was really important to us.

2. The ease of use post-setup. We found other password managers that were maybe easier to set up but not easy to use day in, day out. We wanted a solution that worked day in, day out with as few problems as possible.

3. The security. We analyzed a bunch of security white papers and made a very good choice with 1Password. Two years (since we adopted it), the inbuilt security of your password manager still stands. When we see breaches around the industry, 1Password has none.

4. The good support structure and client focus. The customer success management tool you have is really up to speed. If we need help, the 1Password team is right there for us.

MF: And Daytona, what’s your role as a customer success manager?

Daytona Earley: I’m here to ensure that the customer, in this case Visma, is getting the most from their investment and achieving their value milestones that align with their strategic priorities.

We act as a trusted advisor and the main point of contact – connecting customers with the right internal 1Password experts including our sales engineers, solution architects, and product onboarding.

We’re helping customers move the needle towards the goals they want to achieve.

MF: How have you supported Visma since they’ve deployed 1Password?

DE: It’s a team effort. We celebrate their successes both with Visma and internally at 1Password. For instance, we connected Vlad with 1Password’s product teams so we can understand what new features would most benefit Visma’s employees.

We’ve also partnered on security initiatives including presentations about 1Password and password management, password hygiene, and more.

MF: Vlad, what impact has 1Password had inside your organization?

VB: The impact has been a lot wider than even I expected. I have fewer worries about bad passwords. We see from the security insights function if we have passwords that have been found in data breaches and if we have reused passwords in our shared vaults. It’s really beneficial for our security posture.

We have more visibility into our overall password security, so we have an idea about what’s happening. Even if it’s good or bad, we at least know where to put our efforts to improve it, which is always great in security.

“We have more visibility into our overall password security."

One of the benefits I really didn’t expect after deploying 1Password was a better understanding of our own company and environment. Trying to deploy a relatively user-friendly tool to everybody in the company regardless of where they work, what their level of technical knowledge is, and if they were ever involved in using security tools before – that really opened some eyes in the company about the value of using a password manager.

MF: Is there a 1Password feature that is your favorite or that adds the most value to Visma as a business?

VB: My personal favorite is Watchtower because it’s a unique way of improving your personal security while also feeling like you’re playing a game. We even had a contest around this in Visma last year during European Cybersecurity Month. I basically gave out swag to the people inside the company that could share the highest Watchtower score with me!

I was extremely thrilled to have six emails from the same person sharing one higher score after the other. They were telling me, “Hey, I found two more weak passwords, I just changed them and I upped my Watchtower score by two points. Can you put this new score in the contest?”

“I was thrilled to have six emails from the same person sharing one higher Watchtower score after the other."

That’s my personal favorite, both for business and for personal use. But the close second in Visma is the ability to create shared vaults.

MF: If there was one reason to recommend 1Password, what would it be?

VB: 1Password is the best mix out there between ease of use and security. That mix is never easy. Usually the more security you have, the more cumbersome it is to use. It’s great to have a password manager that offers state-of-the-art security, but is also easy to use on whatever platform you choose to do it from, like your browser, workstation, or phone.

I think 1Password has a mix that you can’t find elsewhere in the market.

MF: Where can people go to follow you or find out more about Visma?

VB: We have a lot of information on our website about who we are and what we’re doing. We recently launched our new trust center for anybody that wants to see all the cool things that Visma is doing around security.

We’re really active on social media, so you can follow both myself and Visma on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. We regularly post business stuff and security stuff, as well as other great campaigns we’re a part of. And if you’re ever in Europe, we have an office or a company almost everywhere on the continent.

Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Stacey Harris

Content Marketing Manager