We use the synchronization service the company provides for data synchronization. We're customers of Microsoft and I'm the company manager.
Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Any action requires logging into the server which creates delays; powerful synchronization tool
Pros and Cons
- "Very powerful synchronization tool."
- "All actions require logging in to the server."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The synchronization tool is very powerful and when compared to other vendors the license fees are great - it comes free with the Windows Server license. It's a great product and works like a framework with very good flexibility. the SQL Server connections can be like SSL and I find that very useful.
What needs improvement?
We always need to log into the servers to do anything which means that the product is not very user friendly because we can't invoke it. You can't open it from your laptop, for example. If someone needs to carry out a joining or some other functionality which doesn't require them to be an admin but just a regular user doing something else, they need to log in to the server and we need to provide privileges for that.
The other issue is the SQL Server. The solution is tightly tied to the SQL Server, which means it does not have any compatibility with the AWS RDS and it doesn't support the SQL Server RDS version. It also means there is a very high dependency on the SQL and for that reason instead of RDS we need to set up our own SQL Server on EC2 and I think that is something which they need to change. There's no compatability for Azure to manage the SQL Servers. It doesn't need to be vendor specific, but it should be able to support whichever database is provided by the vendor.
I'd like to see more connectivity in the synchronization. What they currently have should be expanded. You should be able to connect to Azure AD Connect and get more cloud support.
And again, the program should be able to connect to any of the cloud SQL.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution since 2008.
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Microsoft Identity Manager
February 2025

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The Identity Manager portal has a lot of issues with SharePoint and we need to buy a SharePoint license too. If the company is not at all into Microsoft it's very difficult. Getting version upgrades is very difficult for the portal. We use automated scripts for maintenance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In terms of scalability, they don't have a proper roadmap. It's one of the disadvantages of the solution and one of the reasons we're looking for an alternative. The license we have is user-based. Everything is automatic. We don't need to go or do anything it's like automatically synchronized.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is quite straightforward. It took us about a month. Our internal team was responsible for the implementation ourselves.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a five out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Microsoft Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Has a good interface and integrates well with the Microsoft ecosystem to easily see who's accessing what
Pros and Cons
- "Its interface and the fact that it's integrated with everything in the Microsoft ecosystem are the most valuable features."
- "The prices can always be improved, and the integration with the software from other vendors could use an improvement, especially if you are using something like Oracle for a database, SAP for ERP, or something like that."
What is most valuable?
Its interface and the fact that it's integrated with everything in the Microsoft ecosystem are the most valuable features. It integrates well with the operating systems, other apps, and servers, and it's easy to see exactly who's accessing what and so on.
What needs improvement?
The prices can always be improved, and the integration with the software from other vendors could use an improvement, especially if you are using something like Oracle for a database, SAP for ERP, or something like that.
For how long have I used the solution?
Internally, we have been using this solution for about four years. We are using its latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I'd rate Microsoft Identity Manager a 9 out of 10 in terms of stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I'd rate Microsoft Identity Manager a 10 out of 10 in terms of scalability. We have around 500 users.
How are customer service and support?
I'd rate their support a 9 out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We've been using the previous versions of Microsoft Identity Manager before this. It was on-premises. So, we've had it implemented for some time, and then we upgraded it to the next version. Overall, we've had it for about 10 years.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't participate in its implementation.
What was our ROI?
We noticed some ROI because the people in our IT department have a lot more time to do other things instead of constantly watching the infrastructure. If something is wrong, they get a notification, and they don't have to stay up 24/7 with their eyes on what's going on with the infrastructure. There is about 15% ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The prices can always be improved. I'd rate it a 4 out of 10 in terms of pricing.
What other advice do I have?
I'd recommend doing a proof of concept and watching out for the prerequisites and what it needs to function properly so that you don't start an implementation and find out that you need something else, such as SQL Server for a database or an analytics space. Read the requirements carefully and start with a proof of concept to see exactly how the people from the IT department are working with this solution and whether it would help them. That's because if they are not comfortable with the solution, they will use more time to understand it than to monitor the infrastructure.
Overall, I'd rate Microsoft Identity Manager an 8 out of 10.
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.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Identity Manager
February 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Identity Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
839,422 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Head of IT at TT Systems
Scalable product with good functionality for identity management
Pros and Cons
- "The product allows us to track the logins easily."
- "The product's pricing and integration features could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Identity Manager for application identification and single sign-on processes for different applications.
What is most valuable?
The product allows us to track the logins easily. We can find out if someone is trying to attack Boot Guard.
What needs improvement?
The product's pricing and integration features could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Microsoft Identity Manager for a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is 99.9% stable. Although, sometimes, internal configurations or improvements made in the vendor's system may cause an impact on our systems as well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate the product’s scalability a ten out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
I rate the product’s initial setup process an eight out of ten. We encounter difficulties integrating legacy systems with the product in Azure environment. It takes a few weeks to complete the process.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is an expensive tool.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft Identity Manager has good functionality, but its pricing is too high. I rate it an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Secure on-premise and cloud-based workloads provide seamless authentication
Pros and Cons
- "The feature that I find most valuable is the security layer of the identity and access management solution. The ability to secure on-premises and cloud-based workloads and to provide seamless authentication into hybrid workloads, which is also both on-premises and in cloud environments."
- "In terms of the identity and access management solution for on-premises environment, I think Microsoft needs to eliminate or minimize the number of workloads for the solution to run in on-premises environment."
What is our primary use case?
We are currently using a hybrid identity access management solution. We've got an on-premise ADFS that is running a Server 2016 ADFS farm. That is coupled to a Microsoft Identity Management Server 2016, which is then coupled to Azure Active Directory as the cloud-based identity and access management solution.
How has it helped my organization?
We're a partner and a reseller. We're a Microsoft Gold Partner and Cloud Platform, and we have achieved the Microsoft competency at the highest level due to our commitment to delivering successful solutions in both on-premises and cloud-based environments. So we are a Microsoft delivery partner and a Tier 2 reseller. In other words, we're reselling Microsoft licenses.
We're also a deployment partner for Microsoft services, meaning that we can deploy services and migrate customers and design solutions and be involved in adoption and innovation programs on behalf of Microsoft. So we're a big partner in Microsoft solutions.
What is most valuable?
The feature that I find most valuable is the security layer of the identity and access management solution. The ability to secure on-premise and cloud-based workloads and to provide seamless authentication into hybrid workloads. In addition to cloud-based authentication, we've also got advanced adaptive authentication with a privileged identity management feature for protecting identities.
What needs improvement?
In terms of the identity and access management solution for an on-premise environment, I think Microsoft needs to eliminate or minimize the number of workloads for the solution to run in an on-premise environment.
For example, you need more instances, more servers on-premise for the whole solution to completely function. You need ADFS servers, farms application proxies, a MIM server, SQL databases, and Cluster databases, which leads to more costs in running and maintaining the solution.
I think Microsoft should minimize the number of instances in terms of hardware and software.
In the next edition, I prefer that Microsoft would start looking at giving the solution the ability to integrate on-premise workloads, specifically Linux on-premise workloads, with the cloud-based identity and access management solution, which is Microsoft Azure Active Directory. Currently, the provided Microsoft identity and access management solution does not have the capability to integrate with a Linux or Unix environment and the cloud-based Azure Active Directory.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for over five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I'm satisfied with the stability. It is quite stable these days because Microsoft updates all of its identity management solution technologies monthly. In terms of stability, I'm quite impressed.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I'm not quite impressed with the scalability of the solution, because you need more workloads in terms of scalability. For small businesses, I wouldn't recommend the Microsoft identity and management solution for on-premises environments for SMBs, because they won't see any return on investment since they will still need to invest in hardware, which is quite costly, and also in software. Maintaining the solution in general also requires more workload and instances to operate, so I wouldn't recommend on-premises environment for small businesses.
That is why most of my customers are enterprise customers. They will be best with a complex environment. Specifically, they will have hybrid environments that are running the on-premises MIM, Microsoft Identity Management.
For cloud-based identity and access management solution for Microsoft, specifically the Microsoft Azure Active Directory, it's an excellent solution for small businesses. It's excellent and it's easy to scale because you don't need to be an enterprise business to protect your applications with Azure Active Directory. It's quite good for cloud-based environments.
How are customer service and technical support?
They provide excellent support. Now when you log a call with them they engage with you until they resolve the solution. They give you a dedicated engineer, a PSE specifically, to come and correct any issues.
How was the initial setup?
To be honest, the on-premise configuration is complex. You need to know what you are doing to successfully deploy the solution. You need components such as an SSL certificate. Also, you can't use a self-signed certificate. You need a certificate with a publicly known CA, such as GoDaddy or DigiCert. Additionally, you need to configure your application proxies, all your ADFS and MIM servers, and also the database servers correctly. It's quite complex, you need to know what you're doing in terms of getting the solution up to speed.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to someone implementing this solution would be to implement the on-premise identity and access management solution if they've got more than 1,000 identities on-premise. I strongly recommend implementing an on-premise environment in that case, or if they are a financial institution, such as a bank or underwriting institution. They also should implement the hybrid deployment, which means there would be an integration of the identity management solution sitting on-premises and a combination of the Azure Active Directory as an identity and access management in the cloud-based environment.
For small businesses, I would recommend that they implement the cloud-based identity and access management solution, leveraging the provided Azure Active Directory by Microsoft.
I'd give Microsoft Identity Manager a rating of nine out of ten. I'm giving it a nine because I'm looking at the hybrid scenario and more strongly on the cloud-based identity and access management solution for Microsoft. It has a lot of features; it has all the bells and whistles of identity and access management, such as adaptive MFA, intelligent graph security API, and being powered by Microsoft Graph API. Also, the multi-factor authentication is easy to set up, with a single button. For Windows environments, you just install one application API, called AD Connect, to sync all the on-premises identity to the Microsoft Azure Active Directory.
The reason why I'm not giving it a ten is that they still need to upgrade their solution to enable a new feature to accommodate Linux and Unix identity directory specifically to integrate with Microsoft Azure Active Directory. It seems as if the company does not want to provide that capability because now they are focusing on growing their own Microsoft Azure cloud, which means they are forcing all those customers that are running the Linux or Unix environment to come and migrate or lift and shift all their Linux or Unix workloads into Microsoft Azure. I think they are focusing on growing their own environment, which is why they are not providing this capability.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller and partner.
Engineer at Kessler
Easy provisioning of Outlook mailboxes with a high ROI
Pros and Cons
- "MIM's most valuable feature is its connectivity with Exchange."
- "MIM's reliability could be improved."
How has it helped my organization?
MIM allows for easier provisioning of Outlook mailboxes.
What is most valuable?
MIM's most valuable feature is its connectivity with Exchange.
What needs improvement?
MIM's reliability could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
MIM's stability is excellent.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
MIM's scalability is excellent.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft's technical support is excellent.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used SailPoint previously, but MIM is cheaper and easier to administer.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was complex - I would rate the setup experience as two out of five.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed using an in-house team, which took six months.
What was our ROI?
MIM gives a high return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
MIM is free with a Microsoft Azure license.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated SailPoint and NetIQ.
What other advice do I have?
I would give MIM a rating of ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
Engineering Applications Team Lead at Arcadis
A simple and stable product that provides excellent integrations and saves time
Pros and Cons
- "The product’s simplicity and integration are valuable."
- "The security could be slightly improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for authentication management.
What is most valuable?
The product’s simplicity and integration are valuable. All the accounts are linked to Microsoft.
What needs improvement?
The security could be slightly improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the tool’s stability an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There are more than 100 users in our organization. I rate the tool’s scalability an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
The support team is quite knowledgeable. Getting a support person is quite challenging, though.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
I rate the ease of setup a seven out of ten. The solution is deployed on the cloud. It took us a few days to deploy it. Multiple business, technical, and security teams are involved in the deployment process.
What was our ROI?
The product helps us save 10 to 20% of our time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is expensive. I rate the pricing an eight out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the tool to others. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Scalable and stable but could be more intuitive
Pros and Cons
- "It is a stable product. You will experience some issues with it, but it's a good product."
- "The product could be more friendly for non-native English speakers. It would also be better if it were more intuitive and visually attractive."
What is our primary use case?
I have an ongoing project with my clients that encompasses research.
Hypbrid cloud is the major case, also some on Mobile Application developing.
How has it helped my organization?
Customer point of view, MIM work as / or together with SSO to extend the authentication, empowers orgnization agility by adopting new apps faster
What is most valuable?
Identity
Security
Access Managment is the three I can think of. why? they transpass the hybrid barrier, and it's from Microsoft, fits in M365 applicaiton well
What needs improvement?
The product could be more friendly for non-native English speakers. It would also be better if it were more intuitive and visually attractive.
Microsoft Identity Manager was designed for the on-premise environment. If you want to implement a cloud-based application, so you will run into some problems, including the transport of the token from the applicant, the application side, the mobile application side through the firewall, and the transfer to the backend for authentication. That part is not quite convenient. It is very slow.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for a few years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is a stable product. You will experience some issues with it, but it's a good product. Identity is a complex thing, multifactor authentication is yet another, what add on this complexity is the wild Internet, if you focus enough,MIM or AAD will be you best choice.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Identity Manager is a scalable product. It allows for multiple users that can work together.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
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?
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Sr. Solution Architect at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
A scalable solution that is easy to set up and offers conditional access
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable and most interesting feature is the conditional access."
- "The information that is available for the Active Directory portal is segregated here and there."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case is for the single migration of the user from on-premises to Azure Active Directory in the cloud. It is also used for the Microsoft authentication application for mobile devices.
We authenticate on the smart device back to back so they can access their emails and other applications.
We are planning to use this for the Windows 10 authentication as well as directly from the Azure Active Directory.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable and most interesting feature is the conditional access.
It can provide a low formulation combination based on the extra files that we can work on to verify the solution.
What needs improvement?
The information that is available for the Active Directory portal is segregated here and there. It's not in one single location where you can see, for example, all of the security features and maybe the customization feature.
In the next release of this solution, I would like to see the manageability, the web-based access to the portal, and the reconfiguration of things to be made simpler and more straightforward.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been selling this solution for the last five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable, but it's maybe a bit more challenging than I have seen in the last five years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable. We have plans to increase our usage in the future.
The number of users varies. There can be anywhere from 10,000 to maybe more than 100,000 users, who are made up of IT, administrators, managers, and architects.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have been in touch with technical support. They are good. Normally they are available to assist and they are knowledgable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Our previous system was based on an on-premises solution. Now, the on-premises products are integrated with the cloud, which is what made the difference.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and can be deployed in one week.
What about the implementation team?
It was installed by my internal team.
What other advice do I have?
I would say that it's the best solution on the market and I would go ahead with it.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner

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