What is our primary use case?
We are using it internally because I work in a consultancy company. I use it both for our internal privileged accounts. We have different systems like Google Cloud, some internal servers, data centers, etc. To secure those privileged accounts, like the administrator accounts and root accounts, I use One Identity Safeguard to rotate passwords, authorize sessions, and more. The second use case is that we also implement One Identity Safeguard for different customers.
How has it helped my organization?
The most significant benefit is that in the past, we saved passwords in Notepad files or Excel files. Now, we do not, and we have more security. We do not have saved passwords or plain text passwords in different places within the organization. That is probably the most significant benefit regarding security.
In terms of integrations, we have basic integrations for our Windows and Unix servers. We do the transparent connection for LDP and SSH, and that is all. The integration is simple overall for this kind of connection. However, if we want to integrate different consoles or different systems, it is a bit more complex because it is not so much out of the box, but for our current systems, it was very easy.
End-users require just a couple of training sessions and some documentation, and they are ready to go. They can start using the tool as an end user in a week or less. Managers or administrators require a technical specialist training workshop, which is a full-week course. After that, they need one to three months of training with laboratories and documentation. They would need at least three months to work well with the platform.
What is most valuable?
There is ease of implementation. Compared to other PAM solutions, it is easy to implement and use from an administrator's point of view. That is the most important benefit. It is very simple to implement and use.
What needs improvement?
We should be able to create customized connectors in a better way. For ad hoc or special use cases, I sometimes find we have limitations. Improving the way we develop new connectors for non-typical systems would be beneficial.
Another area for improvement could be the threat detection capabilities, like those seen in other PAM vendors. The ability to detect strange behaviors during a transparent connection or detect risky sessions and respond immediately would also be a good improvement.
We have had good feedback about One Identity Safeguard, but for LDP and SSH sessions, when we have to connect to a different console, such as a web console, the customers sometimes complain about the efficiency of the sessions. It takes extra time, and the user experience is not so good when you are using different connectors than normal ones.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it since 2020, so about five years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability. It is like a black box. It is an appliance. It is difficult for things to go wrong.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability. It is easy if you need to implement resources.
In our organization, we have 15-20 people working with this solution. Our clients are medium enterprises.
How are customer service and support?
We use their partner support. It is usually okay. When I have day-to-day incidents and problems, the response is good enough in terms of time and quality. However, with complex problems, the response is not as fast.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have experience with CyberArk. I would say CyberArk is a more complex solution in terms of implementation, day-to-day administration, and maintenance. It is more complex and difficult in some ways, but for advanced or difficult connectors, CyberArk has more capabilities to develop customized connectors. It can cover more special or ad hoc use cases, but at the price of more complexity overall.
One Identity Safeguard is at the top level because it covers almost all the general PAM use cases. It covers password rotation, transparent connections, threat detection, isolation, etc. It can cover the needs of most organizations. We have also been able to better cover more complex use cases with One Identity Safeguard than with other PAM solutions.
How was the initial setup?
We have a virtual appliance. We chose the virtual appliance because we were already using a virtual machine infrastructure, so it was easy for us. Our implementation is not complex. We do not have a lot of regulations. It does not matter if we lose connectivity. It is not the end of the world, so for us, a virtual appliance was good enough. It was easier to implement. We do not need to rely on physical devices.
To implement and be functional, it takes days, probably one week, but when I go to a customer and need to do all the configuration and integrate systems, it can take a couple of months overall. It takes days to implement, but configuring and integrating everything can take some months.
In terms of maintenance, it requires less maintenance compared to other PAM solutions. There is not much maintenance regarding the infrastructure. They are, black boxes or appliances, but they do require maintenance in terms of day-to-day configuration, permissions, and connectors.
What was our ROI?
We did not cover many use cases regarding efficiency and cost reduction, so we did not see ROI directly. However, being more secure makes it less probable that we will suffer an attack or data loss, which is a cost reduction, but I did not see much time reduction. There is about 10% savings.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is cheaper than CyberArk. Its price is fair.
What other advice do I have?
We use the solution’s transparent mode feature for privileged sessions. There was an impact on the users with the roll-out of this feature because we changed the way people were connecting to systems and faced some problems like communication and networking problems. People did not have the correct permissions at the time. That was a bit of a problem, but we now have a seamless integration. It took us a couple of months to have everything working.
I will recommend it to some customers because it is easy to deploy, administer, and configure. The price is fair. The scalability is also good.
Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten. It covers pretty much all use cases, but sometimes there is a lack of customization.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner