Google Cloud Identity is a unified identity, access, app, and endpoint management (IAM/EMM) platform that gives users access to apps with single sign-on, provides multi-factor authentication to protect users and company data, and enforces policies for personal and corporate devices and endpoints.
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Okta
Score 8.9 out of 10
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Okta is an enterprise grade identity management service, built in the cloud. IT can manage access across any application, person or device. Whether the people are employees, partners or customers or whether the applications are in the cloud, on premises or on a mobile device, Okta helps IT become more secure and maintain compliance. The Okta service provides directory services, single sign-on, authentication, provisioning, workflow, and built in reporting. ment systems.
For example, if the system you are building is a general application service that does not primarily focus on ID management, it would be wise to use a service like Google's rather than developing your own IDaaS. While there may be cases where an IDaaS other than Google's is acceptable, Google is likely one of the best solutions when considering user recognition and ease of use. On the other hand, Gmail addresses are commonly used for other purposes, and users may not pay much attention to password management, so you should avoid using them for systems that require security. To strengthen security, you should consider making multi-factor authentication mandatory, etc.
It has extensive compatibility and rich feature set of integrating with a wide array of core systems and SaaS platforms. Daily I utilize Okta's user-friendly central hub to simplify access the numerous applications we utilize within my company (Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, Salesforce, Microsoft Office 365, among many others.)
This time, I investigated it in advance, and it worked as expected, so I don't have any specific ideas for improvement.
Additionally, if we were using another IDAAS, it would have been beneficial to have knowledge on how to integrate it with Google tools, along with some relevant case studies.
I'm not sure it's really a room for improvement thing, but due to the granularity offered by Okta, sometimes it can be challenging to find exactly what you're looking for.
There was an instance in which we had issues getting SAML configured for an application. I feel this challenge was mostly user error (on our part) because we didn't realize the SAML instructions were SPECIFIC to each app integration and changed (codes) each time. We attempted to mirror the settings/configurations of an existing app (same app, but different domain). I think having a note somewhere that indicated that the instructions were unique to each integration would have saved us a bit of time. Again, I'm not sure this is really an issue with Okta though, more of a user learning curve thing.
Sometimes searching for things is a challenge (without the "Rockstar" add-in). For example, if you have a user group called "Okta_users_everyone", searching for "everyone" will not find it. You have to search for the beginning of the object name (not just any part of it). The ability to search partial or wildcard would greatly enhance search functionality.
Okta has a passion to provide secure and scalable identity solution. Their passion has come across as advocacy in a way that has deepened my knowledge of the field of authentication. I took identity for granted before but after seeing features such as external authentication I know that Okta can enable my business to reach new heights
I chose Google because I thought it would be the best fit, but I didn't fully consider other cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, etc.), so I rated it 8. We assume that current Japanese users are familiar with Google, because we feel that there are far more people with Google email addresses than those with IDs on other cloud services.
The Okta Identity Cloud advertises 4 9's of reliability and I would go as far to say that it may even do better than that. As a true Global organization that operates in just about every region of the world, we have yet to have an issue with The Okta Identity Cloud that has impacted our business operations.
From my perspective, for the things that my group uses it for, Okta is very fast. It is as least as fast as the local password database methods that it replaces on our campus enterprise services. I do not believe that it slows anything down at all. In fact, not having to think too much about the login, because they all look the same, probably speeds things up somewhat.
We've had a few support cases over the years and every case has been handled by the Okta support team beautifully. We received clear answers to questions we had regarding setup and even were provided simple to follow guides on how to setup their product to use with custom applications.
We adopted Google Cloud Identity as an additional feature because it allowed us to integrate with it using multi-factor authentication. The IBM Cloud platform remains valid, and we have no plans to discontinue its use for identity management. From the user's perspective, we simply added more authentication options. This also ensures we are prepared for future use when multi-factor authentication becomes available for user apps on the IBM Cloud.
With respective to user interface and license cost, we thought The Okta Identity Cloud was better than other tools for use. Their customization of license was another reason for us to go with The Okta Identity Cloud over other tools.
Being a cloud native application, The Okta Identity Cloud is extremely scalable and easy to setup. By integrating into existing directories and applications via standard techniques and protocols, it is very easy to both initially setup and add additional users as required. Once all the necessary integrations are setup, it's a simple rinse and repeat process to onboard additional users (which can be automated with imports as well)
From a business perspective, there were two steps.
First, we switched from our in-house ID management system to a cloud service. This allowed us to focus our development resources on application development.
At the same time, we were able to localize the handling of personal information, which resulted in increased efficiency in management aspects, including handling external inquiries, and in the development of encryption.
The second step was adding Google Cloud Identity as an option.
This allows more users to easily use our services. It can be said that this has improved user convenience.
I expect Google to accommodate future changes in authentication requirements, such as biometric authentication.
