Top Company winner: Ping Identity

Nora Caley //November 2, 2012//

Top Company winner: Ping Identity

Nora Caley //November 2, 2012//

SOFTWARE

Ping Identity

Ping Identity provides cloud security solutions for customers ranging from nonprofits to governments to Fortune 100 companies. The products help secure hundreds of millions of employees, customers, consumers and partners. The Denver-based company has more than 800 clients worldwide, and it recently celebrated its 10th year in business.

“We rang the gong,” says Andre Durand, CEO and founder. “People could hear it in the office, and through WebEx in our other offices.”

The company uses the gong to celebrate wins, and there have been plenty of wins lately. Ping Identity has grown to 275 employees, doubling its employee base in a year, and is still hiring. There are sales offices in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Japan, a recently opened office in Canada, and plans to open a London office.

Computer security has gone way beyond passwords. Companies have huge amounts of data that need to be secured. In addition, employees work on many different applications, and access to them needs to be protected. “In the old days, a business would buy software, build a data center, and employees would come in and log in and use whatever applications,” Durand says. “Now people are using mobile phones, they are not on the company network, and they are using apps in the cloud, not in the data center. Our software essentially makes that scenario secure.”

For example, Durand explains, say a company uses Box for online data storage, WebEx for conferencing, Concur for expense management, and NetSuite for financials. “All of those are being licensed on behalf of employees getting a job done,” he says. “One security issue is, if you leave the company do you go home and still have access to all those apps.”

The company’s products, such as PingOne and PingFederate, give employees one-click access to all of their cloud apps from any device and any location. The software reduces the need for password resets, which means less time wasted on the phone with a help desk. Also, people who work offsite, such as salespeople, can access apps without remembering a litany of passwords. It’s also a more secure solution, because passwords can be breached.