In this age, every product wants to be a “platform.” But when Okta showcased its new features at Oktane 2017 keynote, it became clear that Okta has delivered on its platform vision.

Here are three cool announcements (or what I learned) at Oktane17.

Making it simple to build integrations

When Okta CEO, Todd McKinnon, asked billionaire investor Ben Horowitz why he chose to invest in Okta eight years ago, Ben’s answer blew my mind.

Ben could see how the fast, dynamic nature of cloud software would leave the burden of developing, maintaining, and updating integrations on Okta’s partners and vendors. Okta recognized this as an opportunity—instead of building apps for their customers, Okta could instead focus on developing a platform.

“You can’t move to the cloud if you haven’t solved your identity problem.” —Ben Horowitz

With the announcement of the Okta Developer Portal, Okta makes it easier for developers to build fast and easy integrations. Okta’s vision is to be a neutral, independent identity management platform used by all, and providing advanced integrations capability is the fastest way to get there.

Try it out this feature at developer.okta.com.

Supporting the extended enterprise

“Enterprise” is an overused word today—so Okta branding to “extend the enterprise” is a breath of fresh air. The modern workplace is changing, becoming location-agnostic and less concerned about employee status, so this rebranding from Okta is timely.

Okta announced lifecycle management features, such as self-service registration, scheduled suspension, and rogue account identification to ensure the right person gets access to the right resource at the right time. Through these features, Okta is future proofing itself, meaning that they’re building the product with future trends in mind, to meet the needs of this “extended enterprise.”

Improving the customer experience

It’s amazing to see how a security-centric company like Okta cares about the customer experience. In fact, throughout his keynote, Todd McKinnon never used the word “security.” With most enterprises moving towards a “cloud first” mentality, companies tend to add multiple layers of security, at the sacrifice of customer experience.

Imagine if logging into your company network required you to enter a rotating VPN key, a six-digit key delivered on your phone, and a biometric fingerprint scan. Imagine how frustrated your employees would become if they missed one of the steps.

Through its adaptive MFA, Okta offers a smart way for you to authenticate without any friction. Adaptive MFA identifies the right level of security checks needed depending on where, how, and when you log in.

Another customer experience feature from Okta is its Businesses @ Work Dashboard, which takes all the valuable data captured in the Okta ecosystem and generates insights for the admin. I was excited to see our Lucidchart app on the Top 10 Fastest Growing Apps report that Todd demoed.

In a nutshell, Okta has set the bar high for cloud-based identity management. I see other cloud providers, such as Google and Microsoft, following suit with similar offerings.