The Concept is Awesome, the Execution Not So Much
Updated June 10, 2018
The Concept is Awesome, the Execution Not So Much
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with DigitalPersona
We use it across the whole organization. The idea was to use biometric ID rather than memorize and enter passwords in the many applications we use on a daily basis.
- The concept is great. A password vault that is managed using biometric identification. Users forget/lose passwords but not their fingers.
- The fingerprint reader is pretty accurate.
- They could definitely improve on how the software reads/detects log on screens. Some applications, legacy and web based, are difficult for DigitalPersona to pickup on.
- There could be improvements to the user interface. The new Altus interface is actually worse in many ways than the older DigitalPersona interface. For example the way the logons are listed in the program is very convoluted especially if you have multiple logons to the same application.
- They could better test software before releasing it. Our upgrade to Altus from DigitalPersona was terrible. The version we installed had so many flaws that I felt it should not have left beta testing. It broke a lot of the logon templates, some of the password change screens stopped working, some users lost logon data, etc. We are still dealing with the fallout from it. Possibly the worst upgrade I have been involved with in my 18 years of IT experience.
I would say estimate that it works well with about 70% of the applications we use. The 30% either does not work or works partially - the password change template may not work or it will fill in the data but user has to click submit, etc. We have not been successful in using it over VPN using fingerprints. You can use over VPN by typing in the master password as a workaround. It just seems like our most commonly used applications are the ones DigitalPersona has problems with, thanks Murphy.
- When we first got DigitalPersona 7(?) years ago, it was great. It wasn't perfect but it was better than anything else we had seen at the time. However the software just seemed to languish and not improve with time. In fact it got worse with Altus.
- Most of the users seem to like it... when it works. When a password change screen does not work correctly, it is time consuming to fix.
- If the user base is very tech savvy, you will get a slightly better ROI. When the average user flubs up a password change or gets a password reset, it requires some technical help to fix and thus time consuming at times. Some tech-challenged users have a hard time really understanding how DigitalPersona works and those users sap up a lot of resources.
We have not looked at anything else since we have been on DigitalPersona Altus. However with the recent troubles with Altus, I have started to look around.
Integrating DigitalPersona
Yes, AD integration is good and works mostly well. However we have 1-2% of users whose DP/AD is so corrupted that the only fix would be to delete their AD account and start from scratch. This was the last fix suggested by DP support after we tried every other fix they could think of. We have yet to do this fix so those users are not using DP at the moment.
Without getting too specific, we use this for about 30 applications. It works well on about half, and to VARYING degrees with the other half. It's a mix of local/server applications and web applications. When it works, it's a beauty.
- My experience is that most web based applications are the easier ones for DP.
- The admin console to program the signon templates is fairly easy to use.
I have not heard of any vendors directly supporting DP. But I'm not sure that this is a justified question as it is the duty of DP to be able to screen scrape this information and make it usable for us.
Due to their poor execution with new releases and just poor overall software management, I would recommend against implementing as a new install. For example, one of the nice things about their password change screens was that you would summarize the application password requirements and display it for the users. However in one of the releases last year, they stopped displaying that requirements field and replaced it with a generic secure password guideline checklist. So our users would follow that guideline, because of the way we had trained them over the years to follow the password rules that would display, and they would promptly get locked out the application. We have a legacy application which requires a 6 character password and that was promptly displayed until this "upgrade" came along and ruined it all.
Using DigitalPersona
300 - Every department/role in our company.
4 - IT staff
- It integrates with AD so people do not have to remember logon info nor type them in every time.
- It functions as a password vault and thus helpful with the many application logons that our employees use.
- It's great that it supports multiple logons for the same applications. We have employees that have different roles within the same application and thus they have different credentials.
Evaluating DigitalPersona and Competitors
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
The concept of the password vault for "all" applications tied to a biometric reader was the ideal solution we were searching for.
I'm not sure we would have selected it any differently. DP had a great concept and a decent product at the time. I just didn't expect them to get worse over time.
Using DigitalPersona
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Convenient Familiar | Inconsistent |
- When the templates work and the password change hints were working, password changes were simple.
- It is difficult for some users to grasp the concept of how to use this application after a temporary password is assigned to them and the password screen is "locked".