What is our primary use case?
We use it for API authentication, on-premises clusters as well as cluster access, and cloud cluster access.
How has it helped my organization?
We did not have a unified mechanism for accessing resources or a secure way of accessing resources, and Okta solved that problem for us.
What is most valuable?
One of the features that I have found to be very valuable is its interoperability and compatibility with all types of resources, whether it's networking, infrastructure, or applications. That is, it is compatible as well as interoperable, as far as the federated authentication is concerned.
What needs improvement?
It's not compatible with on-premises installations, unless you host it as a SaaS. We were not able to do that. For example, imagine a scenario where the cloud is not available. Then, Okta will not work for you. That use case will readily fail because it doesn't have an on-premises installation that you can use to authenticate or provide identity and access management. If you have a purely on-premises solution that is not connected to the internet, then this will not work. This is one area that can be improved.
I would also like to see more intelligent analysis of the identity and access management from Okta.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using it for the last seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is fairly stable. However, because it's a SaaS solution, it needs to have connectivity. If the connectivity is down, then Okta Workforce Identity will be down as well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is one of the pluses that Okta has. It's easily scalable, both horizontally and vertically.
Right now, we have about 3,500 users.
How are customer service and support?
There was one minor hiccup with technical support, but other than that, the support has been pretty good. I would give them a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used ForgeRock, and we switched to Okta mainly because of the flexibility that Okta provides.
ForgeRock requires on-premises maintenance. Because most of our applications are now on the cloud, Okta is more user-friendly in that sense.
A couple of years ago, it was 70/30, 70 being on-premises. That's why ForgeRock was the choice. However, it's flipped now to 30/70, and Okta is more useful.
We still use ForgeRock because you can do an on-premises hosting for ForgeRock. Okta doesn't have that capability.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward; it's a very simple setup. There are some areas for which you need some skills. If you have an SOP, you can just follow it. I would give it a four out of five.
We have three people assigned to the solution for deployment and maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed it using an in-house team. The initial setup did not take much time; it took about one to three weeks.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Okta has fairly competitive pricing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated some native cloud services, like AWS and Azure before choosing Okta Workforce Identity.
We also looked at IBM ISAM, IBM Security Access Management, and Oracle ISAM, but they're very rigid products. That's why we went for Okta. They don't have any flexibility, and the cost was also very high compared to that for Okta.
What other advice do I have?
If your use case is multi-cloud data centers and hybrid cloud architecture, Okta is a solution to go to. It's fairly easy to implement as well. It has federated identity and access management, and it works very well with any type of identification authentication. However, if you have on-premises data centers where there are connectivity problems, then it would be better to avoid Okta.
I would rate Okta Workforce Identity at eight on a scale from one to ten because I've found it easy to implement and easy to learn. That is, the onboarding or the learning curve is less. It also has federated identity and access management mechanisms, where you can apply the various resources and workloads that you have. Also, it has very good interoperability and compatibility. It can easily scale too.
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.