Item: Microsoft Entra ID
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

For an organization that is by default not in the Active Directory system, this tool allowed us to bring fresh approach in managing our resources, be it endpoints, users, GPOs and users' grouping via OUs.We are using the Microsoft Entra ID for 200 of our users that are subscribed to M365 product suite and manage them from here.
In what aspects are this tool being used in our organization ?
1. Access provisioning to certain resources
2. Access decommissioning to those resources
3. M365 Administration including OneDrive for business
4. Endpoint protections definition and orchestration
5. Sentinel protection

All in short, we are using as the door, both entry and exit, to manage our Microsoft's environment, there are still so much can be done with this tool

Pros and Cons

Access Provisioning and Access Decommissioning
Access Management
Policy Enforcement
Users grouping

As with other Microsoft Product, this tool really works well within Microsoft's ecosystem
Pricing is quite hefty for smaller organization

Return on Investment

Managing all of our licenses, all 200 of them are done via one door, this removes the hassle of provisioning and de-provisioning from multiple resources, if there are 10 different resources, with one central Identity Management, it will take less then a minute to do administration, instead 1 minute for each resources
We never experiencing what we call as over provisioning despite the onboarding and off-boarding, as the tool accommodates and allows us to use fixed number of licenses, so there was never an instance where over billed happened

Deployment

We are on the cloud based, as we are moving away from on premise infrastructures, this comes with the organization's policy where WFA is allowed and will not go anytime soon. Having it sitting in the cloud actually makes easier for us to manage and focus more on important things, instead of worrying about the status and loads of our infrastructures

Multi-App Security

We are only using for all of our Microsoft suites applications, as we have several IAM in our organizations, Microsoft Entra ID is optimized for 200 people that are in the license,

Microsoft Entra ID is being used to manage our MS Teams, Yammer, Sharepoint Online, M365 Suite, One Drive for business , Sentinel etc, as we don't have any on-premise apps, there is no reason to explore the possibilities

End User Experience

There is no complaint from our users, despite they are in WFA environment, it is easier for them to manage their needs via our servicedesk as our users know there are several groups that can access certain resources and there are groups that are not allowed to, with enforcing approvals, this access management is easier for the team

Alternatives Considered

The Okta Identity Cloud

We are using Microsoft Entra ID for the 200 licenses we have and we use okta for 400 user and the rest is in Keycloak. From user's perspective, the Microsoft Entra ID is mile ahead of the other two as it is built for that purpose, from the Support perspective, it is also much easier for us to manage, even from compliance perspective. The other two tools are already there before we subscribed to this product, but if it is a choice, we will use Microsoft Entra ID in all of our resources

Key Insights

Do you think Microsoft Entra ID delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft Entra ID's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft Entra ID live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Microsoft Entra ID go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Microsoft Entra ID again?

Yes

Other Software Used

The Okta Identity Cloud

Likelihood to Recommend

There are organizations out there that are choosing not to use AD, be it on premise or cloud based like Microsoft Entra ID, but the system has been around for very long time and it is only bringing an easier management of resources, more secure environment and easier to navigate changes ahead. so this system will be giving a great ROI to them that are adapting to this tool, as it will just integrate great with other product suite like Teams, Yammer, Onedrive, Sharepoint online etc. A dedicated team needs to be managing it to ensure it is doing what it suppose to be done and it is giving the potential values it has

For those organizations that are opting out from these, The budget reason will be most likely the case, as it will not be giving the ROI where that organization is already without AD in the first place, hence the migration will be a pain process

Easier Management for the IT Folks and Transparent Process for our Users

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Entra ID