It was a match – in the beginning – that seemed like the perfect fit, but it took eight years to make it a reality. In 2013, Todd McKinnon, co-founder of Okta wanted to buy the five-month old company Auth0 to help thwart competition in the space. But Auth0’s co-founder, Eugenio Pace, who’d just launched his company after years at Microsoft, had different ideas about where he wanted to take the company. But he kept the door, and the relationship, open.
McKinnon’s relentless pursuit finally paid off; Okta’s acquisition of Auth0 was finalized several days ago. Pace will continue to run Auth0 as a fully independent organization within Okta. And there’s no doubt it will have long-term implications for the Identity and Access Management industry.
While there was some overlap in the solutions offered by both companies, Okta’s customer-facing approach and Auth0’s focus on the developer community will complement each other nicely. And not only will Okta expand its potential market for identity solutions but it can accelerate its pursuit of the Customer Identity and Access Management segment of the market.
For both companies, this is a win-win.
Certainly, this kind of acquisition is not uncommon. But it will have a profound and positive impact on the identity market and the customers served by both Okta and Auth0. As one organization, they can better meet the growing demand for identity platforms with solutions that are customer-facing and address the workforce.
What does it all mean for BeyondID? The short answer is more great things. As Okta’s premier platinum services provider, we enjoy an outstanding relationship with the Okta team and will continue to grow to meet their customer’s managed identity needs. With the acquisition of Auth0, there is now an opportunity to expand our services into the developer community and identify new ways to help organizations achieve their digital transformation goals, whether it’s CIAM or Zero Trust or cloud migration.
With the need for remote work in response to the pandemic, the increasing number of data breaches, the growing prevalence of Internet-of-Things (IoT) and the reliance on mobile devices, more identity management applications will be needed to meet growing customer requirements. These “smart applications” will not only improve the user experience but provide safe, secure access through any device and from any location. And the potential for developing these applications is almost limitless.
Integral to that effort will be building the next generation of microservices to streamline the development process, simplify testing and enable cloud migration, on-prem access or a combination of both. This developer-first mindset, whether it’s BeyondID building the apps or training others how to embrace them, will be the foundation for delivering secure, modern identity applications. It’s a big challenge and one that we readily embrace; one that will benefit Okta, Auth0 and BeyondID customers now and well into the future.
And that’s a win-win-win!
