Closing the Gaps: How Productiv Secured SaaS Credentials and Privileged Service Accounts with Cerby

Closing the Gaps: How Productiv Secured SaaS Credentials and Privileged Service Accounts with Cerby

ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity platform built to streamline project management, collaboration, and communication. With over 10 million users, ClickUp helps teams from startups to large enterprises stay organized, productive, and aligned.

For Productiv, a leading SaaS Management Platform, this challenge was no exception. While Okta secured most of their SaaS ecosystem, apps outside its coverage and shared service accounts introduced security blind spots and operational inefficiencies that IT couldn’t overlook. As their business scaled, addressing these gaps became essential to maintaining governance and efficiency.

The Challenges of SaaS Access Management

Productiv’s IT team faced the following three critical challenges:

Shared Service Accounts

These privileged accounts, essential for administering SaaS apps, were difficult to manage and secure. Multiple users could access the same credentials simultaneously, making it difficult to trace who logged in or what actions were taken by an individual administrator.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

MFA for shared accounts added another layer of complexity. Second-factor tokens, tied to individual users and devices, were cumbersome to share, introducing delays and frustration for users. This challenge left the IT team with a difficult tradeoff between usability and security. While security always won, a better solution was needed.

Fragmented Credential Management

Employees used a mix of enterprise password management tools and manual processes to log into apps outside Okta. This patchwork approach led to shadow IT, uneven security coverage, and challenges in enforcing policies across the organization.

Productiv needed a solution that would centralize access controls, enforce strong security, and provide complete visibility—all while staying cost-effective. That’s when they turned to Cerby.

A Solution Built for Disconnected Apps and Shared Accounts

Cerby stood out for one simple reason: it solves challenges most identity solutions overlook. Productiv needed a way to manage shadow IT, secure disconnected apps, and eliminate the risks of shared credentials. Cerby addressed these challenges head-on, strengthening their overall security and governance strategy.

Securing Shared Service Accounts

By integrating with Okta, Cerby enabled workflows that extended least-privilege access to these shared accounts. Only authorized users with appropriate roles are granted access to check out shared credentials—and critically, only one person can use an account at a time. This granular control gave the IT team full traceability and auditability over privileged accounts, providing clear visibility into who accessed an account, when, and what actions were performed.

Simplifying MFA for Shared Accounts

Cerby also resolved long-standing MFA challenges for shared accounts. Instead of requiring team members to share second-factor tokens, Cerby centrally manages and autofills MFA, eliminating friction for users. This not only made MFA easy to use but also ensured it was consistently enforced across all privileged accounts.

Delivering a Unified Employee Experience

By syncing with Okta, Cerby provided employees with a single, secure platform to access all their work apps. Apps that don’t support SSO are now accessible through the Okta dashboard via Cerby, enabling a seamless login experience. This eliminated the need to juggle multiple systems or figure out how to share a password securely, reducing both effort and frustration.