At Wellzesta, we receive many requests for integrations. The term "integration" means different things to different people. Often, what a client seeks is an integrated experience for their residents. Specifically, the end user's movement between Wellzesta Life and the integrated software should be frictionless.
An integrated experience, where a user flows between two platforms, is different from a data integration, where data flows between systems. I will discuss data integrations in a separate article.
How does the integrated experience work? The discussion centers on security. From a security standpoint, a user should have access to software features only if authorized to do so. It is common for software to offer features that are available the public ---unrestricted access---and features that are private---restricted access.
To gain access to restricted features, one must first uniquely identify oneself then provide proof of identity. The technical name for this process is authentication. The most common unique identifier is an email address. A mobile phone number can also be used as a unique identifier. A social security number is a unique identifier, but it is rarely used in the authentication process. A secret password or Personal Identification Number (or PIN) provide proof of identity. It is worth mentioning that if one shares an email address with a spouse then the email address does not uniquely identify the individual. This creates confusion for the software, and it impairs security.
Email + password (or PIN) is the most common authentication method. For certain users, password authentication can can be quite insecure. Many end users pick weak passwords, share passwords across different software systems, and store passwords in insecure locations (like an address book). They do this because passwords are a chore to remember. Furthermore, if an authenticated user shares their computer with someone else then the new user can gain access to the authenticated user's information. To counter this behavior, many systems will automatically revoke authentication after a period of time. But, this is not bulletproof. To summarize, email + password authentication falls short of providing a secure and frictionless user experience.
Wellzesta Single Sign On (SSO) addresses the deficiencies of email + password authentication by providing behind-the-scenes end user authentication. With Wellzesta SSO, the end user signs-in to Wellzesta Life. Wellzesta then authenticates the user into integrated software. Authentication is performed as needed. The user can flow, uninterrupted, from Wellzesta Life to an integrated software platform. Our goal is to make integrations and SSO as simple to use for both staff, residents, and members - as well as allowing for the best user experience.
