I use Azure Active Directory for user credential login, control my users with end-user policies, and apply my conditions.
IT Manager at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
A stable and scalable a cloud-based identity and access management service that can be used on-premises
Pros and Cons
- "I like that you can run it on-premises. I also like that I can use Azure at any time as the main one."
- "ESAE management, especially the admin tools, could be improved. It should be built in by the vendor, and I shouldn't have to add patches or updates to connect to my domain directly. It should be added by default. The price could be better."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Active Directory helps me all the time. When users want to log in, it shows me this information with a time and date. It also shows me which computer they are going to use. I can track my users at any time.
What is most valuable?
I like that you can run it on-premises. I also like that I can use Azure at any time as the main one.
What needs improvement?
ESAE management, especially the admin tools, could be improved. It should be built in by the vendor, and I shouldn't have to add patches or updates to connect to my domain directly. It should be added by default. The price could be better.
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For how long have I used the solution?
I have been dealing with this product for almost 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure Active Directory is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure Active Directory is a scalable product.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service and support are perfect, especially when I'm dealing with my local third-party Microsoft vendor, who always supports me at any time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Azure Active Directory is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to potential users.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Azure Active Directory a ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Service Architect at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Adds a valuable extra layer to data security; very functional
Pros and Cons
- "The solution adds an extra layer of security."
- "Lacks integration between applications and phones."
What is our primary use case?
My primary use case is to access our company resources. I'm a solution architect and we are customers of Authenticator.
What is most valuable?
I use this solution on a daily basis and it's a very functional app. that adds an extra layer when it comes to securing the data owned by my company. It's quite easy to deploy.
What needs improvement?
I'd like to see integration between applications and phones included in the solution. It would also be helpful to have support for the kind of integration you see between Facebook and Google, support with protocols from one application on the internet or SaaS to another one. I've seen several kinds of applications in the area of risky behavior that are a little better in other solutions.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution always works, it's stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable, we have around 40,000 users in our company.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used other products but Authenticator is included in the Microsoft license suite package so the decision to go with it was commercial.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is connected with Intune in the cloud so implementation is very easy and took me less than five minutes. Everything is updated via Microsoft cloud delivery.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution eight out of 10.
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 does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Managing Director at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Cloud-based, simple installation, and accessible from anywhere at any time
Pros and Cons
- "What I like is that I can go anywhere, at any time, and to any client premise, and I can simply log in to the admin panel and can serve any of my clients."
- "The main issue is that because Active Directory is in the cloud, it will inevitably be dependent on internet connectivity."
What is our primary use case?
The active directory on Microsoft Azure is similar to the corresponding system for an on-premise active directory.
What is most valuable?
I have no issues with Azure Active Directory.
Our users and clients are migrating from on-premises solutions to cloud-based solutions. As a result, they do not require on-premise service.
What I like is that I can go anywhere, at any time, and to any client premise, and I can simply log in to the admin panel and can serve any of my clients.
Instead of using Team Viewer, you connect to their local service, which is centralized. I have got the Microsoft exchange, and have access to Microsoft Azure. I can check the workstations, and perhaps soon I will be using Microsoft Intune and the Microsoft Defender enterprise. Even if I am not on the premises, I will be able to check and secure my workstations.
What needs improvement?
I don't have any major problems. I don't use it in a way that requires a lot of resources.
The main issue is that because Active Directory is in the cloud, it will inevitably be dependent on internet connectivity.
It would be beneficial if Microsoft could make it lighter so that it requires fewer resources.
Better pricing will help us market it more than having it on-premises.
For how long have I used the solution?
Azure Active Directory was implemented one year ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
For the time being it has been stable. I have a small number of clients, and no hybrid system. We chose those clients with a maximum of twenty users. We don't want large clients so that we can implement one system in one location, and roll it out the same way to all of the clients.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In total, I have 10 clients, five of those are now users of Azure Active Directory.
By the end of the year, we hope to have all of our clients using Microsoft Azure.
New clients are immediately placed on Microsoft Azure.
How are customer service and support?
The Microsoft team in Mauritius has been extremely helpful in implementing systems and resolving issues. We have small clients who have not been faced with many issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We deploy the M365 business premium services and a couple of months ago we started to implement 365 Defender. It is a cloud-based solution.
We're new to it. For the time being, we are only using the antivirus component. We haven't used Intune yet. We are not using the entire package. We are only now going to put such solutions into action.
Microsoft Azure was implemented a year ago, and is only used for the creation of users and emails, group emails, and shared boxes, but my clients are mostly lawyers. So, the primary uses are online email exchange and word processing.
We are trying to implement Microsoft Azure more and more.
Azure is the central point. Microsoft Azure is replacing my on-premises service.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is rather straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We had some assistance from the local Microsoft team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis.
When I calculated the price, it appeared to be nearly the same as the on-premise server.
Better pricing would attract customers to use the cloud.
What other advice do I have?
We haven't had to deal with any major recovery issues.
We have had Excel and Word files that were simply recoverable. We backup the server, but nothing more serious than that.
We are Microsoft centric solution providers.
We have very small clients, companies with 20 to 30 users of Excel, Word, and the internet. We deploy Microsoft 365 platforms, not much in the way of large software applications.
I would recommend this solution to others, and I am already promoting it.
I am suggesting that all of my clients migrate from on-premise active directory to a Microsoft view because, with the current COVID, many of our users work from home. I just wanted to point out that almost all of our users work from home. They are currently working on the roaster. Half of the company works from home, while the other half works on-site. Having active and SharePoint, is really assisting them in working from home.
I would rate Azure Active Directory a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Info Security Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Allows us to keep everything on the cloud for business continuity
Pros and Cons
- "We haven't had any problems with stability. Everything works fine."
- "Reading documentation could be simplified. Technical support could also be faster."
What is our primary use case?
We use Office 365. We have different licenses because our users are using mail, mail strategies, Microsoft Teams, and the Office package. We use a lot of different services. We use Microsoft Intune, which is connected to Azure and other services like Conditional Access, which we also use. Microsoft Defender is another one, which is also connected to Azure.
The solution is deployed fully in the cloud through Microsoft Azure. We are using the latest version. The solution is on cloud, so we cannot control the version we're using. That is controlled by Microsoft.
What is most valuable?
We are satisfied with this solution because we use all of its features.
What needs improvement?
Reading documentation could be simplified. Technical support could also be faster.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used Azure Active Directory for several years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We haven't had any problems with stability. Everything works fine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't had any issues with scalability.
We have approximately 500 users in our organization. We have plans to increase the number of people in our company and products because we're fully integrated with Microsoft and we will continue to use this solution and new ones.
We are an IT company, so the people who are using this solution are software developers.
How are customer service and support?
I'm not satisfied with technical support. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give it a 2.
Sometimes it is the first-line support, and it takes a lot of time to explain the problem. One problem can be discussed in one month. I even have some examples in the past where I created a request, my problem wasn't resolved, I found solution on the internet. It was faster than receiving a reply from Microsoft.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we used Active Directory on-premise. We also used different products from different vendors.
We switched to Microsoft because it is in the cloud and because of business continuity. For our company, it is better to use everything on the cloud than to keep it on-premise.
It's also better to go to the cloud because of security reasons.
How was the initial setup?
On a scale of 1 to 5, I would rate the difficulty of setup as a 3. It's of medium difficulty.
With setup, sometimes there are difficulties with reading documentation because if you want to implement something, you have to go to Microsoft's instructions, and you will be redirected from one page to another. After reading about just one topic, you have to open 20 new tabs. Every time, you have to jump between instructions, from one instruction to another. I don't like this approach, personally. It should be done in one document, and the instructions could be a little bit simpler for the user.
We implemented Microsoft step-by-step, because first we only used the Office package. Then we started using the Intune solution. Later, we implemented Microsoft Defender, and continued working with Conditional Access. It is not like one setup, so it's a continuous process. It depends on organization scale and the needs from organization.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed the solution ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is fine. It's a good value for the money compared with other solutions.
I cannot provide the exact numbers because we use a different type of licensing. For Azure, we have an Office 365 license. We also have a Microsoft Gold partnership and some products are included in one license.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.
The product is really good, but it's up to each company to decide.
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 does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Executive Director at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Gives users seamless integration with many products, streamlining user experience, helping them get things done
Pros and Cons
- "The single sign-on across multiple platforms is really the true advantage here. That gives you one ID and password for access to all your systems. You don't need to manage a plethora of different user IDs and passwords to all the systems that you're going to access."
- "The downside is that we now have all our eggs in one basket with Microsoft. We have this great authentication and single sign-on, but if Microsoft has an outage in North America or globally, on Outlook or Teams, we're dead in the water... We get some type of hiccup once a quarter."
What is our primary use case?
Active Directory is used for authentication and provisioning for users and devices and granting them access.
We're in a hybrid mode where we still have on-prem controllers as well.
How has it helped my organization?
The beauty is that it affords us more of an anytime, anywhere operation because we're not tied to an on-prem solution. From a customer experience standpoint, users don't really care about what goes on behind the scenes technically. They just want their lives to be easier. Now that they can access Office 365 globally, anywhere from any device, that's huge. That helps productivity and gives them the ability to get work done. And having to manage fewer passwords and user IDs is another true advantage.
The solution gives users seamless integration to all these products and streamlines the user experience. That's definitely been a pro.
In this completely upside-down world that we're in these days, with most people elsewhere and very few people in the office, it gives us tremendous flexibility for keeping people productive and providing them with access to the data and tools that they need to perform their jobs. It has given us the opportunity to move to this more mobile environment.
Also, the SSO aspect improves our security posture because people aren't writing down or creating a list of all their passwords. Now they only have to remember one. It has definitely made it easier for them to manage. In addition, we've introduced MFA so that whenever you sign in, you're also challenged for approval on your mobile device. That adds to the security.
What is most valuable?
The single sign-on across multiple platforms is really the true advantage here. That gives you one ID and password for access to all your systems. You don't need to manage a plethora of different user IDs and passwords to all the systems that you're going to access.
What needs improvement?
The downside is that we now have all our eggs in one basket with Microsoft. We have this great authentication and single sign-on, but if Microsoft has an outage in North America or globally, on Outlook or Teams, we're dead in the water. There is no drop-back-and-punt. There is no "Plan B." The bottom line is that if their services go down, our productivity goes with it. Working with them when we have outages can be very frustrating. We get some type of hiccup once a quarter.
We get service notifications from them all the time that the services are under investigation or that there is some type of issue. More than the headache of not completely understanding the severity, we have to make sure that we communicate with our end-users. We get to the point where we're potentially "crying wolf." We're telling them there's a problem but some people don't have the problem. Then they get to the point where they just ignore our communication.
Outages can last hours, but never more than a day. They can be regional outages where one area is affected and other areas aren't. The advantage is that it could be evening or night in the area that is down, so it's less impactful.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Azure Active Directory at my current company for just about four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
My impression of the stability is mixed. If it were really working correctly, it should be able to digest these outages by rerouting us to other areas. But that doesn't happen.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have a global footprint, so it scales globally, no doubt.
How are customer service and support?
Tech support from Microsoft has been cumbersome for Office 365. We don't really get the answers we want in a timely manner. There are times that we get the runaround, and that's the downside to being an early adopter and being on the leading edge. Sometimes we have to sometimes QA and work out issues with their products, which I'd rather not have to do.
A larger shop, like a Goldman Sachs or a JP Morgan, is not going to adopt this stuff until it's mature. And that means that smaller companies, like ours, have worked out the kinks.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before AAD we used the on-prem version with on-prem controllers. We went with AAD because there was no other option. We had their on-prem solution, and in the evolution directed by our CTO, everything is moving to the cloud. The next logical next step was to move to AAD.
How was the initial setup?
I didn't set it up, the guys who work for me did it. I think it was fairly complex because we're about to go through an acquisition and we are going to merge them into our tenant. We have to outsource some of that work to a third party to assist us with that because we don't have the in-house skills.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Costs are constantly being managed. We don't really have a choice. It's the one shop in town. If you want this, you have to pay for it. We have an E5 license, which I believe is the most expensive license.
What other advice do I have?
From an AAD standpoint, I don't think we've had any issues. The data replicates correctly and no one really has a problem with their credentials from AAD. It's meeting our expectations.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Network and Computer Systems Administrator at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
It's compatible with a lot of vendors, and we have multiple products integrated with it
Pros and Cons
- "The best thing about Active Directory is its compatibility. It works with lots of third-party vendors. We're using multiple products, and they're all integrated with our Active Directory."
- "Active Directory could always be more secure. Right now, we've got two-factor authentications. All services based on Active Directory have a username and password. If somebody hacked our username, they could easily get all the data from our side. So I want two-factor authentication and a stronger password policy from Active Directory. The domain controllers should be more secure as well."
What is our primary use case?
We use Active Directory to manage our main database and control students and staff access with rules and passwords. Usernames, emails, etc., are all integrated with Active Directory. Office 365 is also integrated with our Active Directory.
What is most valuable?
The best thing about Active Directory is its compatibility. It works with lots of third-party vendors. We're using multiple products, and they're all integrated with our Active Directory.
What needs improvement?
Active Directory could always be more secure. Right now, we've got two-factor authentications. All services based on Active Directory have a username and password. If somebody hacked our username, they could easily get all the data from our side. So I want two-factor authentication and a stronger password policy from Active Directory. The domain controllers should be more secure as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using Microsoft Active Directory for more than 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Active Directory is a stable, scalable product.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft technical support is very good. They call us back and resolve the problem.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is effortless because we've been using this solution for a while. We are familiar with the setup now, so it's easier.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We get a discount because we're working in the education sector.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Active Directory eight out of 10. I think this is a good product. Most enterprises are using this. We don't currently have any plans to switch, but we're planning to migrate more into the cloud. However, cloud service is still costly, so we are working on the premiums. I would recommend Active Directory for any large-scale company, organization, or university.
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?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
Assistant General Manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Reasonably priced and scalable with a nice user interface
Pros and Cons
- "The technical support is pretty good."
- "The monitoring dashboard could be a bit better."
What is our primary use case?
We use this and Microsoft Intune. Azure Active Directory is an identity solution and a mandatory requirement. Without Azure Active Directory, Intune would not work.
What is most valuable?
Within Azure Active Directory, the single sign-on feature is the best aspect. Right now, the world is moving to the cloud. Nowadays, every vendor is developing their cloud. With this, I can have a single sign-on and move around from place to place easily.
The technical support is pretty good.
The initial setup is pretty straightforward.
I have found the solution to be stable so far.
The scalability potential is good.
The pricing of the product is reasonable.
The interface, in general, looks okay.
The solution has built-in backup capabilities.
What needs improvement?
So far, the solution has worked well for us. there are no missing features.
The monitoring dashboard could be a bit better.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. the performance and reliability are good. There aren't issues with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
You can scale this solution if you need to. It's not a problem.
How are customer service and support?
We haven't dealt much with technical support, as we haven't really needed it, however, if we did need assistance, they have been helpful. Overall, it's been a positive experience.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very, very easy. It's not complex or difficult at all.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are multiple options for pricing. One is standalone. Another is within a package. If we consider an F1 package, I'm getting Azure Active Directory, Intune, and Microsoft Information Protection. If I'm taking the Azure Active Directory virtual feature under the plan, under the package, it's affordable. They offer a very good price.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate the solution at a perfect ten out of ten overall. It's the best product. I'm really happy with it.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
Sr. Cloud Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Great out of the box authentication flows, provides minimal security leakage, and is quite stable
Pros and Cons
- "The scalability capabilities are quite high."
- "Azure AD provides two types of features. One is Azure AD Excel and is already B2C. Out of both versions, Azure B2C requires some improvement, in terms of user management and role management, et cetera."
What is our primary use case?
There were a couple of use cases I've dealt with. In one scenario, I had to import on-premise users to my Azure AD. We had a couple of mobile applications where we were using the authentication feature from Azure AD.
We needed to create a new infrastructure for one of the clients and everything had to be taken care of by the Azure infrastructure. In that case, we used Azure AD for all kinds of user management tasks, as well as authentication.
How has it helped my organization?
We simply use Azure AD and everything is taken care of instantly. You need not worry about user management. Everything is taken care of by Azure AD itself. You just simply have it in your application and everything is done out-of-the-box.
What is most valuable?
Azure AD, overall, is quite good for securing your applications as well as the infrastructure.
I like that they provide most of the authentication flows out-of-the-box, so you do not need to do anything specific to tackle any authentication flows.
Azure AD has affected our organization's security positively. In terms of the application, it's quite good. There was very minimal leakage. We had a single instance and that user was already compromised. Otherwise, it's quite good.
What needs improvement?
Azure AD provides two types of features. One is Azure AD Excel and is already B2C. Out of both versions, Azure B2C requires some improvement, in terms of user management and role management, et cetera.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for approximately one to one-and-a-half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is quite high - if we are talking about Azure AD and not Azure AD B2C.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability capabilities are quite high. We have somewhere around 5 million users, and it was doing quite well even with that number.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't interacted much with technical support, however, during one of the instances where we required some help, which was not related to the Azure AD, they provided us quite good support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have tried one competitor, IdentityServer. It is basically an open-source solution. In terms of comparison, Azure AD is quite solid. When it comes to IdentityServer, you need to manage everything on your own. You need to host everything and you have to take care of the whole application life cycle with that identity cycle. In the case of Azure AD it's an almost managed service.
How was the initial setup?
I found the initial setup process quite straightforward.
In terms of implementation, Microsoft provides very good documentation of how to kick off Azure AD. You just need to follow those instructions and it will be done in a couple of clicks.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
They do have a tier of service that is free that supports many people. You can also purchase a license and costs can be reduced on the Microsoft side.
What other advice do I have?
My previous organization has a very close relationship with Microsoft.
I would advise users to go with Azure AD, if possible, and to try to avoid the B2C version at the moment, as quite a few good features are already in the preview. Once those preview features are done, you can go with the B2C version.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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