Microsoft Entra ID Reviews

It is the primary ID platform that we use. It is where all our users are homed. We have Intune integrated with it as well. We use it for authentication. We still have some on-prem infrastructure, which uses legacy or traditional on-premises Active Directory, but all the endpoints and all the users are homed in there.

We integrate with single sign-on for a lot of applications, such as Monday.com and ConnectWise. There are a lot of other tools there, and we use Entra ID for them as well. We use the multifactor authentication functionality in there and then Intune as well, which technically is not a part of Entra ID, but they are very close-knit. We use that for software deployment onto devices, and then we have been on Autopilot for device building and everything like that. It is the center of a lot of what we do.

Years ago, we had on-premises Active Directory, and we still got some clients out with the on-premises Active Directory. On-premises Active Directory worked well when everyone was in the office, but you had to be on the network to log in. If you took a computer home, you could not log in. Microsoft Entra ID definitely accommodates remote working. It is in the cloud. It is a lot more flexible. Someone can just eat out of the box now. They can log into a device, and it sets itself up and deploys the apps with supporting services. It is definitely a lot more flexible, and because it is in the cloud, it is evergreen. New functionality and features are coming out to it all the time, which is great. Previously, every three years or so, you would upgrade your server and you get new functionality, whereas now, you are getting that all the time. If you want to integrate with automation and AI, it all comes to Entra ID first. It is very powerful, and the flexibility to upgrade indefinitely and allow people to work from anywhere is a big push of it.

Microsoft Entra provides a single pane of glass for managing user access. Having that as your single source of truth is very helpful. That directory can be accessed from anywhere without a VPN or anything else. When you are applying a security policy through Intune and Entra ID, you can be sure that it is applying to all devices, whereas with an on-premises directory, you might have a group policy to apply security, and you might change that policy, but if someone was not in the office or using VPN, that policy might not update on their device, so you could never be sure if it worked. There was no way to look at your 500 machines and see which machines had the policy applied and which did not. You could not do that, whereas, with Entra ID, you can. You can even do things in Intune where, for example, if a security policy is not applied or if a device does not have the necessary threshold of security policies and security software, the device is no longer compliant, and it cannot access any resources and things like that. It is much more powerful.

It works very well. Conditional access is probably one of the best features of Entra ID for the ability to control what can be accessed from where and by whom. In the zero trust model, it is very good. We are an IT managed services provider. We are a massive target, and it is a huge risk because if someone breached us, they breached our 2,000 downstream clients because we have got access to their systems. Within Microsoft 365 or Entra ID tenant, you cannot even log in to that tenant unless you are on a compliant IT device. It is a powerful feature.

It has definitely helped to save time for our IT administrators. When I speak to clients, I always work on a rule of about two or three percent of the headcount for IT. It is normal IT when you are a reasonable-sized company, but with 500 people, we have got three people in that team now, which is much lower than that. When you buy a new device, you can log in with the IT credentials. It sets it all up. All your policies and all your software are ready to go. There are no humans building that manually. A lot of it is sort of self-service now as well. So, it cuts down on a lot of time and that thing where people have to come to the office to update their software. The way it was five years ago, if you got an issue with a new laptop, you had to take it to the office and log in yourself for the first time before you went home. You do not have to do any of that now. With Entra ID, the access is via the cloud, so you do not have that issue where years ago, your password would get out of sync with the office. You do not have to deal with all of that. Compared to an on-prem device years ago, the support required is much less. You can now deploy the software centrally and remotely. We are an SMB. Our customers are SMBs. If you are a big company, you probably had a technology platform or a team waiting to deploy software remotely even years ago, but SMBs did not have that. A lot of work was manual, and it was time-consuming, whereas now, with Entra ID and some of the functionality around it, those small businesses almost have a corporate-size business service that they can provide, and it is whatever pounds per user a month.

The cost savings are probably quite high. There is a lot of efficiency for the IT team. There are a less number of issues, so the users are more productive. A typical IT function is a 2% to 3% headcount for a 500 people organization. You would expect ten people to be on our IT team, but we have got two to three people. We have six heads less than we might have had years ago. We are an IT company, so everything should be running slick. We are also using a lot of bleeding-edge technology, so there are some more issues with that, but we have fewer people to support the business. People are more productive. It is hard to quantify the savings, but it is a lot. I have been around long enough to know what the world was like before and how painful it was, but I do not have any stats. I have customers who invest in a lot of technology, and I have ones that do not. We are producing some metrics around that, and it is really interesting to see that the customers who spend a lot do not have major outages. They log fewer tickets and things like that.

Coming from a traditional on-premises Active Directory infrastructure, it is purely a SaaS platform. It is global. It is evergreen. It is always evolving. It is core to the Microsoft Ecosystem. We are just starting to get involved with Power Automate. Because it is all hooked into Entra ID, it is all integrated in there, so the same security, governance, and controls are a part of that. It drives that ecosystem, and we can just keep adding services on top of that, which we do and sell.

They have had a few outages, so stability is a little bit of an issue. It is global. That is the thing. I know some of the other competitors are regionalized ID platforms, but Entra ID is global, so when something goes wrong, it is a problem because it underpins everything, whether you are logging in to M365 or you have single sign-on to Azure, Autopilot, Intune, Exchange mailbox or another application. If there is a problem with Entra ID, all of that falls apart, so its great strength and weakness is the global single tenant for it. Stability is a key area for me. Otherwise, it is generally pretty good. 

We are getting away from the hybrid experience where we used to have devices connected to Entra ID and on-premises directory. That was painful because the on-prem version was probably developed 30 years ago, and it was not designed for a cloud world. It is not too bad now, but getting there can be quite painful in terms of synchronous users and things. It is not very seamless, but if you are fully in Entra ID only, it is a good experience. The stability and the hybrid state can be very problematic and complicated.

It was formerly called Azure Active Directory. We have probably been using it since it was launched.

I have been a Microsoft partner for 15 years. I have been a partner since I have had our business. It has been quite a long time. 

We are a managed service provider, so one of our core solutions is managed IT support. Microsoft's technical support is not great. We are a partner. We are not an end customer. We have a partner premium support agreement. We have a very strong technical team, and when we go to Microsoft, it is pretty serious. 

We have 2,000 clients for a 70 million turnover. We probably escalate 10 to 15 tickets a year to them. When we raise a ticket, the first person asks the basic things such as if we have restarted the device. With Microsoft, when you get to the right person in technical support, it works, but that is a few layers up, and you have to push hard to get there. However, they have saved us a couple of times. 

We spend 15 million pounds a year on Microsoft, but I would pay to have a better direct channel to someone senior because, by the time we are escalating an issue, it is pretty serious. It needs to go to someone senior, not junior.

Even when I was querying about coming to this conference because we get some marketing funds, they said that I cannot claim it. I had to escalate it, and then eventually, they confirmed it was right. It took about a month.

We have got a couple of customers who use Okta as their ID platform for authentication. That was not our choice. That was their choice.

Okta started the Cloud or SaaS ID platform authentication. They were the real pioneers of that. A lot of the features of Azure or Entra ID were in Okta first. Sometimes, Microsoft does not innovate in some areas initially, but they certainly catch up. Okta is probably the market leader in terms of Cloud or SaaS ID. 

The two customers that we have now are very painful to move to Entra ID. If we were deciding it now, they probably would not use it because Entra ID has caught up so much. It is better. One customer has 500 people and 100 grand a year for Okta. Okta is seen as the thought leader, and it is a good product. My boss is not technical, but he always says to me, "Is that like the Rolls Royce solution? Do you need a Rolls Royce?"

I am not an Okta expert, but it has automation capabilities such as user life cycle management where if you have a new staff, it will go through and add them to all the necessary systems and get them all set up and ready to go. Entra ID offers some of that automation now. I have not really looked at it, but it is not as powerful. Some of the governance features in Okta are very good as well. Okta looks a lot better, and it is a much nicer interface than Entra ID, even though Entra ID has become better. In the case of Entra ID, for most of our customers, Entra ID is included in the license they bought anyway. If they stop using Entra ID and start using Okta, they are not going to save money. They are just going to incur more costs. A Microsoft solution is integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem. It is easy. It is there. It is the default. You can use Okta with it, but that conditional access piece is almost like the real USP. That is the real winning feature in Entra ID. You probably do not get it with Okta, so that would be the real winner.

Entra ID is not too bad, but Microsoft licensing generally is insane. Most customers normally buy a bundle license with Microsoft 365, E3, or E5. Out of our 2,000 customers, for 99.9% of our customers, the Entra ID license that they are getting through the part of that would be sufficient. There are some more advanced ones that give you a bit more functionality, but we probably have not had a customer for that. We do not even internally use that ourselves.

When you buy the Entra ID license on its own, it is probably three or four pounds. You just get it included in the license. Most people buy it anyway because it comes with conditional access and Intune and all such things that they might use, so that is straightforward. Okta is not cheap. For a customer with 400 or 500 users, it is about 100 grand a year. It is like a premium product in price point comparison. When you move to Okta, you are not saving money on the Microsoft side, so it is not worth it for most companies.

Overall, I would rate Entra ID an eight out of ten.

I'm developing a SaaS application. I'm working with a company that develops a SaaS application where the first customers are Azure customers. Most of our customers are using Microsoft Entra ID as their single sign-on implementation. I saw not only my organization's Microsoft Entra ID configuration but also others. 

The smooth integration with Azure is a significant benefit of Microsoft Entra ID. We could see the benefits of Microsoft Entra ID immediately after starting to use it.

The UI of Microsoft Entra ID is very intuitive, and I appreciate the integration with Azure because it works seamlessly. This is the best aspect I appreciate about Microsoft Entra ID.

There is a feature that we have been waiting for regarding Bicep templates. The option to use Bicep templates to deploy Microsoft Entra ID objects from the Azure Portal is needed. The deadlines for this feature were set for March, and that has already passed without deployment. We commented that we are still waiting for that, and they commented that they would update us when it is finished, but we haven't received any update about it. This feature is very important.

I've used many variations of Microsoft Entra ID. It was Active Directory in on-premises situations, but for the last three years, I've been using Microsoft Entra ID, and in the last year, I've been using it heavily.

I have not experienced any instability such as lagging, crashing, or downtime with Microsoft Entra ID.

We have tested extensively concerning scalability, and Microsoft Entra ID is working well in all of our use cases.

I have contacted their technical support and customer support. Their response was very fast, taking less than a day, but the response was not clear because they didn't update the deadline and didn't provide much information. They just told us that it's still in internal testing, and they don't have a date when it will be announced, which is problematic.

Neutral

I have used G Suite as an alternative to Microsoft Entra ID. Smooth integration with Azure is a significant benefit for Microsoft Entra ID. The integration with the Microsoft ecosystem is much better in Microsoft Entra ID. However, integrations with Chrome and other Google products are better in G Suite.

I was not the one who implemented it. My onboarding with Microsoft Entra ID was pretty easy to learn. It took me a few hours to learn how to use Microsoft Entra ID.

It doesn't require any maintenance on our end.

I would rate Microsoft Entra ID a ten out of ten.

We have been using Microsoft Enterprise for ten years, and we actually started beginning to really use it about two years ago. Earlier, we had an access manager on the premises, but everything is moving to the cloud. So we are moving our access management and identity management solutions to the cloud as well.

The whole access management solution is valuable. In 2015, we were selecting a new access management solution, and because it was already integrated, we started using it. 

Integration with Defender allows us to get alerts and respond to them by blocking users. Microsoft Entra ID has streamlined and centralized our device management and threat response processes.

We are looking for more customization with BRAIN and everything else, and while they are following up on that, we want some more of it.

We have experienced some downtime because of the use of the data centers.

In Microsoft technical support or Microsoft Denmark, we have an account manager and strategist, whom we contact along with the suppliers who have their own technicians. The experience has been positive.

Positive

Earlier, we had an access manager on the premises before moving to Microsoft Enterprise for cloud-based solutions. In 2015, we selected a different access management solution initially.

Would you rate the overall solution on a scale of 1 to 10? Yeah, excellent. From one to ten, would you mind the call? I think, yeah, excellent.

Entra ID is used to authenticate users and applications. 

Entra ID has helped us implement role-based authentication rather than conditional keys. It has made our entry point and access more secure. Entra has improved our Zero Trust platform, but I can't go into the details about how. 

It has improved our attack response slightly because we now have a better idea of what's happening and what we see in the logs. 

Entra ID provides an excellent overview of the applications and the options applied to them.

There are areas for improvement, particularly when moving between tenants. If we create a new tenant and try to set it up under the same organization, it becomes extremely difficult. A recent incident we dealt with took four months to resolve with a seven-day deadline, which was quite frustrating.

I have used Entra since it was released, and we also used Azure AD before it got renamed.

Stability has been questionable sometimes. We've had a few outages which have caused us some concern, and it's a critical solution that we can't do without.

There isn't much that can be done for scalability other than considering an alternative provider, which we have thought about at times.

I rate Microsoft support eight out of 10 in general, but they let us down when we were moving tenants. We were pretty upset with them.

Positive

We always used Azure AD and then Microsoft Entra ID.

Overall, some areas showed more return on investment, while others less so.

I rate Entra ID eight out of 10. 

Our primary use case for this solution is identity and access management within our organization's hybrid cloud environment. We have a multinational presence across 12 countries, with around three thousand employees worldwide. Entra ID plays a pivotal role in streamlining user onboarding and offboarding processes, ensuring secure access to our resources.

Our environment is characterized by a blend of on-premises and cloud-based services, and Entra ID seamlessly integrates with our Azure tenant. It allows us to efficiently manage user identities, enforce authentication and authorization policies, and implement multifactor authentication for enhanced security.

Moreover, we leverage Entra ID's capabilities to maintain compliance with specific regulations, such as those in Germany, where mailbox access for departed employees requires careful management. Entra ID's security features, including Azure Information Protection integration, provide an additional layer of protection against evolving cyber threats.

Microsoft Azure Entra ID has been a transformative addition to our organization, bringing a multitude of benefits and enhancements across various facets of our operations. Here are the key ways in which Entra ID has made a significant difference:

Unified User Access and Seamless Experience:

Entra ID provides a unified interface for managing user access, offering an exceptionally user-friendly experience. Users can effortlessly access a wide range of applications, both cloud-based and on-premises, using a single set of credentials. The Azure portal serves as a true portal, creating a distinct realm for users while maintaining a user-friendly interface. Single Sign-On (SSO) configuration simplifies the login process, allowing users to use a single ID for multiple applications. This streamlined approach, coupled with multifactor authentication, ensures a secure and convenient login experience, especially important in today's remote work environment.

Efficient Policy Management:

One of the standout features of Entra ID is the ease with which Azure policies and conditional access can be applied to enhance security. The EntraID admin center serves as a central hub for cloud-based identity and access management, offering a wide array of features that not only enhance security but also promote collaboration and productivity within the organization.

Modern Authentication Protocols:

Entra ID employs modern authentication protocols like OpenID Connect, which are well-suited for web and mobile users. This is especially crucial in an era where remote work and mobile device usage are prevalent. It represents a significant improvement over the traditional Windows Active Directory, which relied solely on Kerberos and NTLM.

Hybrid Capabilities:

Entra ID's support for hybrid scenarios is invaluable. It caters to the preferences of employees who still rely on on-premises solutions while leveraging the advantages of the cloud. This flexibility in a hybrid environment is a substantial benefit.

Conditional Access for Enhanced Security:

Conditional access policies, akin to "if-then" scenarios, provide granular control over access conditions. These policies evaluate login attempts based on factors such as user location, device health, and more. This ensures that access is granted only under specific, predefined conditions, significantly bolstering security.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC):

Entra ID offers a robust RBAC system that allows precise management of access permissions. Custom roles can be created, granting users only the necessary permissions, enhancing security without overexposure.

Cost-Effective Scalability:

The cost-effectiveness of Entra ID is notable. It offers a free option, making it accessible to organizations of various sizes. Premium plans unlock advanced features, such as identity protection and advanced threat detection, providing excellent value for the investment.

Enhanced User Experience:

Entra ID has substantially improved the user experience. Account creation and provisioning are straightforward, even more streamlined than traditional Windows Active Directory. This inclusive process involves licensing, role, and permission configuration, all within a unified interface.

Microsoft Azure Entra ID has significantly enhanced our organization's security, user experience, and efficiency. Its modern authentication, conditional access, and RBAC capabilities, along with its support for hybrid environments, make it a valuable addition to our IT ecosystem. Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of Entra ID and its role in simplifying identity and access management have further solidified its value proposition. Our users are more satisfied than ever, thanks to the improvements brought about by this powerful solution.

The standout features of Microsoft Entra ID, for me, revolve primarily around its robust security measures. As someone deeply invested in cloud security, these aspects have proven to be exceptionally valuable.

Conditional Access Policies: The ability to formulate and enforce conditional access policies is a game-changer. It allows us to implement highly granular access control, considering factors like user location, device health, and authentication methods. This level of flexibility ensures that access to critical resources is granted only under the appropriate circumstances, enhancing our security posture significantly.

Identity Protection: Microsoft Entra ID's identity protection capabilities are commendable. They assist us in safeguarding user identities, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and identity-related security breaches. The peace of mind that comes with knowing our identities are well-protected is invaluable.

Threat Intelligence: Real-time threat intelligence provided by Entra ID equips us with the necessary tools to stay ahead of emerging security threats and vulnerabilities. In a rapidly evolving threat landscape, having this information at our fingertips is indispensable.

These security features, coupled with a user-friendly interface and seamless integration, make Microsoft Entra ID an exhilarating solution for those of us who prioritize cloud security. It not only enhances our security posture but also empowers us to adapt and respond effectively to evolving cybersecurity challenges.

Privileged Identity Management (PIM) Performance: Improvements in the performance and reliability of PIM are crucial. Users occasionally encounter issues where roles are elevated, but the assigned roles do not function as expected. Enhancing the consistency and responsiveness of PIM is essential for a seamless privilege management experience.

Portal Speed and Responsiveness: Addressing occasional slowdowns, particularly on Fridays, within the Azure Entra ID portal is important. Consistent portal performance ensures efficient user access management and administration.

Cross-Tenant Synchronization and Collaboration: Simplifying cross-tenant synchronization and collaboration is essential for organizations working in multi-tenant environments. Enhancements in this area can streamline identity and access management processes across tenants, reducing complexity and improving collaboration.

User Offboarding and SharePoint Permissions: Streamlining the offboarding process for former employees is critical. After disabling or deleting a former employee's account, there should be an automatic mechanism to remove associated permissions in SharePoint. Currently, these permissions often remain in SharePoint as stale entries, requiring manual removal. Automating this process can improve security and reduce administrative overhead.

I have been using Microsoft Entra ID for six and a half years.

The Entra ID system has consistently demonstrated a high level of stability. Throughout our usage, I can't recall a single instance when the service experienced downtime. This underscores Microsoft's commitment to ensuring the continuous functionality of the service for its customers.

The stability of Entra ID is crucial for our operations, and its reliability has greatly contributed to our confidence in the platform. Microsoft's dedication to maintaining a stable environment aligns with the expectations of organizations relying on their services.

In summary, the stability of the Entra ID system has been commendable, and it reflects Microsoft's emphasis on delivering a reliable experience to its users.

Scalability in the context of Entra ID has been a significant advantage, particularly when compared to traditional on-premises solutions. The scalability of Entra ID is dependent on both the hardware and the underlying infrastructure. In the case of on-premises servers, organizations are tasked with maintaining and upgrading the hardware, which can be resource-intensive.

What I've observed with Entra ID is that it offers exceptional scalability and reliability. This scalability is achieved through a combination of factors, including built-in redundancy and automatic updates. Microsoft takes on the responsibility of managing the underlying infrastructure, alleviating the maintenance burden on organizations.

This level of scalability allows us the flexibility to easily scale our resources up or down based on our specific requirements. Whether we need to accommodate growth or adjust resources to optimize costs, Entra ID provides the agility needed to achieve our goals.

In essence, the scalability of Entra ID is of the highest quality, and it's a testament to the benefits of utilizing a cloud solution like Azure. The cloud-based approach simplifies resource management and ensures that we can efficiently adapt to changing demands.

We've encountered occasional issues, and Microsoft's customer service and support have consistently been friendly and responsive. Whenever we've reached out to them, they've promptly assisted us in resolving our problems.

One notable aspect is that Microsoft support typically prefers phone calls or emails for communication. While their support is effective, we've found that using Microsoft Teams for support calls would be much more convenient. Teams provides an efficient and collaborative platform for communication, making it a valuable tool for resolving issues.

This highlights the opportunity for Microsoft to enhance customer support by utilizing Teams for more convenient and efficient interactions.

Positive

The initial setup of Entra ID is remarkably straightforward. The system seamlessly integrates within our existing infrastructure, requiring nothing more than an Azure tenant.

In terms of the migration process, we prioritize quality over quantity. We don't need a large workforce for the migration; instead, we value individuals who possess a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. This approach is supported by a well-established product line and effective risk management strategies. Additionally, our past experiences and insights gained from previous projects significantly contribute to our confidence and comprehension of the necessary actions.

In collaboration with our partners, our team consists of five members dedicated to the migration process. Our partners, on the other hand, have a smaller team comprising three individuals providing assistance. This collaborative effort ensures a smooth and efficient transition to Entra ID.

We worked with a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) with many years of experience with the product to successfully implement Entra ID

Our investment in Entra ID has undoubtedly yielded a significant return. Those familiar with its capabilities and accompanying features are confident in the tangible benefits it brings. In a landscape where cloud advancements have revolutionized IT, Entra ID stands out as a crucial component of our infrastructure.

Without this cloud product and the transformative developments in cloud technology, navigating the IT landscape would be challenging. We'd likely find ourselves exploring various products from different companies, potentially incurring higher costs than our current investment in Entra cloud products.

Therefore, I have full confidence that we've achieved a substantial return on investment through our adoption of Entra ID and other cloud solutions. It's a testament to the value and cost-efficiency that modern cloud technologies offer to organizations.

When it comes to setup cost, pricing, and licensing for Entra ID, I would advise others to carefully assess their organization's specific needs and requirements. It's essential to have a clear understanding of the features and capabilities needed to support your business operations effectively.

Consider the scalability of your organization and how Entra ID aligns with your growth plans. Microsoft offers various licensing options, so it's worth exploring the most suitable licensing model that fits your budget and operational demands.

Additionally, keep in mind that while initial setup costs may vary, the long-term benefits of a secure and efficient identity management solution like Entra ID can significantly outweigh the initial investment. It's an investment in both security and productivity.

Lastly, stay updated with Microsoft's licensing updates and pricing changes to ensure that your organization remains compliant and optimized in terms of cost-effectiveness."

This advice provides a general guideline for organizations considering Entra ID, encouraging them to conduct a thorough evaluation of their needs and resources.

Our organization has a strong Microsoft orientation, which naturally led us to align our infrastructure with Microsoft standards. Entra ID serves as our identity provider, handling crucial processes like onboarding, offboarding, and managing departed employees' accounts and devices.

One challenge we've encountered is dealing with "stale devices" connected to Entra ID when employees have left the company. To address this, we regularly execute scripts to identify and manage both dormant accounts and devices. Compliance policies, especially in countries like Germany, necessitate specific mailbox access rules for departed employees. This involves granting the manager access to the mailbox for three months before archiving it. Deleting the user account isn't an option in such cases.

Entra ID offers a health dashboard that helps us track maintenance activities and pending implementations. Key updates, recommended every three months by Microsoft, are currently performed on a monthly basis to maintain robust security.

As a multinational company and a global workforce, security is paramount. Multifactor authentication is a crucial process for all Entra ID users, given the increasing sophistication of cyber threats. We highly recommend exploring the security features of Entra ID and its integration with Azure Information Protection—a cost-effective, AI-driven solution that enhances security.

I have been employed as a subject matter expert for Microsoft Entra ID, as well as other Microsoft projects. Presently, my organization is collaborating closely with the Microsoft product team. This involves handling end-to-end customer scenarios connected to the products. In cases where there are issues related to configuration or operational scenarios, I provide assistance by configuring based on the organizational requirements. Additionally, I ensure end-to-end security through Microsoft Entra ID. I have dedicated the past 22 months to working within my organization on various Microsoft projects.

Microsoft Entra ID is a cloud-only service. However, if a customer has existing on-premises resources, they can integrate them using Azure Ready Connect to Microsoft Entra ID. It can be used in a hybrid mode depending on the organization's requirements.

Microsoft Entra ID provides a unified interface for managing user access. The user's sign-on experience relies on several factors, including the specific service or resource they are attempting to reach. The initial sign-on process involves first-factor authentication, which typically entails entering the username and password. Depending on the user's assigned security level, multi-factor authentication may be required. If the user is attempting to access an application and Single Sign-On is enabled, they can also enjoy a seamless sign-on experience for accessing both on-premises and cloud-only resources.

The admin center assists us in managing everything, from global administrators to Role-Based Access Control provisions. If a specific admin needs to be assigned to access all user authentication methods, an authentication administrator will be made available. Similarly, a conditional access administrator can assume this role if needed. We have a variety of roles accessible for performing tasks such as accessing, reading, writing, and editing operations, all based on specific requirements. Alternatively, there's the global administration role, which holds the capability to perform various actions and possesses full control over the tenant. This control can be exercised through the admin center.

When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, all of our employees across various organizations worldwide began working from home. This trend of remote work continues significantly. Users operate from diverse networks, which might vary in terms of security levels. In order to safeguard resources, Microsoft Entra ID plays a pivotal role for all organizations, not solely for mine. Microsoft Entra ID provides essential security features, such as continuous access evaluation, multifactor authentication, IP restriction, and device-based blocking. These features constitute a device registration scenario that organizations can adopt. Whether an organization chooses to manage devices through Microsoft Entra ID or one of the other device registration scenarios available depends on the specific context, particularly the industrial location for an IT engineer. In this setup, an organization can impose restrictions or temporary blocks on users directly, contributing to the assurance of secure logins. This approach aids organizations in preventing unauthorized access to user accounts and organizational data from potentially malicious actors like hackers or unauthorized exporters. Microsoft Entra ID has been designed to enhance the security of both users and organizational information, aligning with Microsoft's commitment to safeguarding user data.

Conditional access is among the most reliable and secure features enhancing the performance of Microsoft Enterprise ID. This functionality enables us to execute various actions, as I have previously indicated. These statements are straightforward and comprehensive. To prevent access for specific users, we must apply logs based on specific requirements. If there is a need to restrict a user, we can implement a pause. This means that if a user is accessing from a certain location or utilizing a particular device, they will be granted access. Conversely, if these conditions are not met, the user's access will be denied. Therefore, conditional access policies can be employed as the organization's primary line of defense. In the past 22 months, updates have been made to the conditional access framework, incorporating conditional access policies from both session management and control management. This enhancement enables organization administrators to apply more refined filters, thereby enhancing user security. These updates include the potential enforcement of app protection procedures through Entra ID. Alternatively, administrators may create custom policies for specific applications or websites using the Defender of products. In the past, the option to merge different Entra apps and conditional access was not available. Presently, conditional access policies offer heightened security, allowing the creation of policies from various Microsoft services, including different apps. This capability empowers us to restrict users or employees from actions like copying certain data or transferring information to other locations. It prevents downloading of company information from untrusted devices as well. Additionally, our implementation of app protection policies aligns various Microsoft services with conditional access policies, further fortifying overall security.

The three factors for implementing a zero-trust framework are verifying the users, checking their privileges, and aiding in identifying any breaches. Conditional access assists with this process.

We can establish application restrictions and enforcement policies based on the Entra ID. These policies can then be aligned with conditional access policies across various locations. Additionally, we have the ability to formulate policies, such as designating trusted and untrusted locations for device data. This ensures that specific applications will only be accessible if they meet the conditional access prerequisites both from Entra and within the Endpoint Manager policies. This encompasses all first-party Microsoft applications as well.

The Verified ID feature is one of the most impressive functionalities I have encountered. Although I haven't used it personally, my role involves working as a technical support engineer for Microsoft. My responsibilities include handling support requests for Microsoft and assisting customers worldwide, whether they are utilizing premier or personal support services. To the best of my understanding, the Verified ID offers one of the most secure methods for organizations to store their data via the Decentralized Identifier framework. This enables them to manage their setup autonomously and perform DID verifications. Through this process, organizations can issue credentials to users using the Microsoft Authenticator app. This ensures that a web server is set up and a decentralized ID is created. Importantly, all organizational data remains confined within the organization; Microsoft does not retain user credentials or passwords. Consequently, all organizational data becomes integrated into the decentralized ID. This process is carried out by administrators responsible for onboarding users into the organization. When an employee joins the organization, they are issued credentials using the Verified ID feature through the authenticator app. Subsequently, these credentials are passed on to the user. The authenticator app then verifies the legitimacy of the request.

Microsoft Entra ID has proven invaluable in saving time for both our IT administrators and HR departments. Prior to Entra ID, we were required to generate individual user IDs sequentially. However, with Entra ID, we now have the convenience of producing them in bulk. This includes the ability to furnish these user access IDs temporarily, along with corresponding temporary passwords. This is achieved through a CSV-formatted Excel sheet. This process is particularly advantageous when juxtaposed with onboarding new users. For our existing users, determinations are made based on their user activity and potential risk status. In this regard, our IT administrators or global admins are promptly alerted if any user is flagged as risky. These notifications and identity protection features are integral components of Microsoft Entra ID, especially in relation to potential users. Furthermore, our system incorporates the latest workflow feature. This functionality closely resembles Identity Protection, although the latter exclusively pertains to users and objects. Conversely, virtual IDs oversee services, including applications and various other resources that have been generated via web apps, SQL, or SharePoint instances.

Microsoft Entra ID has significantly contributed to cost savings within our organization. Prior to implementing Entra ID, substantial financial resources were dedicated to various investments. Particularly in the realm of licensing, any learning initiative incurred substantial expenses. However, there has been a notable transformation in Azure, now rebranded as Entra, accompanied by the incorporation of numerous features under the Microsoft Entra ID umbrella. Undoubtedly, this has greatly enhanced cost management for our organization. Moreover, we now possess the capability to effectively manage subscriptions. We receive regular alerts from the cost management infrastructure, providing insights into our resource consumption. A distinct 'pay-as-you-go' option empowers us to select and pay solely for the resources we utilize. This approach enables us to forego committing to a fixed amount of virtual machines for a predetermined period. Instead, we can opt for resources as needed, paying only for their actual usage. Indeed, the cloud plays a pivotal role in cost savings when compared to the complexities of managing on-premises servers and resources.

The Microsoft Entra ID has significantly enhanced our user experience. In our daily scenarios, there is no need to log in every time. This is especially beneficial for user authentication and accessing various resources. Entra offers features that simplify our daily tasks and the use of dynamic applications that we host. One remarkable feature is the ability to utilize single sign-on, which is both cool and highly effective. Additionally, we have the option of Windows Hello for Business, including field authentication for Windows Hello for Business. These authentication features streamline the login process and contribute to the ease of our work. 

The most valuable feature of Microsoft Entra ID is its security options, where we can provide highly effective security for user accounts during authentication. We have a conditional access policy in place, along with modern authentication methods that can be configured in various ways to meet organizational requirements. These methods may include phone calls, SMS, or even passwordless authentication, which is the most convenient and secure method introduced by Microsoft. This includes Windows Hello for business and certification-based authentication as well.

There are several limitations that Microsoft is currently facing. Since I work with global customers daily, they often come up with new ideas. However, these ideas are sometimes hindered by Microsoft's limitations. As a result, many people are turning to third-party tools or services, even from vendors that are not as reputable as AWS or GCP.

I have personally made similar suggestions to my product team, especially regarding the vendors that users are attempting to rely on. For instance, certain organizations prefer to restrict the use of mobile phones, particularly in countries like India. These organizations are very strict about security and prohibit the use of Android or camera-enabled mobile devices for their employees. Consequently, these users cannot utilize Microsoft Authentication, and instead, they must resort to other password authentication methods such as Fido or Windows Hello for Business.

Among these options, we have only one choice, which is Fido, a security key. However, when users need to use Fido, they are required to also use multifactor authentication. This means that a user can only register for Fido after they have registered for the Authenticator, which is not an ideal scenario. If an organization has already decided not to use mobile phones and has opted for Fido authentication with security keys, it's not advisable to then ask them to use Microsoft Authenticator.

Recently, Microsoft introduced an alternative solution known as the temporary access pass. This pass allows users to log in temporarily, but its effectiveness is limited. This is especially true for Fido authentication with security keys, although it is included in the Entra IDs CBA, particularly for Android and mobile devices. Unfortunately, these secure options are not available when logging in from devices like iPads or iOS-based mobiles, other operating systems, laptops, mobile devices, Chrome, or Linux machines.

Microsoft needs to make improvements in this regard and extend its services to other operating systems as well, especially when considering their widespread usage.

I have been using Microsoft Entra ID for almost two years.

The solution is continuously being updated and enhanced with new features. As we are involved in Microsoft projects, we get a sneak peek into the upcoming release of Microsoft Entra ID, and I am confident it will be exceptionally stable.

Microsoft Entra ID is scalable.

I have been employed as a tech support engineer, assisting with Microsoft products since the inception of my career. As a result, I have not required the services of their customer support.

I have utilized Okta solely for federation services in some testing capacities within my laboratory environment. Okta proves advantageous for establishing federated connections between Azure instances across different clouds. To illustrate, imagine that Microsoft employs local active directory federation services. This duplication seems inevitable, given Microsoft's explicit intentions conveyed through the Microsoft Ignite channel.

Consequently, Microsoft ought to develop federation services akin to Okta's, which offers exclusive cloud-based federation services. This offering would greatly assist users and organizations habituated to utilizing federated authentication protocols. It would be prudent for Microsoft to integrate a cloud-exclusive federation service into Azure Cloud.

Furthermore, Microsoft contends that, in terms of security and trustworthiness in authentication service identity providers, Entra reigns supreme compared to other options. In this regard, I concur that Entra boasts superior security when contrasted with Okta.

Azure Cloud refrains from provisioning specific federation endpoints for certain applications due to the persistent usage of on-premises or federated applications by numerous organizations. This gap is where Okta has capitalized, effectively occupying the market space that Entra commands in such scenarios.

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment is simple. We possess Microsoft learning documents and public articles from Microsoft, along with community channels. If we aim to adhere to these instructions, the process is quite simple. Even a college graduate attempting to configure from the Entra web portal will find it easy to follow. The procedure is particularly straightforward for specific scenarios and the specific topics that Entra provides.

I completed the implementation in-house using the documentation provided by Microsoft and by following the Microsoft YouTube channels.

Entra's pricing is somewhat higher compared to AWS. With AWS, we have the ability to access EC2 servers, which are essentially virtual machines, for free for a duration of up to one year, specifically the basic virtual machine instances. However, Entra does not offer a similar option. If we are utilizing any form of virtual machine on Entra, we must begin payment after one month of complimentary usage. Unlike AWS, Entra does not provide access to basic virtual machine instances for educational or testing purposes. Furthermore, there is a discernible difference in pricing and licensing when we compare AWS Identity Access Management with Entra's ID system.

I would rate Microsoft Entra ID eight out of ten. I deducted two points due to the limitations concerning the connectivity of services for Android and other operating systems.

I have had multiple use cases for Entra ID during my previous position as a system administrator. In that role, I was responsible for managing around three thousand users within our organization, including some external parties, which brought the total user count to approximately ten thousand. Entra ID is a cloud-based solution designed for identity and access management. In our organization, we primarily employed it to maintain user groups for authentication purposes. Additionally, we had on-premises applications that required registration within Entra ID, enabling us to provide a single sign-on solution for these applications, granting access to our users.

Entra ID boasts several other features as well. For instance, we utilized a security feature called NFA to enhance user security. We also implemented a conditional access policy, tightly integrated with Microsoft Intune. This policy allowed us to define specific access rules based on user locations. This means that if a user was located in a particular branch, they would be granted access to certain services while others would not. Such configurations were established within our conditional access policy in Entra ID.

At times, we needed to provide temporary access to certain users as administrators. For instance, our compliance team might require access to check compliance reports or logs for a limited period, which we facilitated by granting access for one or two hours. Within Entra ID, we have a functionality known as Security Score, which we utilize to assess and benchmark the security of our organization. This helps us identify potential risks and areas for security enhancement.

Among the tools we employ, Intune plays a crucial role. With Intune, we effectively managed our Windows, iOS, and Android devices. We could establish compliance policies and configuration settings for both Entra ID and Intune, ensuring a consistent and secure user experience across different devices and platforms.

Entra ID can be deployed using a hybrid model for organizations with a significant on-premises presence, or in a fully cloud-based setup for those that do not.

Entra ID offers a unified interface for managing user access.

In addition to the Single Sign-On provided by Entra ID, we also offer a biometric option through Windows Hello.

In the admin center, we can locate the dashboard. Recently, Microsoft has made significant improvements. Previously, searching for a username required navigating to the user test section. However, presently, I've observed that Microsoft has enhanced the search scenario. Now, by simply searching for the username on our web page, it will display the username along with all associated details. Furthermore, we have password identity management, group management, and application registration options available. We also support on-prem authentication, specifically rescoping authentication like NTLM, which is an older authentication method. However, if we register our application with Entra ID, we can easily enhance the security of our authentication through modern authentication methods. These security features are available within the admin center.

Verified ID, in fact, is obtained when we create or subscribe within Entra for the initial time. Therefore, it is a default setting on Microsoft that provides us with a default domain. However, if we perform this on Microsoft.com, we need to append that tenant and subsequently verify it. This, of course, necessitates the addition of certain DNS entries to incorporate our customized domain into Entra ID. Consequently, we have the capacity to include up to 500 domains within a single tenant.

We are three global admin users. As such, we are responsible for maintaining our company's tenants. Occasionally, the security or compliance teams need to assess the current status. For instance, we might have a project requiring a vendor to have access for a specific duration. In such cases, we can readily grant customized access to that user for the designated period. Post this duration, access will be automatically revoked. Hence, we can manage these settings through permission management.

Microsoft has indeed introduced new features. For instance, we now have the ability to create a multitude of users or add members to a group all at once. To facilitate this, they have developed a custom script. By including the object ID of the user in an Excel or CSV file and importing that file, the system will automatically add the users. Entra ID is particularly time-saving, as it allows us to add 100 users in just 30 seconds using the group method. If we were to create the group manually, it would take one to two hours per user.

In my situation, not all users are motivated. The IT division and the technicians might be up to date with the latest technology. However, when we consider the finance or sales personnel, their primary focus is on their business sales. They lack knowledge of IT or technologies. As a result, when we introduce a new solution and onboard their users to that system, we encounter certain issues. Nevertheless, through integration and training, we established the necessary procedures for logging in and working, which eventually became acceptable. Entra ID has played a significant role in making the user experience more seamless.

As an administrator, we sometimes observe a discrepancy between Microsoft Intune and Entra ID – these are distinct solutions, each with its own licensing subscription. On occasion, these two solutions are combined into a single service, or conversely, certain services might be removed. Such situations can create conflicts for administrators. A few days ago, I noticed that certain aspects like the Microsoft Compliance and Microsoft Security tabs were missing when accessing Entra ID. It appears that some services have been removed from Entra ID and new ones have been introduced, which wasn't communicated to us. I would appreciate receiving notifications regarding the removal of services from specific tabs, along with information about their replacements. This would allow us to plan our logins accordingly. Microsoft offers two portals – the classic portal and the modern portal. When using the classic portal, we promptly receive notifications about its upcoming transition to the modern portal after a designated date. However, no such notifications were provided for Entra ID. In my quest to locate security and compliance checking features within Entra ID, I discovered that the options were seemingly absent. Subsequent Google searches revealed that these features had been consolidated under a single solution.

We are receiving false security alerts on the dashboard. We have set up a conditional access policy that restricts access based on the user's location. However, we have observed that there are instances when Microsoft's AI might be generating these false alerts. This is causing users to be blocked from accessing their accounts. When we reached out to these users, they confirmed that they hadn't visited the specified area or country in the last seven to ten days. Despite this, they are receiving notifications to reset their passwords, with a warning of being locked out. Microsoft should work on enhancing its machine-learning algorithm to prevent unnecessary lockouts of users.

I have been using Microsoft Entra ID for five years.

Entra ID is a cloud-based solution. Microsoft, in fact, operates multi-zone data centers which greatly reduce the possibility of service outages. However, this year we have experienced a significant amount of downtime. For instance, we encountered Exchange Online issues in Bangladesh. They source their authentication from either the Singapore or Indian data centers. Unfortunately, there were several instances of problems in this area this year, about two or three times. We faced communication as well as mail-sending problems. While their Service Level Agreement is supposed to be 99.99 percent uptime, it seems to be closer to 99.98 percent. Interestingly, for the past four years, we did not encounter any such issues. Strangely, this year, these problems began around the time of the Russian incident. It's possible that backend issues, perhaps related to cybersecurity, contributed. Additionally, Microsoft laid off ten thousand employees this year, and after this restructuring, we started facing these issues.

I would give the scalability a ten out of ten.

The quality of technical support depends on both the issue at hand and the expertise of the assisting engineer. In certain cases, they might be unable to provide assistance, leading us to resolve the issues on our own.

Positive

We previously used the on-premise version of Active Directory before switching to Entra ID.

The initial setup for Entra ID is simple when opting for a full cloud deployment. We only need to onboard the users and enter the license. However, in a hybrid scenario, we require network connectivity from on-premises to the cloud. Additionally, a separate server is necessary to synchronize the users with the cloud. This process is time-consuming and intricate to manage.

I implemented Entra ID for three to four companies in Bangladesh. Additionally, for on-premises Active Directory deployments, I handled more than ten to fifteen projects. In the capacity of a vendor, I collaborated with a company that served as a local partner of Microsoft.

The deployment involves four or five teams, including IT, Networking, and Security.

To facilitate hybrid implementations, we need the support of an architect to design the servers.

As Entra ID is a subscription service, a payment is required for each user every month. To access its features, purchasing the license is necessary. Initially, upon creating the tenant, a complimentary subscription for either 30 or 90 days is provided. After this trial period, it's mandatory to choose a subscription. Entra ID is relatively expensive compared to other solutions. There are free alternatives available for managing and providing authentication. However, considering a comprehensive range of solutions under one umbrella, Entra ID stands out. It offers additional benefits such as one terabyte of OneDrive and SharePoint storage, along with Microsoft Teams integration. The cost covers various applications and extra features, providing good value for the investment.

Entra has P1 and P2 licenses that are bundled with lots of applications.

I would rate Entra ID a nine out of ten.

Since Entra ID is cloud-based, remote users or branches need to ensure that they have a stable internet connection to access our environment.

Maintenance for cloud solutions is generally not obligatory. This is due to the automatic functionality that activates when users are enabled. However, if a license expires, we must either seek assistance from Microsoft or renew all licenses, subsequently testing the new licenses. Occasionally, for maintenance, especially when dealing with our own custom applications and enabling single sign-on with Entra ID users, we require assistance both from Microsoft and our mitigation team. This is because each application has its own authentication method, often resulting in compliance issues. To address this, discussions with the mitigation personnel are necessary, and we may need to allocate time for aid from a Microsoft engineer. In certain instances, collaboration with Microsoft vendors from the integration team is essential. Apart from these situations, the process remains fairly straightforward.

Microsoft Entra ID serves as an identity protector and service privilege manager.

It has enabled my organization to build a secure environment for user login and asset access. We can enable secure user logins and access to assets.

When we implement app access with Microsoft Entra ID, it gives us confidence that we have secure authentication for our applications.

With privilege identity management, we can grant or escalate rights to a role for a short duration of time and not forever. It is a great feature. It is useful to validate the escalation of privileges. 

Federation on access service principle and the ability to be passwordless in certain use cases are valuable. Federated identity management is a great feature for the zero-trust model. 

Microsoft Entra ID could benefit from more fine-tuned rights. It is necessary to prevent granting an application or user broad access rights. A more precise approach would allow for specific rights, limited to certain contexts within the organization.

I have been using Microsoft Entra ID for three years.

Microsoft Entra ID efficiently responds to numerous requests, and we have not faced significant connectivity issues, making it reliable.

Their customer support is good.

Positive

I have not used any other solution. I was previously using Azure AD. About two years ago, it was renamed to Microsoft Entra ID.

I would rate Microsoft Entra ID a nine out of ten.

We have it synced to our on-premises Active Directory environment where we have some Active Directory servers. We use it for authentication into our cloud apps. We use it for SSO. Because it is connected to our Office 365 tenant, we use it for single sign-on for applications that support it. 

We also use it to evaluate risky sign-ins or risky activity for users. If there are user sign-ins from a geographic location that they would not normally sign in from, we get a notification for it, and we can investigate what is going on with a user's ID, if the person is actually there or not, and if we need to take any action on it.

Entra ID has primarily helped with security and some level of organization of our user environment and application access for staff.

Entra provides a single pane of glass for managing user access to some degree. We still have to use local Active Directory management for certain items or troubleshooting. It does not seem to extend management and troubleshooting down to the endpoint level or have the same sort of granularity as managing Active Directory directly from an Active Directory server.

Entra ID has helped to save time. It has saved four to eight hours of staff member's time per week.

In some ways, Entra ID has saved us money because using it for single sign-on for third-party applications means that we do not have to use a third-party solution such as Okta or OneLogin. It is a default solution. It comes out of the box, and it works with multiple applications, which means that we do not have to go the route of having a third party to have that same type of solution for us. In that sense, it does save us money, but I do not know how much it has saved because I have not priced out Okta or any of the other solutions. I imagine it is a fairly substantial amount that they would charge per user per month times the number of our users.

Syncing with our on-prem Active Directory is valuable because we do not have to keep multiple identities for each of our staff members. We can easily evaluate login risks and provide access for SSO via 365 into applications, such as Salesforce, and other things that we run our business on.

Certain aspects of the user interface can be rather clunky and slow. It can sometimes be circular in terms of clicking a link for a risky user sign-in and seeing what the risky login attempts were. It takes you in a circle back to where you started, so drilling down into details, especially if you are not in it every day and it is one of many tools that you use, can be difficult. It can be difficult to track down the source of an issue.

There should be better integration or support for FSMO roles and cross-tenant force management. If you want to enable it, it is tricky when you add Entra ID into the mix for domain sync or directory sync.

I have been using this solution for five years.

The Entra ID and Azure Active Directory support is quite good. Sometimes, it may take a little bit of time to get past tier one basic questions and basic pointing to support articles and talk to somebody who looks at your configuration and starts to understand what your specific challenges are, but once you get to that next tier of support, it seems like you are able to get answers very quickly.

I would rate their support an eight out of ten. A ten out of ten would be where you make one phone call and all solutions are given.

Positive

We did not have single sign-on capabilities for our SaaS apps. Prior to implementing our Azure environment, we did not have a cloud identity provider. It was all on-premises.

I was involved in the deployment and initial setup of Entra ID. It was not that difficult. It had medium difficulty. There is a Microsoft way of doing things. Microsoft certainly seems to have made things easier since then. Whenever I go back into the system, it looks like some of the usability improvements are there. 

I believe that we also contacted Azure support a number of times during our deployment, and they were quite helpful. They were helpful up to the point where I got contacted by a product manager for Azure Active Directory at the time, and they were able to walk us through some of the implementation challenges we had, so Microsoft, at least for us as we were adopting Azure and Azure Active Directory, had a lot of hands on help with getting set up. They are open to feedback as well. The implementation was about as difficult as I expected an implementation to be. It was not certainly a turnkey where it just works right out of the box, but I have had more difficulty implementing other Microsoft solutions.

It is good. We have Office 365 E3, and then that is tied in with Azure Active Directory. I believe that we only have to pay for our technician-level access or IT department access for Azure Active Directory Premium, which I am sure they call Entra Premium P2 licensing, so it is not a very large cost. We just adopted that, and that gives us a lot of insights into user security that we would not otherwise have. 

We looked at Okta. We looked at Cisco Duo. We looked at OneLogin. I believe that there was some cost that we would have to bear if we had adopted them. Okta looked like a very good solution, but Azure AD came integrated out of the box with our Azure environment and our 365 environment, so we decided to move forward with it instead.

We have started using Permission Management. We have not fully rolled it out yet. We have also not used Verified ID. It is something that is a little tough to implement because the documentation is not necessarily there yet. We have just started touching the surface of it.

I would rate Entra ID an eight out of ten. It is a good product. It works out well for an organization of our size. We are fairly small, and we have limited IT resources. We are able to use Entra ID for permissions management and access management. I am trying to learn more about secure access and secure edge type of solutions that Entra has. At this Microsoft event, the demos in Demo Theater 3 have been overflowing and overcrowded to some crazy degrees, so there is definitely demand for it. Microsoft can put these demos in a larger room because there is a lot of demand for it.

We use Azure AD to manage all endpoints, including laptops, desktops, mobile devices, such as iPads and iPhones, and users. We can disable accounts, create accounts, reset passwords, maintain access, and manage permissions.

Azure AD is essential to our organization. Our users need to use their Azure AD credentials to log into their computers every morning, and we also manage user accounts in Azure AD. As a result, we cannot function without Azure AD.

We use Entra's conditional access to restrict access to our system from overseas users. This means that users can only log in from Canada and the United States.

Our zero-trust strategy uses conditional access to verify users and prevent unexpected traffic, such as attacks from Russia. This makes our strategy more robust and secure.

We use Entra's conditional access in conjunction with Microsoft Endpoint Manager to limit user logins from Canada and the USA. We also limit devices that can log into the network to only those located in Canada.

Entra has helped our IT administrators save an hour of time per day.

Entra has helped our organization save money.

We used to use on-premises Active Directory. Now, we use Azure Active Directory. The main difference is that users can now reset their own passwords in Azure AD. This is a positive improvement, as it saves time and hassle for both users and IT staff. I believe that this has had a positive impact on our employee experience.

User and device management is the most valuable feature.

I would like Azure AD to provide features similar to check-in on-prem AD. The fetch-all service is the only one that is not currently available on Azure AD.

The technical support has room for improvement.

I have been using Azure AD for five years.

I give Azure AD's stability an eight out of ten.

I give Azure AD's scalability an eight out of ten.

The basic support from Microsoft is not good.

Negative

We previously used the on-premises Microsoft Active Directory. However, we have since switched to Azure Active Directory, which is a cloud-based solution. Azure AD is more flexible and scalable than on-premises AD, and it allows us to save money on hardware costs. This is because we no longer need to purchase and maintain our own servers. Instead, we can simply use the servers that are provided by Microsoft.

The initial deployment was straightforward and took two months to complete. We switched over to the new system and then set up a number of additional features, such as enterprise applications and multi-factor authentication. This took an additional month, for a total of three months. We followed the instructions from Microsoft step-by-step. The deployment required two full-time employees from our organization and three from our partner.

The implementation was completed with the help of an MSP.

We have seen a significant return on investment since switching to Azure AD. Our monthly costs have decreased from $5,000 to $100.

The price is affordable, and we pay around $100 per month.

Both Okta and Azure AD are great solutions. I know that many people use Okta, but my concern is that we are also using Microsoft products on the endpoint. This means that our users use Windows, and it makes more sense to use a front-end and back-end Microsoft solution.

I give Azure AD a nine out of ten.

Azure AD requires very minimal maintenance.

I recommend Azure AD. The solution is straightforward.