January 2024 Summaries

FusionAuth has introduced a new billing option that allows users to purchase an annual subscription online, simplifying the process of acquiring their customer identity platform. This change, which has been live for a few weeks, offers users the flexibility of selecting either monthly payments or a one-time annual payment with a discount ranging from 4 to 10 percent. Customers can choose between self-hosting FusionAuth or utilizing the managed FusionAuth Cloud service, and select from different product tiers such as Community, Starter, Essentials, or Enterprise based on their needs and projected monthly active users. For those currently on a monthly credit card plan, FusionAuth provides assistance for transitioning to the annual plan, and offers support for invoiced billing, multi-year discounts, and large MAU volume plans through consultations with their sales and technical experts.

At FusionAuth, Sales Engineering plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between engineering and sales teams. Sales engineers act as technical experts who work closely with sales representatives to understand clients' unique requirements and challenges, leveraging their deep knowledge of products and domains to design solutions that align with clients' needs. The role requires expertise in various areas, including fintech, consumer goods, and online gaming, and involves demonstrating how products solve specific challenges rather than just showcasing generic features. Sales engineers at FusionAuth engage with prospective customers on all calls, from intro calls to final technical walkthroughs, and face unique challenges such as understanding complex technical discovery and aligning with clients' technology. The role requires a deep grasp of software engineering principles, previous technical experience, and collaboration with other teams. Sales engineers directly impact customer success, provide technical solutions to critical business issues, and influence future product development by capturing common threads of customer requirements.

FusionAuth is a mobile app development platform that provides OAuth and OpenID Connect practices to improve user login experience, speed up development, and secure APIs. Implementing OAuth and OIDC in native mobile apps can be approached through either Native Login or Native Hybrid methods, which involve either customizing the login process or leveraging a third-party identity provider like Firebase. OAuth and OIDC standards-based approach centralizes ID concerns, offering a more scalable solution as the number of applications increases. The process involves authenticating users against a centralized identity provider, providing standard access tokens that apps can use to access APIs, and storing them securely to prevent interception. Single sign-on using Google/Apple SSO can be used instead of a private identity provider, while using the native system browser over webviews is recommended for increased security and enabling SSO across apps. By following these practices, native apps can build robust ID management systems that balance control and development speed.