Persistent Credentials for Seamless Multi-Device & Long-Term Access
While our passwordless "click-through" method offers unmatched simplicity for transient guest access, we recognize that many scenarios require more persistent and flexible connectivity. For instance, a guest in an office may need to connect both a laptop and a smartphone, or a long-term contractor may face connection issues due to MAC address randomization, which disrupts MAC-based auto-login. Each new connection attempt often results in a frustrating re-onboarding process and duplicate user records.
To solve this, we are introducing the ability to issue persistent network credentials (username and password) to any user, regardless of their initial sign-up method. This feature transforms a one-time connection into a lasting, multi-device relationship.
Key Benefits:
- Enhanced User Experience: Users receive a dedicated set of credentials, typically via a welcome email, allowing them to easily log in on multiple devices or reconnect in the future without repeating the full onboarding process.
- Overcomes MAC Randomization: By relying on credentials instead of a device's MAC address, this provides reliable, long-term access for contractors and recurring visitors whose device may suffer MAC rotation.
- Reduces Administrative Overhead: Prevents the creation of duplicate user profiles each time a recognized individual connects a new device.
- Streamlined Secure Access: Perfectly complements onboarding flows that require validation or approval one time only, ensuring the approved user can access the network anytime.
To enable this, a new option is available in the Login Profile settings, allowing you to display a "Log in with existing credentials" choice on the Splash Page.
Personalize at Scale: Target Campaigns by User Group
Effective communication isn't one-size-fits-all. Your employees require different information than your guests, and your contractors have unique needs. Building directly on the power of our recently released Groups feature, you can now deliver hyper-targeted transactional and marketing campaigns with precision.
This release introduces the ability to filter campaign audiences by Group. This allows you to create distinct communication journeys for each user segment, ensuring every message is relevant.
Example Use Cases:
- Streamline Employee Onboarding: Automatically send a welcome email with a link to your secure Passpoint profile exclusively to users in the "Employees" Group.
- Drive Guest Engagement: Deliver a marketing-driven welcome series with special offers only to users in your "Customers" or "Guests" Group.
- Gather Feedback: Target a satisfaction survey to the "Contractors" Group after their access period expires.
You can find the new Group filtering option within the 'Audience' section of the campaign wizard.
Ecosystem Expansion
We are continuously expanding our ecosystem of technology partners to provide you with maximum flexibility and choice in your network infrastructure. This release broadens our integration capabilities, making it easier than ever to deploy Cloud4Wi's advanced services on top of industry-leading network hardware.
- TP-Link Omada Cloud
- Fortinet FortiGate Cloud
These integrations reaffirm our commitment to interoperability. They allow more organizations to leverage their preferred hardware vendors while benefiting from the full power of the Cloud4Wi platform.
Additional Improvements & Updates
This release also includes several improvements and performance enhancements to streamline your administrative workflows and improve network reliability.
- Granular Contact Exports by Group: You can now filter your contact exports by User Group. This allows you to easily generate specific lists of users—such as employees, contractors, or guests—for targeted analysis and reporting outside of the Cloud4Wi platform.
- Enhanced MAC Authentication Performance: We have implemented significant back-end improvements to our MAC authentication service. This results in faster and more reliable connections for all associated devices, particularly IoT and headless equipment, across all supported hardware vendors.
- Simplified Google Workspace (SAML) Integration: To make identity provider setup more robust, our SAML integration with Google Workspace now supports uploading the metadata XML file directly. This provides a more reliable method than using a metadata URL, simplifying the initial configuration and preventing future sync issues.