1Password is a password manager that provides security and collaborative features all for a fair price.
In the digital age, EVERYONE is in need of password protection. How can you be sure that your information is encrypted? What services are good for storing passwords? How can you safely share your passwords with necessary people, like family or team members?
Enter 1Password. As an avid user of the service myself, I am grateful to have had the chance to sit down with Matt Davey, COO of 1Password, to learn more about their journey and how they are helping people all over the world keep their passwords safe.
Back in 2005, 1Password was founded with a focus towards a technical audience. The team set out to build a utility application, one that was able to encrypt a password database within Dropbox.
As they were building the product, they realized that more than just technical individuals could use a service such as theirs, so, they shifted their roadmap and began to focus on a solution that adhered to the masses.
Long story short, if you use the internet, you will be creating passwords. If you are creating a lot of passwords, you need a good password manager.
"If your passwords are protecting information such as bank accounts or company IP, then you definitely need to be sure that you are protecting your information."
- Matt Davey, COO
Getting Started
When passwords are a part of most people's day to day life, it is tough to nail down who exactly is an ideal user of 1Password. If you ever need to switch passwords, store 2-factor authentication codes, write and store secure notes, or just simply can never remember your passwords, then you're a great fit for their service. From a consumer perspective, really anyone and everyone could benefit from the security of 1Password.
So what if you're a business? In terms of verticals, there is no specifying what a 1Password customer looks like. From their perspective and experience on the business side, they have seen customers do really well when they get involved as early as possible.
The earlier you start, the more organized you'll be as you grow. Nothing will get lost in the clutter of day to days and you'll always know you have your passwords safe and secure. No more dealing with forgot passwords or trying 20 combinations of numbers and symbols because you can't remember just a few details.
They typically come in as the foundational level of security for individuals and teams. Even teams as large as IBM are customers of 1Password. Through their service, IBM is able to keep information secure amongst all 50,000 of their employees. Why does that matter to you? Well, it shows how easy it is to roll out amongst teams. Don't worry about your team being too big or too small, they built their platform with an intention of ease of use and scale. As a business, once you have information you need to protect, it is time to get a 1Pass account.
Let's say you have a Twitter account, having that password stored and easily accessible for your team is a huge value add, especially when you can add permissions to only allow certain team members access to certain passwords. The tools and features of 1Password were built to integrate seamlessly into people's work streams. So, if you are about to log into an account, you just need to click the 1Password logo and it will autofill your information. No duplicity of effort, just convenience and peace of mind.
Plus, with pricing starting at $3.99/month per individual and $7.99 per Business user, the platform is affordable and worth the investment, in our opinion at least :)
Modern Day Collaboration
I think one of the coolest features of 1Password is its collaborative nature. 1Password IS a password sharing platform. Once you have secure information in there, you can add your team members and adjust the privacy settings to control what passwords or secure information they are able to see.
Typically, teams start off with 2-3 people on an account. However, as you grow, you realize you need to share passwords with more people, and thus, you slowly grow your 1Password team. You can set up a vault for different departments and make sure that passwords are secure, organized, and accessible.
Once you add a team member, they will have all of the access and data they need, so there isn't the messiness of employees asking, "Where is this credential or where is that?" It beats emailing or texting each other passwords in plain text, or writing down passwords on sticky notes and leaving them up for the world to see. It is easy to provide your team with the information they need, and saves you from potential security leaks.
At Aloa, we use 1Password internally to manage all of our accounts and logins between our team. It is an efficient tool that reduces time trying to find passwords. Instead of having to reach out to my team members and ask for accounts, I just look in 1Password and the answers are there.
Furthermore, what is great is that I can even have a personal vault. So, while I'm on the Aloa team, I also have my own personal vault within Aloa that contains any of my personal passwords, and only I have access to them.
This isn't a tool just for enterprises, likewise, it isn't a tool just for individuals; it is built at its core to be a tool to be used in a company or group of any size. Matt Davey knows that an easy onboarding/rollout experience is critical to a seamless relationship. For him, "it always makes me happy to hear from our customers how 1Password helps lift a weight off their shoulders." With data breaches happening so often, this is really a tool for anyone and everyone.
If you have any questions or want to hear more about my experience with 1Password, feel free to shoot me an email (david@aloa.co) and I'd be happy to point you in the right direction!
