CASE STUDY

Identity and Access Management Overhaul for a National Retail Chain

Replaced a legacy IAM system across 600 retail locations with a modern, passwordless identity platform — cutting helpdesk tickets by 60% and eliminating shared credential abuse.

THE BRIEF

A National Retailer Needed Modern Identity Management

A national retail chain with 600 locations and 12,000 staff was running a 15-year-old IAM system. Shared credentials were the norm, password resets consumed 40% of the helpdesk workload, and two data breaches had been attributed to credential misuse in the prior 18 months.

Legacy IAM with no MFA capability across 12,000 staff accounts
Shared till and back-office credentials in use across most locations
Password resets accounting for 40% of all helpdesk ticket volume
No automated provisioning or de-provisioning on staff onboarding/offboarding

We were tasked with designing and delivering a modern, passwordless identity platform that eliminated shared credential risk without disrupting retail operations.

Services Used:

Identity & Access ManagementPasswordless AuthenticationDirectory Services

TESTIMONIAL

“Encyphers replaced our identity infrastructure across 600 stores in 90 days without a single day of operational disruption. Helpdesk tickets are down 60% and we haven't had a shared credential incident since go-live. Transformational.”

Helen Fraser

IT Director, National Retail Group

THE CHALLENGE

The Identity Risk They Were Carrying

A 15-year-old IAM system had created systemic identity risk across the estate:

Shared till credentials in use at 94% of retail locations
Leavers retaining active accounts for an average of 23 days post-departure
No visibility into which accounts were actively accessing what systems
Password-based authentication with no second factor across all 12,000 accounts

Two data breaches in 18 months, both attributed to credential misuse, had resulted in regulatory fines totalling £2.1M.

THE SOLUTION

The Identity Platform We Delivered

We designed and deployed a modern, passwordless identity platform across all 600 locations:

Deployed a modern cloud identity provider with FIDO2 passwordless authentication
Automated provisioning and de-provisioning integrated with the HR system
Replaced all shared credentials with individual, hardware-token-based accounts
Rolled out across all 600 locations in 90 days with zero operational disruption

Every one of the 12,000 staff accounts was migrated to passwordless authentication within 90 days.

Helpdesk Tickets Down 60%

Eliminating passwords removed the single largest driver of helpdesk volume — password resets dropped to zero.

Shared Credentials Eliminated

All 600 retail locations moved to individual, hardware-token-based authentication with zero shared credentials.

Zero Credential Incidents

No shared credential or credential-based breach incidents have occurred since the new platform went live.

Automated Provisioning Live

HR system integration means new starters have access on day one and leavers are deprovisioned within 2 hours.

90-Day Rollout Completed

All 600 locations and 12,000 accounts migrated to the new platform in 90 days with zero operational disruption.

Regulatory Compliance Restored

Full MFA and individual accountability across the estate satisfied all outstanding regulatory requirements.

Let's Start Building Your Website Together

Have questions, or ready to explore how Encyphers can transform your website? Fill out the form below, and our team will get back to you shortly. We're here to turn your vision into reality.

Emailhello@encyphers.com

Call us+1 718 312 8022

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