How ChartHop used 1Password to create a culture of security from day one

Founded in 2019, ChartHop makes it simple for businesses to manage and support their employees. By consolidating people data into one employee-centric platform to visualize, discover, and act on insights, ChartHop creates more informed, empowered, and connected organizations.

There are many factors that have contributed to ChartHop's success. One of them was the company's decision to adopt 1Password early on, according to Witt Cunningham, Senior Manager, Security Engineering at ChartHop. “1Password was used from the very early days here,” he says.

Before joining ChartHop, Cunningham worked for a company that used a different password manager. He prefers 1Password for its intuitive design, which makes it easier to roll out across the company. "I've noticed some substantial differences,” Cunningham says. “In a good way. The ease of use, and obtaining buy-in from different stakeholders seemed natural."

If an app is confusing, people won't use it. Cunningham explains that 1Password's human-centric design makes it easy to pick up compared to other enterprise password managers. "Everything is incredibly accessible," he says. "And the 1Password interface feels intuitive enough for any new user to figure out on their own without having to request support from our IT team."

As a result, everyone at ChartHop is able to learn 1Password quickly and use strong passwords with little assistance from the IT department. This eliminates the stress of trying to remember complex passwords, and gives team members more time to tackle problems that will make a real difference to the business.

As Cunningham explains: "After a team member has set up their 1Password account, we typically don't see IT requests and help tickets asking, ‘how do I use this tool?'"

1Password also works on all devices and every major web browser. That means team members can always access their corporate passwords at the exact moment they need them. "The interoperability between the 1Password browser extension, desktop app, and the mobile app gives our users confidence that their credentials are accessible," Cunningham says.

ChartHop uses Okta, a single sign-on (SSO) provider, to secure and manage access to many enterprise apps. But some services aren't supported by Okta. And others are too expensive for ChartHop to integrate (a trend sometimes referred to as the SSO tax). With 1Password, ChartHop can secure all of the accounts associated with services that aren't covered by SSO.

"1Password covers the other side of the equation that SSO and SAML doesn't," Cunningham says.

1Password can also be used as an authenticator for services that support two-factor authentication (2FA). This allows ChartHop team members to add an extra layer of security to their work accounts. "My favorite 1Password feature is the ability to integrate a one-time password (OTP), or a timed one-time password (TOTP) authenticator into a credential," Cunningham adds.

Adopting an easy-to-use password manager that complements SSO has had a profound effect on ChartHop. 1Password is used by all departments – not just the IT and security teams. It's an integral tool that empowers all employees to use strong passwords, regardless of their role and how tech-savvy they are.

What effect has that had? For one, nobody shares plain-text passwords via Slack, the company's preferred communication platform. "It's really increased security awareness across the company," Cunningham explains. "Since ChartHop utilized 1Password from such an early stage, common security issues like sending a plain text password over Slack has never been a problem."

1Password allows ChartHop to share passwords in a way that's secure and efficient for everyone. For example, ChartHop may receive a single login to a partner or customer portal, and multiple people will need to access that account. As Cunningham explains, "Obviously we don't like to use shared accounts if we can help it. But when we have to, 1Password is a great platform to handle that securely."

1Password is also so much more than a password manager. It's a home for everything that’s important to your business, including documents, addresses, credit card numbers, and software license keys.

ChartHop also uses 1Password to store and securely share developer secrets, including API keys. Cunningham says: "1Password is very developer-centric and complements our large engineering presence at ChartHop."

ChartHop's decision to embrace a password manager early on has helped it build a culture of security that protects all company accounts and assets. It's a culture where everyone is comfortable using an enterprise password manager as part of their daily workflows. 1Password isn't a tool that team members need to be reminded to use – it's just second nature.

Cunningham puts it best: "Adopting 1Password early on in ChartHop’s tenure was a key decision that has enabled our users to utilize better security habits without losing efficiency in their daily workflows.”