How a government deadline became the catalyst for faster authentication, significant savings, and a passwordless future.
Industry
Financial Technology
Size
250 employees
Challenge
A telecommunications service provider partnered with 1Kosmos to replace their existing MFA solution for 22,000 employees and 8,000 partners. New government authentication mandates rendered the telco's existing RSA 2FA non-compliant, and a replacement was needed to secure Cisco VPN access for 22,000 employees and 8,000 partners immediately, scale to 80,000 users over time, and establish a path toward passwordless authentication.
Solution
1Kosmos deployed MFA using username + password + OTP, taking the Cisco VPN live in three weeks. The platform now handles more than 10 million authentications annually. A passwordless option was built in from the start, and users have already begun adopting it organically, without training or prompts.
The Deadline
When new government requirements took effect, the telco's RSA 2FA was no longer compliant, and the company faced a hard deadline with no room for a prolonged migration.
1Kosmos took the Cisco VPN live in three weeks, with the Customer Success team working alongside the telco to coordinate infrastructure readiness, feature requirements, and custom deployment needs before launch. The results were immediate: users moved through authentication faster, driving a 46% productivity increase across the workforce.
Built to Scale
The platform needed to support 30,000 users at launch and grow to 80,000 over time. 1Kosmos now processes more than 10 million authentications annually for the company.
The Path Forward
The deployment also laid groundwork for what comes next. A passwordless option was built in from day one and surfaced to users ready to make the switch, and adoption has already begun organically without training or prompts.
What started as a compliance mandate delivered $4 million in annualized savings, a 46% productivity gain, and infrastructure ready for the next phase of authentication.
