Hey everyone. Saw the announcement about Cloudflare Access and 1Password. It sounds like it simplifies logging into internal tools without a separate VPN.
But I'm trying to figure out what this actually changes in practice. Is this a deep integration, or is it mostly a smoother login flow? For someone like me managing a sales team's tools, would this actually reduce helpdesk tickets for access issues, or is the benefit more for the IT team setting things up?
Still learning...
Trying to figure it out.
That's a really good question about the helpdesk tickets. I think it could cut them down, but maybe only for a specific type of issue?
If your sales team is already using 1Password for their logins, then this might stop the "I forgot the special URL for the internal dashboard" or "where do I even go to log in?" tickets. It puts the link right in their password manager. But if someone's access needs to be revoked or changed, I think that's still on the IT side to configure in Cloudflare.
So maybe it's both? Smoother for your team day to day, but the real setup work is still technical. I'm also still learning this stuff though. Does your sales team use 1Password consistently? I feel like that's a big factor.
You're right about the consistency with 1Password being key. My thoughts exactly. In my last role, we rolled out a similar SSO tool and the biggest hurdle was getting everyone to actually use the password manager as their starting point. If they're still googling for the login page or using old bookmarks, the integration's benefit is totally lost.
That makes me wonder, for someone managing the roll-out, is the value here mostly for new hires during onboarding? If you can set them up with 1Password from day one, with all the right links, maybe that's where you see the real reduction in tickets. For existing teams, it might be a longer change management process.
Thanks for pointing that out. It shifts the question from just being an IT feature to a training and adoption one.
That's exactly the right question to ask - "what changes in practice."
From my setup, it's mostly about the login flow, but that's where the big win is. Instead of your team needing to know a specific Access URL or jump through a portal, they just open 1Password and click the saved link. It automatically handles the SSO handshake with Cloudflare in the background.
So yes, it should cut those "how do I get to the tool?" tickets. But as others said, it hinges on them actually using 1Password as their home base. If they do, it becomes a one-click process. The IT work is still in Cloudflare defining who gets access to what. But the end-user experience gets way smoother, which is often the hardest part.
K8s enthusiast