By FIDO Alliance UX Working Group’s Enterprise Subgroup leaders Patryk Les, Yubico and Philip Corriveau, RSA
As we celebrate Passkeys Week 2025, the momentum around passwordless authentication is undeniable. Across industries, organizations are taking real steps toward a future where passwords – and the risks they bring – finally fade away.
Recent research from the FIDO Alliance and its members shows that over 85% of enterprises are implementing or evaluating passkeys. The question is no longer if your organization will deploy them – it’s how you’ll do it effectively.
And that’s where the next chapter begins. Because the hardest part of passwordless security isn’t the cryptography – it’s the culture.
People Are Not the Weakest Link – They’re the Strongest Asset
For years, cybersecurity has been framed as a struggle to “fix” users – those who forget passwords, fall for phishing, or sidestep controls. But people aren’t the problem. They’re responding to systems that often work against natural human behavior.
Passkeys flip that model. They align authentication with how people already act – using biometrics, devices, and gestures they trust. When security design works with human tendencies, compliance becomes intuitive and adoption accelerates.
This is more than a technical improvement. It’s a leadership opportunity.
Three Lessons from the Front Lines
The FIDO Enterprise UX Subgroup’s research with enterprise deployments uncovered one clear truth: the biggest challenges are human, not technical. Here’s what leading organizations are learning.
1. Enrollment Is the First Moment of Trust
The first time a user registers a passkey isn’t just a setup step – it’s their first interaction with your new security culture. Complex flows or unclear prompts can create frustration and mistrust before the rollout even begins.
Leaders who treat enrollment as change management – offering clarity, support, and communication – set the tone for success.
2. Users Need a Mental Model, Not a Cryptography Lesson
Practitioners told us: “Give me a one-sentence definition users actually understand.” That’s because awareness without understanding is ineffective. The best explanation we heard?
“A password is an easy-to-copy key you remember.
A passkey is a hard-to-copy key your device remembers.”
Simple, relatable language builds trust far better than technical jargon.
3. Consistency Builds Confidence
When authentication looks different across browsers and devices, it creates decision fatigue and confusion. This isn’t just a UX problem – it’s a behavioral one. Inconsistency erodes confidence; consistency builds it.
Forward-thinking leaders now recognize that usability isn’t a luxury – it’s a security control.
Redefining Success: From Compliance to Culture
Traditional cybersecurity programs measure success through compliance metrics: completed trainings, documented policies, audit readiness. But those measures miss what truly matters – behavioral outcomes.
Leading organizations are shifting to human metrics:
- Adoption and retention rates
- User satisfaction (CSAT)
- Reduced authentication-related support tickets
One organization exemplified this shift during the passkey rollout: when satisfaction dipped below their 4.0 target, they paused to improve the experience before resuming rollout. That’s human-centered leadership – prioritizing outcomes that strengthen both trust and security.
Leadership in the Human Era of Security
When deployments struggle, it’s rarely due to user resistance – it’s because systems weren’t designed with human behavior in mind.
Leaders now have a clear mandate:
- Simplify choices and reduce cognitive load
- Segment workforce experiences (field staff ≠ office staff)
- Establish feedback loops to learn and iterate
The most successful organizations treat passkey deployment as a cultural transformation, not a technical upgrade. They recognize that security performance is shaped by psychology, environment, and design – not just protocols.
The Path Forward: Share Your Voice
This Passkeys Week, we invite workforce leaders everywhere to help shape the next wave of adoption.
Your insights – what worked, what didn’t, and what surprised you – can help the entire community deploy smarter, faster, and more human-centered systems.
Share your experience and help shape the future of workforce authentication.
Your stories power our collective learning – and move the industry forward.
Closing Thought
The technology is ready. The future of workforce authentication now depends on how we lead.
When we design for human nature instead of against it, security becomes intuitive, sustainable, and strong. The workforce isn’t the weakest link – it’s our greatest asset.
Let’s make Passkeys Week 2025 the moment we prove it.
