In 2012 we introduced PingOne our cloud solution for Workforce Identity.  We've had a steady increase in companies adopting it and every day SaaS companies are getting SAML-enabled via PingOne Application Provider Services.  

PingOne is not just about the back end configuration of connections to both internal and external apps, but it's also about giving users one-click access to the apps they use every day.  

A key feature of PingOne is the CloudDesktop.  I use it every day on my iPhone, my iPad and my Mac.  It makes it easy for Ping employees to access apps using standards-based SSO. It eliminates the need to bookmark URLs or memorize them.  I don't have to remember a myriad of crazy passwords.  And most importantly I don't have to call IT or our SaaS vendors when I forget them. 

Below is the screenshot of CloudDesktop that I use daily at Ping.

Integrating PingFederate with CloudDesktop

We drink our own champagne here at Ping.  We have had PingFederate deployed for several years with connections configured to our internal and Cloud applications.

We were able to provide CloudDesktop to everyone without having to move connections from PingFederate to PingOne. All it took was connecting our PingFederate instance to PingOne via SAML. It was a simple process of exchanging metadata from PingFederate to PingOne and using PingOne metadata to create a connection in PingFederate..

Once we connected PingFederate to PingOne, we mapped our connections to CloudDesktop (the actual SAML connection remains in PingFederate). After that, we moved some of our connections over to PingOne for ease of connection management, thus leveraging a hybrid setup. Irrespective of whether the connection is in PingFederate or PingOne, the end-user experience with CloudDesktop remains the same.

Now that CloudDesktop is deployed, it has become the front-page Ping Identians start on every day. In addition to end-user convenience and ease-of-use, CloudDesktop is an opportunity to put our brand and a little bit of our style within the interface, support internal apps, and optimize for mobile workers, given new customization capabilities we have recently added, including:

1) Company Logo - upload your company logo to give CloudDesktop your branding

2) Custom Background Image - You can replace the default background image with your organization specific background. To change your background image, simply login to your PingOne account and upload a new image. Below is an example of a festive Ping art background image that we used for a period of time.

 

3) Custom Header and footer text - For example, add a link for easy-access to your help desk. You also can add company specific messages, such as reminders of upcoming events.  From time to time, we take advantage of this to put out links to company specific events. 

4) Optimized for Mobile Devices - The CloudDesktop UI can go mobile. For example, you can optimize CloudDesktop for different form factors, such as the iPhone or tablet devices. The UI from my iPhone is shown below (to the dismay of my Open source friends, I did make a switch from Android to iPhone last year)

5) Support for internal company applications - Add links to your internal applications. At Ping we use several internal applications that are available to employees on our CloudDesktop. If those applications require VPN access, we denote it visually on the app icon (see PingGo logo in on Figure 1).

The engineering team continues to add new features to CloudDesktop based on feedback from Ping employees and PingOne customers. 

We love the CloudDesktop.  I bet your employees would, too. Try it out.