Enterprises face an ongoing challenge to ensure that their digital certificates are valid and secure. A report by Gartner found that, on average, organizations waste $100,000 per year on manual certificate management processes. This includes the cost of unplanned downtime due to expired certificates and the fees associated with replacing lost or stolen credentials.

Key Managers

Key Managers can help automate certificate management processes and reduce the risk of errors. However, many organizations are still reluctant to invest in this solution as it is a big change in processing.

SSH Key Manager

If your organization uses SSH keys to access remote servers, you can use an SSH Key Manager to automate the certificate management process. SSH Key Managers can be used to manage both user and host keys, providing a central repository for all of your organization's keys.

Automated Vs. Manual Certificate Management

The process of issuing, renewing, and revoking digital certificates is known as certificate lifecycle management. Certificate lifecycle management can be done manually or automatically.

With manual certificate management, an administrator must track when each certificate will expire and renew them manually. This is a time-consuming and error-prone process. If a certificate expires, it can cause downtime and disrupt business operations.

With automated certificate management, certificates are automatically issued, renewed, and revoked. This removes administrators' burden and reduces the risk of human error. Automated certificate management is a more efficient and effective way to manage digital certificates.

Ways To Automate Your Certificate Management

The good news is that there are ways to automate certificate management and save your organization time and money. Here are five reasons why you should automate your certificate management processes:

Reduce Fees Associated With Manual Processes

As we mentioned above, one of the benefits of automating your certificate management processes is that it can help reduce the fees associated with manual tasks. For example, if you manually process certificate signing requests (CSRs), you may be charged a fee for each CSR. However, if you automate the process, you can avoid these fees altogether.

Improve security
Another benefit of automating your certificate management processes is that it can help improve security. Automating the renewal and revocation process ensures that your certificates are always up-to-date and secure. This is especially important if you use many credentials or have a complex infrastructure.

Increase efficiency

Automating your certificate management processes can also help increase efficiency. For example, automating the process can save you significant time if you need to generate a new CSR every time a certificate expires. In addition, automating the distribution of certificates can help ensure that they are installed correctly and timely manner.

Save time

One of the most apparent benefits of automating your certificate management processes is that it can save you significant time, especially with an SSH key manager. Rather than spending hours managing your certificates manually, you can use that time to focus on other tasks or projects.

Scale Quickly And Easily

Finally, another benefit of automating your certificate management processes is that it can help you scale quickly and easily. If your organization experiences rapid growth, manually managing certificates can be difficult and time-consuming. However, adding new certificates is quick and easy if you have an automated system.Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are many reasons why you should consider automating your certificate management processes. From reducing fees to saving time, automating these processes offers several benefits for enterprises of all sizes.

Automation may be the right solution for you if you are looking for ways to improve efficiency and security while reducing costs.