Centrify Identity Service enables single sign-on authentication for 30,000 Shiseido employees worldwide

Centrify, the leader in securing enterprise identities against cyberthreats, today announced that Shiseido Company, Ltd., the largest cosmetics firm in Japan, has chosen Centrify as its core global authentication infrastructure. Shiseido, a global supplier of personal care products including skin care, hair care, cosmetics and fragrances, selected Centrify Identity Service to provide secure access to multiple applications ― including Box and SharePoint — with single sign-on (SSO) for its worldwide workforce of 30,000 employees.

Shiseido turned to Centrify because it needed a modern authentication infrastructure that could support the company’s new cloud initiative. To enhance global collaboration and IT infrastructure, Shiseido is implementing a variety of cloud-based applications, including online file sharing and content management services. But the company’s existing environment would have forced users to set up individual IDs and passwords for each cloud application they accessed.

Worse still, with users having to create and memorise many different passwords, the security risk would increase significantly. In addition, Shiseido estimated there would be a significant decrease in user productivity associated with managing the numerous log-ins, and an associated increase in IT support and administrative work to keep everything running smoothly.

The company needed a single sign-on capability to provide robust authentication for its Active Directory users in Japan and its external users across the globe. Shiseido evaluated offerings from four different vendors but ultimately selected Centrify Identity Service. The Centrify solution featured numerous capabilities that set it apart from the competition, including:

• Robust SSO access to a hybrid environment comprised of cloud applications, such as Box, as well as on-premises applications, such as Microsoft SharePoint.
• Authentication of Japan-based users via credential information held in Active Directory.
• Verification of non-Japan-based users outside of Active Directory.
• The ability to facilitate future multiple Active Directories, without the need for domain integration.
• A modern user interface that offered local languages including Japanese, and administrator screens with similar multilingual capabilities.
• Automatic authentication connections between Microsoft Internet Information Services, Internet Explorer, and other Active Directory-aware applications.
• No need to replicate cloud of information held in Active Directory.
• A worldwide cloud service that runs not only in Japan but in other major geographies

Centrify Identity Service is now laying the foundation for Shiseido’s Identity-as-a-Service capabilities in Japan, while functioning as the hub for the provisioning of SSO. “With Centrify Identity Service, global administrators can focus on keeping access current and accurate without having to deal with rushed requests for individual credentials for every user and application,” said Kiminori Kimura, Manager, Digital Innovation Group, Shiseido Company, Ltd. “For employees worldwide, the seamless access to application means they don’t have to worry about authentication, thus greatly improving their productivity and utilisation of those apps.”

The benefits of Centrify Identity Service are clear. Shiseido users now enjoy the convenience and time savings of single sign-on. For global employees, as well as for Japan-based employees listed in the Active Directory, there is no longer any need for separate credentials for cloud-based applications, significantly enhancing productivity and user satisfaction.

Centrify Identity Service also simplifies the administration associated with creating new users, retiring former users, and managing users on leaves of absence—as well as controlling their access to applications. Based on the speed at which user access can be updated, Shiseido has benefitted from both a reduction in administrative hours and an increase in security.

Shiseido is also gaining from an SSO solution that bridges its Active Directory implementation in Japan and enables users worldwide to access a hybrid portfolio of cloud-based and on-premises applications. This has allowed the company to strengthen its IT infrastructure in support of its goal of greater global collaboration.

“We are pleased to partner with Shiseido, one of the world’s foremost beauty brands, as they deploy Centrify Identity Service to transition to the cloud and secure the enterprise,” said Bill Mann, chief product officer at Centrify. “Shiseido is now reaping the benefits of turnkey single sign-on access to popular cloud apps, with no forgotten passwords, no user confusion, and a deeper level of security.”