Modernizing Identity Management for H-E-B’s 170,000 Retail Employees

In 1905, H-E-B was established as a small, family-owned grocer in Kerrville, Texas. Today, it’s one of America’s largest independently owned grocery retailers and a beloved fixture of Texan consumer culture. With a pledge to go above and beyond, H-E-B credits its $34B in annual sales to a strong customer focus and commitment to excellence. Our confidence, transparency, and commitment to customer-driven outcomes were instrumental in BeyondID, a KeyData Cyber family company, winning H-E-B as an Okta customer.

Highlights

Challenge

H-E-B's workforce transformation was motivated by the inflexibility of the grocery retailer’s current OneLogin system. For grocers like H-E-B, with 400 stores in Texas and Mexico, employing 170,000 people, staffing demands fluctuate throughout the year, making turnover and access management a major challenge.

H-E-B needed a more modern platform capable of rapid and precise lifecycle management, with secure authentication and authorization and timely onboarding and offboarding. 

Solution

BeyondID served as H-E-B's trusted advisor and subject matter expert throughout their workforce transformation. This expert support was crucial for H-E-B's continued confidence as they pursued modernization through means unfamiliar to the organization’s internal teams.

Their approach included:

• Integrated Application Portfolio: BeyondID integrated all of H-E-B's existing applications into the new Okta platform, establishing seamless connections available to users at a single point of access.
• Expert Okta Configuration: BeyondID’s identity professionals led H-E-B through expert configuration of their Okta platform to ensure optimized access to all the tools and resources an Okta investment brings.
• Strategic Advisory Services: BeyondID provided expert support and guidance to H-E-B’s internal teams, ensuring a smooth transition to the modernized platform.

Outcomes

• Enhanced User Experience: BeyondID’s omnichannel workforce strategy enables users to move through all available applications seamlessly and from a single point of access. Employees now enjoy easy access and an exceptional user experience with secure, non-complex registration and passwordless authentication.
• Optimized Workforce Efficiency: Automating the lifecycle management process means employees are no longer responsible for the tedious process of onboarding and off-boarding an ever-fluctuating workforce. They also now enjoy simplified access to the full range of applications, tools, and resources they need.
• Strengthened Security Posture: Leveraging Okta's best-in-class identity security features, the risk of security threats to H-E-B's new platform is low.
• Future-Proof Digital Infrastructure: H-E-B is now equipped with new digital infrastructure capable of supporting any future integrations, establishing a transformation that will take H-E-B into the future.

H-E-B successfully transitioned from an inflexible legacy system based on OneLogin to a modern, scalable Okta platform. By prioritizing automation, security, and the user experience for their vast retail workforce, H-E-B is now equipped with the digital foundation needed to support its growth and commitment to excellence across Texas and Mexico.