What is SSO: single sign-on explained

What is SSO (single sign-on) and how it works

2 min read · Updated 13.07.2026

You sign in once to your company account and suddenly you have access to e-mail, documents and other apps, with no further password typing. That is SSO.

What SSO is

SSO (Single Sign-On) is the way a user signs in once and gains access to several applications at once, without having to log in again each time. A well known example is signing in with Google or with a company Microsoft account.

How it works

Applications do not trust the password directly, but a trusted identity provider (for example Microsoft Entra ID in Microsoft 365). Once you have signed in, it confirms who you are, and the apps let you in on that basis.

Benefits

Fewer passwords to remember, faster sign-in and, for a company, simpler management. When an employee leaves, you just disable one account and access disappears everywhere at once.

Risks and how to reduce them

Since one account opens many doors, breaking it is all the more dangerous. That is why with SSO it pays to turn on two-factor authentication or passkeys, so the password alone is not enough to get in.

Summary

SSO saves time and simplifies access management, but it makes securing the main account all the more important. One key to many doors is convenient right up until someone loses it.

We help businesses design and securely set up SSO.

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This article is part of our Software and system overview.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly does the abbreviation SSO mean?

SSO stands for Single Sign-On. A user signs in once and gets access to several applications at once, without typing their password again and again. A typical example is signing in with Google or a company Microsoft account.

Is SSO more secure than using many different passwords?

SSO can be both more secure and riskier at the same time. It reduces the number of passwords you need to remember, but one account also opens access to every connected application at once. That is why it is recommended to turn on two-factor authentication or passkeys alongside SSO.

What is the difference between SSO and two-factor authentication?

SSO solves the problem of logging into every application separately. Two-factor authentication instead adds a second step to the sign-in itself, for example a code from your phone. The two technologies complement each other well and together increase both security and convenience.

What happens when an employee leaves the company?

Thanks to SSO, disabling one main employee account removes access to every connected application at once. This simplifies management and lowers the risk of a forgotten active access staying open somewhere. Without SSO, access would have to be revoked in each application separately.

Can SSO be set up in a smaller company too?

Yes, SSO today is available even in affordable packages, for example as part of Microsoft 365. Setting it up requires an identity provider and connecting company applications to one shared account. For a smaller company this saves time and simplifies access management.

What exactly does an identity provider do?

An identity provider is a trusted service that confirms who you are after you sign in, and based on that the connected applications let you in. Microsoft Entra ID is one example. This way applications do not need to verify the password directly, they just rely on confirmation from the identity provider.

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