Security is a team sport

Envision that you’re the head of corporate security for a brand-new company that’s known for being innovative and on the cutting edge of building technology.

Throughout construction, you spared no expense in outfitting the building with state-of-the-art security defenses. Every door is reinforced with steel, windows are alarmed, cameras cover every angle, and biometric scanners protect sensitive areas. You are a modern security leader, and your organization is investing millions to safeguard its people and assets.

But when the building opens, most employees are handed a tray of loose keys with no instruction on how to handle them. Leadership explains the decision: to save money, only certain staff will get organizing keychains and retractable lanyards; the rest are left juggling keys however they can.

The result is predictable: a key gets lost, a bad actor lurking in the shadows picks it up, and the whole system collapses. Despite deploying the most advanced defenses, you overlooked the one tool that holds it all together.

Now, step into your role as an IT leader. You’ve invested in advanced defenses: endpoint protection to stop malware, cloud security to safeguard SaaS access, AI-driven threat detection to catch what slips through, and email filters to keep phishing at bay. You’ve even implemented SSO to help secure identity management. On the surface, it looks like every angle is covered.

But here’s the gap: none of these tools controls the credentials themselves. Weak, reused, and shared passwords slip through every layer of defense, accounting for more than 80% of breaches. A password manager isn’t another add-on; it’s the foundation that makes every other security investment effective.

Stopping short of fully deploying a password manager to your entire workforce is like giving employees all those loose keys with no keychain. That one overlooked detail undermines every other safeguard, and it only takes a single lost key to circumvent the whole system.

Compliance gaps

Partial rollout = partial compliance. Compliance demands full coverage. Leaving even a few accounts unmanaged puts audits and certifications at risk. Any unmanaged credentials create blind spots in reporting, audit trails, and certifications (SOC 2, ISO, GDPR).

Unmanaged credentials

Like juggling loose keys without a keychain, employees will always find a way to manage passwords; in browsers, spreadsheets, or sticky notes. Bitwarden offers a direct importer tool to quickly move existing logins out of browsers into the password manager, eliminating one of the most common insecure storage methods. Weak, reused, and shared logins remain the #1 cause of breaches.

Shadow IT and inconsistency

Without a fully deployed password manager, departments adopt their own unsanctioned tools or informal processes. That creates inconsistent practices, higher friction across teams, and limited visibility for IT into who has access to what. Centralization gives IT full oversight into where credentials live, who has access, and how they’re being used, reducing blind spots and shadow IT risks.

Offboarding risks

Bitwarden offers simple de-provisioning and safeguards to ensure former employees and contractors don’t retain access. Without a password manager, credentials can linger unnoticed, leaving former staff with live access to critical apps for months, or even years.

Wasted investment

Every unused license reduces ROI. Security only works at scale; leaving seats undeployed undermines the value of your advanced tools and the money already spent on security.

Between 34% and 66% of business applications aren’t covered by SSO. Without a password manager to complement your SSO deployment, more than half of employee credentials may remain unmanaged and insecure.

SSO is powerful for the apps it supports, but it isn’t a complete solution. It’s most effective when paired with a password manager to secure the long tail of applications that don’t support SSO. Bitwarden gives organizations flexibility to cover both, with integrations for SAML 2.0 and OIDC protocols alongside enterprise-grade password management.

Stronger compliance posture

Full coverage through a password manager ensures there are no unmanaged accounts, making audits smoother with complete reporting and audit trails that support certification readiness. It also demonstrates due diligence to regulators and builds trust with customers.

Secure credentials everywhere

Every employee gets strong, unique, randomly generated passwords for every account. Centralized storage eliminates the sprawl of unmanaged logins and reduces the #1 web app breach vector: weak or reused credentials.

Consistency across teams

With one sanctioned platform for credential management, teamwork becomes easier. Early adopters and tech-savvy employees can help train colleagues and answer questions, reducing silos and shadow IT workarounds. Collaboration improves through secure sharing, group policies, and visibility across departments, all enabling IT to handle fewer password resets.

Safer onboarding & offboarding

Fast provisioning ensures employees get the access they need quickly, without password sprawl across email and chat threads. Simple de-provisioning guarantees immediate access revocation, so only current employees retain access to company systems.

Maximum ROI on security investments

If you’ve already purchased Bitwarden licenses, full deployment extracts their value. It also amplifies the impact of other tools (endpoint, cloud, threat detection) by closing credential blind spots, resulting in fewer breaches, fewer support tickets, and faster time-to-ROI.

Password managers safeguard critical IT infrastructure, and their impact extends across the entire organization. Password managers allow marketing to protect social accounts and brand reputation, finance to secure company funds and customer data, and People Ops to deliver smoother onboarding and offboarding experiences.

Like cybersecurity itself, password management is a team sport, and it works best when every employee is equipped to play. However, adoption is a challenge. Licenses can be purchased, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll be used.

That’s where Bitwarden comes in. 

Full deployment is where the real value of password management comes to life: stronger security, smoother workflows, and maximum ROI on your investment. With Bitwarden, you don’t have to choose between SSO and password management. Together, they deliver complete coverage across every application your employees use.

Bitwarden experts are here to help you get there. Whether you’re new to Bitwarden or expanding an existing rollout, our team will guide you step by step to ensure every employee is equipped to play. If you're already a Bitwarden customer, schedule a deployment consultation to get expert support with your rollout.

New to Bitwarden? Contact sales to get started!