When we access the API, we use Microsoft Authenticator. Something with potential will be saved, and if the company has some use cases to connect to some database, I will use it as well, or something along those lines.
IT Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Secure, user-friendly, simple to install, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of this solution is that is easy to use."
- "I believe it can also be integrated into other Microsoft products, as well as more integrations with other solutions."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Normally, because a third party requires it.
It provides you with security. It provides the third party with some level of security.
But vendors like myself do not appreciate it.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of this solution is that is easy to use.
It is also automated.
What needs improvement?
I believe it can also be integrated into other Microsoft products, as well as more integrations with other solutions.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Microsoft Authenticator for two years.
I am working with the most recent version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Authenticator is quite stable.
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Authenticator a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Authenticator is a scalable solution.
I would rate the scalability of Microsoft Authenticator an eight out of ten.
As far as I know, we have more than 30 users in our organization. Some are senior professionals and some are developers.
How are customer service and support?
I have never dealt with technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I use UiPath as well as Automation Anywhere.
I started with Authenticator and then moved on to the Namespace version or class that I can import from Microsoft.
How was the initial setup?
I would rate the initial setup a ten out of ten.
It was easy.
It only took a few hours to deploy.
It's an out-of-the-box deployment, but I am not the one who manages it.
What about the implementation team?
One person was involved in the deployment.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it. It is easy to use and it fits its purpose.
Because it is scalable and reliable, I would rate Microsoft Authenticator an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Manager, Technology Delivery at a educational organization with 11-50 employees
Useful cloud services, helpful support, and reliable
Pros and Cons
- "Having access to Azure Active Directory on the cloud gives us speed and use of the latest technology. The application services are very good, such as GitHub."
- "Azure Active Directory could be made easier to use. We have large amounts of data and storage. We are looking for video files and media content for applications, we will think about options, such as cloud storage or a CDN."
What is our primary use case?
I have been working with a medication company and we are building an LMS system. We have an older version and we've decided to develop a new version of it. We are building the entire system on the cloud and using new technology. We started the process on Azure cloud, but we have later plans to try AWS, but for now, we are using Azure Active Directory.
What is most valuable?
Having access to Azure Active Directory on the cloud gives us speed and use of the latest technology. The application services are very good, such as GitHub.
What needs improvement?
Azure Active Directory could be made easier to use. We have large amounts of data and storage. We are looking for video files and media content for applications, we will think about options, such as cloud storage or a CDN.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure Active Directory for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not found any problems with the stability of Azure Active Directory.
How are customer service and support?
The support for Microsoft is good. We do have a developer support package with them. We create a ticket, they respond back, then there is some back and forth communication. They will have a call with you you and ask for a screenshot of the issue. If you have any issues, they help you. They will follow up with you, the service is not bad. There are times you have to keep following up with them but we were satisfied.
How was the initial setup?
The process of implementing Azure Active Directory is not straightforward. We are currently still setting it up because we are adding more services, setting up the pipelines, and many other things behind the scenes. It's not as simple, it is tough to implement.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Azure Active Directory and Amazon AWS, are almost the same, but most people prefer Amazon AWS because they find it's a little cheaper to some extent and an easier platform to use.
The prices we pay for the solution can vary because we are adding more services a lot of the time, the price keeps going up and down. The price has been one thousand before but we are still adding more services. The price depends on what services you are using.
We are paying for support to use this solution which is an additional cost.
What other advice do I have?
People have personal preferences in respect to choosing a cloud provider because there are many out there. In terms of support, you have to know exactly what you're looking for and get the pricing figured out. It is important to come up with a proper plan for the implementation.
I rate Azure Active Directory an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Sr Engineer IT at Hical Technologies Pvt Ltd
Enables us to see and analyze user activity and gives us a single point of control
Pros and Cons
- "It also has features that help improve security posture. The most important of these features include multifactor authentication, which is very useful for connecting to the organization, especially from outside the boundaries of the organization. That is very helpful when it comes to user security."
- "Everything should be in one package. There are so many different packages. They need to provide guidance because there are so many features and we don't know how to implement them in our organization."
What is our primary use case?
We use Azure AD for user access and control.
Our deployment is a hybrid of on-premises and cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
We can see user activity and analyze user interaction between the websites and log files. It gives us a single point of control. Overall it has helped place our security posture in a good position.
In addition, using Microsoft Endpoint Manager, new laptops can easily connect to the MDM solution, making for a very good user experience, particularly for new systems. Users just log in with their email ID and multifactor authentication. Once they are logged in, they connect automatically to the back end and that helps make the user experience for configuration very good.
What is most valuable?
Among the valuable features are MDM and Microsoft Endpoint Manager. They are very useful. Intune is built-in. And deploying to MDM has features that are very advanced. It reduces the administration work. And security-wise, it has very advanced technology.
It also has features that help improve security posture. The most important of these features include multifactor authentication, which is very useful for connecting to the organization, especially from outside the boundaries of the organization. That is very helpful when it comes to user security. And in the COVID situation, MDM is very helpful for us due to work-from-home. It enables us to very easily connect to our domain and align new systems with the end-users. That is very helpful for us.
What needs improvement?
There are some difficulties in the hybrid version, things to do with firewall security, inside the organization. They need to work on that more.
In addition, everything should be in one package. There are so many different packages. They need to provide guidance because there are so many features and we don't know how to implement them in our organization.
I'm also expecting a Windows 365 virtual desktop. I would be interested in that feature.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure Active Directory for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's 100 percent stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is unlimited.
How are customer service and technical support?
I would rate Microsoft's support at nine out of 10. It's not a 10 because in some cases they don't answer a call because they are engaged with other calls.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We tried ManageEngine but it was not useful for us. It was not up to the requirements of our organization. Azure AD is a very flexible solution. It is used in most of the organization.
How was the initial setup?
It is very easy to configure if you are configuring a completely new cloud deployment. But with the on-premises deployment, there are some difficulties due to security issues, like credentials required.
It doesn't take more time to install AD Connect on-premises. The installation itself takes one hour and, within one to two days, we can take all the data over to it. But we then need to monitor it for at least two days to make sure everything is fine.
We have almost 400 users in our AD and we have six people involved in maintaining and administering it, including me in my role as senior IT engineer. I take care of Active Directory monitoring, as well as installation and configuration. We also handle patches and upgrades. One person takes care of the billing part.
What about the implementation team?
We set it up with the help of a consultant from KPMG and our experience with him was good.
What was our ROI?
With COVID going on, part of our ROI from using the solution is that we can view the access of all the employees who are working from home. In these circumstances, that has been a notable return on our investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing, in the context of the COVID situation, is very high because the overseas aerospace industry, to which we supply products, has been hugely impacted. There are no projects coming in.
The pricing should also be less for smaller organizations.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Information Technology Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Stable and scalable, but reliable user-training is lacking
Pros and Cons
- "It's definitely both stable and scalable."
- "Overall, it's not a very intuitive solution."
What is our primary use case?
We use it mainly for our Office 365 files. The integration between the two is interesting. It's been a learning curve.
What needs improvement?
Overall, it's not a very intuitive solution.
When you have an Office 365 enterprise subscription, it comes with Azure Active Directory. We don't have a subscription to Active Directory, but our Active Directory connector puts our credentials into the Azure Active Directory. On the Office 365 side, we're also in the GCC high 365, so it's a lot more locked down. There are a few things that aren't implemented which make things frustrating. I don't blame the product necessarily, but there are links and things within there that still point back to the .com-side and not the .us-side.
There's a security portal and a compliance portal. They're being maintained, but one's being phased in and the others are being phased out. Things continue to change. I guess that's good, but it's just been a bit of a learning curve.
Our Office 365 subscriptions are tied to our on-prem domain — I have a domain admin there. With our Active Directory connector, our on-prem credentials are being pushed to the cloud. We also have domain credentials in the cloud, but there's no Office subscription tied to it, just to do the administration stuff. I moved my sync credential to have a lot more administrative privileges. Some of the documentation I was reading clearly showed that when you have this particular ability right on the Azure side, and then you have another ability on the Office side, that intuitively, the Microsoft cloud knows to give you certain rights to be able to do stuff. They're just kind of hidden in different places.
Some things are in Exchange, and some things are in the Intune section. We had a few extra light subscriptions that weren't being used, so I gave my microsoft.us admin account a whole other subscription. In the big scheme of things, it's roughly $500 a year additionally — it just seems like a lot. I didn't create a mailbox for that and I was trying to do something in Exchange online and it said I couldn't do it because I didn't have a mailbox.
You can expect a different user experience between on-prem and online. Through this cloud period, we have premiere services, we have a premiere agreement and we had an excellent engineer help us with an exchange upgrade where we needed a server. We needed an OS upgrade and we needed the exchange upgrade on the on-prem hybrid server. We asked this engineer for assistance because my CIO wanted to get rid of the on-prem exchange hybrid server, but everything that I was reading was saying that you needed to keep it as long as you had anything on-prem. We asked the engineer about it and he said, "Yeah, you want to keep that." In his opinion, it was at least going to be two years. So at least I got my CIO to stop talking about that. It's just been an interesting time in this transition between on-prem and in the cloud.
In a secure environment, a lot of this stuff is PowerShell, which is fine. It's a learning curve, but if you don't use it all time, then it's a lot of back and forth with looking at the documentation and looking at other blogs. If you're in a secure environment, the Windows RM (remote management) stuff can be blocked, and that's frustrating, too.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for roughly five months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's definitely both stable and scalable. I used to work in an environment where we had a couple of onsite engineers from Microsoft and I worked on Active Directory — I did that for four years. We did the Active Directory health check, so I actually worked with the engineer for a week and went through our Active Directory. At the time, Microsoft said it was one of the top five most complicated forests out there. We had 150,000 users and 18 domains across the globe supporting the military, so it was pretty big.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have experience with their premier support. We have a live audit coming up shortly so we don't have a lot of time to waste, waiting for support to get back to us — unless it's very critical.
How was the initial setup?
I wasn't involved in the initial setup, so I cannot comment on that.
What about the implementation team?
We used an integrator, however, we don't speak of his name anymore.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I think we're on the E3 — I think it was about 35 dollars per user. We may go up to the E5, which includes Project Online and the telecom service in TEAMS. We're in the process of rolling out Office 365 internally. We've had really great feedback that people really like TEAMS and we want to move there.
We had a roadmap meeting with Microsoft a few months ago. Some of the more accessible types of things were on the roadmap for the first quarter of this year. I know that Microsoft's working hard at listening to their customers, especially through COVID. Collaboration has changed. They also have military folks, that's why they created the GCC High. Once they got into the GCC high, they're like, "Oh, we need to collaborate a little bit more." So they've been pushing a little bit more on integration. We're not going to have that kind of clout where I am, but where I used to work, we would've.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would give Microsoft Azure Active Directory Premium a rating of four out of ten. They could really benefit from some better user-training.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Security Architect at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
Provides secure connections and authentication of people
Pros and Cons
- "Its ability to provide secure connections to people at all locations is the most valuable. It is mostly used by enterprises."
- "The onboarding process for new users can be improved. It can be made simpler for people who have never registered to Azure AD previously and need to create an account and enable the MFA. The initial setup can be made simpler for non-IT people. It should be a bit simpler to use. Unless you get certifications, such as AZ-300 and AZ-301, it is not a simple thing to use at the enterprise scale."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for the authentication of people in a hybrid configuration. In most cases,
Office 365 makes companies move to Azure Active Directory.
We have both on-premises and cloud deployments.
What is most valuable?
Its ability to provide secure connections to people at all locations is the most valuable. It is mostly used by enterprises.
What needs improvement?
The onboarding process for new users can be improved. It can be made simpler for people who have never registered to Azure AD previously and need to create an account and enable the MFA. The initial setup can be made simpler for non-IT people.
It should be a bit simpler to use. Unless you get certifications, such as AZ-300 and AZ-301, it is not a simple thing to use at the enterprise scale.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for four or five years.
How are customer service and technical support?
I never use technical support. I usually find the information on my own or through my friends at Microsoft.
How was the initial setup?
It is not complicated for me as an IT guy, but the feedback from the field or non-IT people is that it could be simpler.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
MFA and P2 licenses for two Azures for fully-enabled scenarios and features cost a lot of money. This is where Okta is trying to get the prices down.
What other advice do I have?
I have spent seven years at Microsoft, so I have a tendency to like Microsoft solutions because I know them and the philosophy behind them. Till now, Azure AD is probably the best solution for identity and security.
I also use Okta. For integration with Microsoft solutions, Office 365 Azure is just right. However, for some scenarios, such as consolidations, Okta seems to have a few advantages as compared to Active Directory. Okta also has a very interesting price.
I would rate Microsoft Azure Active Directory Premium an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Database Manager at Wartsila India Ltd
It is a helpful solution for employees working from home. We also like that it is on the cloud.
Pros and Cons
- "It is a really nice tool and we have a license for the more complex model."
- "I like the way it communicates to the cloud."
- "Whatever business requirements we needed in the past three years, users were created, with the name of the user and they were not connected with the Active Directory. We were trying to in house in three years and with directory, but we were not able to achieve it."
- "Be aware that it may not work perfectly globally yet. There are still glitches with the solution in Africa."
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case is for our business directory, we have integrated everything into Azure into the Active Directory.
How has it helped my organization?
We basically use this for Skype. We are using the cloud environment and we need the Active directory to be ticketed so if we can call and they can log in at the moment. Apart from that, we use it for video connections. If people are working from home, it is helpful that it is in the cloud. At the moment, we do not need to go for the VPN, and then we can connect. For this purpose, we use the Azure. We run quite a big business, and it is helpful with the electrodata we have used.
What is most valuable?
I like the way it communicates to the cloud.
What needs improvement?
Whatever business requirements we needed in the past three years, users were created, with the name of the user and they were not connected with the Active Directory. We were trying to in house in three years and with directory, but we were not able to achieve it. Based on that we have informed Microsoft. And now we have created the things that are connected to the cloud.
In Africa, we do not have the same bandwidth with internet speed. This slows the connectivity and it provides challenges for our business.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Yes, it is a stable product. But, sometimes we had problems due to the network. We are running in more than 24 countries. In Africa we were having issues, but I would say that 80% of our users are happy as a result of us switching to Azure.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of the product is fine.
How are customer service and technical support?
First, we create a ticket. Then it is assigned to the technical support team. Afterwards, there is a number assigned to the request by the Microsoft team. We then upload the report of the log, or the case that is required. We then wait for the solution. Then, we can test it and implement the correction for the solution.
How was the initial setup?
It was a bit complex. We initially had an issue with our IP address, but it was resolved.
What was our ROI?
I believe that this solution has simplified our work environment. We have over 13,000 users and this is very helpful to connect everything.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is a really nice tool and we have a license for the more complex model. It is not too expensive.
What other advice do I have?
Be aware that it may not work perfectly globally yet. There are still glitches with the solution in Africa.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Lead Systems Engineer at a non-profit with 1,001-5,000 employees
An easy to use solution to manage single sign-on
Pros and Cons
- "The product is easy to use."
- "Microsoft Entra ID should improve workload identities. It should set conditional access."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for single sign-on.
What is most valuable?
The product is easy to use.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Entra ID should improve workload identities. It should set conditional access.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the product for six years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
My company has 5000 end users. I rate the product's scalability a nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The tool's support is not good. However, the documentation is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Negative
How was the initial setup?
The tool's deployment is easy.
What about the implementation team?
We relied on two resources for deployment.
What was our ROI?
I have seen ROI with the tool's use.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution was fairly priced the last time I checked the costs.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft Entra ID has helped us save money. It also helped us save 70 percent of the time. I rate it a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Specialist at Global Biotech Products
Improves security and is easy to use for admins
Pros and Cons
- "The security features, multi-factor authentication, and service management features are valuable."
- "One thing that they need to improve is the cost."
What is our primary use case?
We use it as the Active Directory on the cloud. We have the systems on-premises and on the cloud. We connect the AD data to Azure. We have a single sign-on service on multi-cloud. We use the single sign-on feature on, for example, AWS.
In terms of the version, we use it as a service, and it is always updated to the latest version.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Entra ID helps to synchronize information from on-premise Active Directory. There are security features such as multifactor authentication. We can also use a single sign-on to connect with the other application on the cloud.
It helps our admins to have more security. It is helpful for authentication methods, log checking, and audit trails in case of security concerns. However, it has not saved them time.
Microsoft Entra ID has not helped to save our organization money, but it helps to improve security.
What is most valuable?
The security features, multi-factor authentication, and service management features are valuable.
Microsoft Entra ID provides a single pane of glass for managing user access. Its menus are properly categorized, and they make it easy to use for our work and processes.
What needs improvement?
One thing that they need to improve is the cost. It already has a lot of features, but more protection of the identity would be beneficial for customers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. In our environment, we mostly have Microsoft solutions such as Microsoft 365, email, OneDrive, SharePoint, Power Apps, etc. Entra ID is deployed across multiple locations for multiple users. We have a Microsoft 365 license for all employees. We have two admins who take care of configuration and monitoring for security and data loss prevention.
We have plans to increase its usage.
How are customer service and support?
I have not contacted their support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use any other similar solution previously.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in its deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is costly.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others. Overall, I would rate Microsoft Entra ID an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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