Google Cloud Identity Reviews

In my previous project, we were designing and implementing a cloud foundation for a US-based pharma customer. We set up  Google Cloud Platform for them and used Cloud Identity to manage their end-users. We synchronized directly with Cloud Identity using the Google Cloud Directory Synchronization tool. That allowed us to synchronize user identities from the Microsoft Active Directory to Cloud Identity. We also synchronized Active Directory-based groups to Google Cloud then mapped the users to the groups and used those groups to assign high-end policies on the Google Cloud Platform. We also configured the Cloud Identity Single Sign-On service to enable the end-users to use their Active Directory credentials to log into the Identity Cloud platform via a single sign-on.

Cloud Identity is user-friendly. You don't need much expertise or previous experience with Cloud Identity to work with it. It's a simple user interface, and the configuration is pretty straightforward. You can look at the GUI and figure out what you want to do. It's intuitive to use.

One of the most useful features was the single sign-on. You can use it as an identity provider or service provider. And you can use their organization unit feature to enable or disable some of the features for a specific group of users. For example, suppose you don't want to enable or disable a particular feature for only some users. In that case, you can create an organization unit, and you can set the policies on that specific organization unit. 

I also found the groups feature valuable. Google recommends that enterprises use groups instead of directly managing the high-end policies for individual identities. And the GCDS tool is beneficial as well. You can schedule it to run whenever you'd like so that it automatically connects with your active directory, and the target is the Cloud Identity. It just synchronizes the users, groups, or whatever else you choose. 

One area where Cloud Identity has room for improvement is monitoring and alerts. If you want to set up some alerts, you don't have much control over the configuration. You have to use their default alerts. And they only provide alerts for certain activities, so you cannot customize those. Monitoring isn't very helpful either. If I have four or five administrators, I would like to know what they're doing and monitor their activity. Unfortunately, I have to navigate through so many areas to monitor them.

In the free version, I can only manage up to 100 identities. That isn't limited in the premium version, but I would like to manage more identities in the free tier. Also, you cannot use any business features in the free version. 

I have worked on Cloud Identity for almost a year. My most recent experience was around one or two months back. Currently, I'm not using it that much, but I worked with it extensively in the past.

Cloud Identity's stability is great.

If you want to scale up, you need to purchase a business license. You have to buy the business license for a large number of users, and they'll charge you based on that.

The technical support documentation was quite helpful. If you contact support directly, they will assist you in setting up anything you find difficult, but it is a long process. You cannot expect a reply immediately. You have to wait one or two hours.

I have a little experience with Active Directory, but not much with other cloud-based identity providers. Cloud Identity is a cloud-based Software as a Service model, so you don't need to worry about managing the infrastructure. That is one advantage. Active Directory is just software you install on your own Windows VM or Windows Server and manage. You need some technical expertise to install, configure, and manage the Active Directory, whereas Cloud Identity is straightforward. If you have a little bit of experience with IT, you can handle it. You don't need a lot of technical expertise to work on Cloud Identity.

It is cloud-based Software as a Service model, so you don't need to provision anything on your own. You sign up like any G Suite service. Once you sign up for Cloud Identity using your domain, you must verify that you own the domain. It's straightforward after that. One person is enough to manage Cloud Identity, but you can have two or three people for availability purposes. It took one or two hours to get it deployed. I just had to coordinate with the domain admin guy. Aside from managing the end-users, there isn't much maintenance. It's SaaS, so Google manages all the infrastructure for you.

When I worked on Cloud Identity, they offered a free or enterprise version. You can synchronize and create up to 100 user identities in the free version. After that, you have to purchase a business or enterprise license. In that model, you'll be charged based on the number of users. I don't remember exactly how much they charge per user.

I rate Cloud Identity eight out of 10. If you're considering Cloud Identity, I say go ahead and try it. It's a great, simple tool to manage your identities. You can just integrate it with your existing directory solutions, and it works pretty well.

Google is always on its own. Google Cloud Identity is pretty good on every point.

The one place it could be improved is the password vaulting. The password vaulting does not prevent the admins from reading users' passwords, and that's a debate.

Some say, if you're an employee and you goof up or something happens, your admin should be able to see your password. In my world - no. If I goof up my admin should be able to reset my passwords but not see what they were. If I want to use the name of my dog plus numbers, he doesn't need to read that. He just needs to reset it. That's a distinction. We call it zero trust. Password vaulting should not allow the admin the possibility to read. I made the observation to Google and they said, "Well, yes, but it's logged," and that's not good enough.

The fact that the super admin was able to read all of my passwords and that it's logged, the log is only for the super admin - he is the only person that reads them and which will have the log that he read them.

Besides the password vaulting, it works fine. It's just that security notion that I'm not comfortable with. So I'm using a password manager, hence LastPass when password vaulting is required.

In the next release, we need to clean up the console for the admin. In the three years that I am using it, I think I'm up to my sixth version. This is proof that if they change the console so much, it's because they keep on trying to improve it. 

What they need to improve, clearly, is the zero trust enrollment for Chrome OS devices. They are getting there, but they need to keep on improving it. So zero trust enrollment to make it super smooth, buttery smooth. 

I have been using Google Cloud Identity nearly since it came out, so more than two years, perhaps three. The full name is Google Cloud Identity Premium.

I'm using LastPass Enterprise and Saaspass in the same field, and Google Cloud Identity Premium. Those are my three go-to products now.

On a scale of one to ten, I would rate Google Cloud Identity a nine because of its password vaulting. Also, it does what Okta does but for many more zeros on the invoice.

The solution has a good amount of features.

The product does integrate well with Azure products.

It's easy to set up.

The stability is good.

The solution can scale.

If I compare the product with Azure Active Directory, Google is much too complex to integrate. I am more familiar with Microsoft.

It has a bit of a complex interface.

Technical support is slow.

The security is questionable. 

I've been dealing with the solution for three or four months at this point. It hasn't been too long.

The stability is very good. There aren't bugs or glitches. it's reliable. it doesn't crash or freeze. 

We have found the scalability to be quite good.

In Google, if we want support they are very slow to respond. Microsoft support is much better and far more responsive. We aren't quite as satisfied with Google. 

When we want to integrate something with Microsoft, it might take an hour, however, when we want to do something on Google, we'll be trying to reach support for an hour.

I'm also familiar with Microsoft, which I find easier to work with.

For a completely new user and setup, the initial implementation is very straightforward.

As integrators, we can implement the solution for clients.

We're integrators.

In terms of the ecosystem, if the ecosystem there really is no problem with productivity. However,  if they already have a lot of Microsoft, Azure might be better. I'm very happy with Azure. However, as a second option, Cloud Identity is quite good.

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.

The solution is primarily used for single control and single sign which helps with the security and authentication of multiple devices.

The integration should be made easier. 

I have been using the tool for the last three-four months. 

There were some issues with stability, initially. It was not working seamlessly as some of the users were facing problems like logging into Google's own apps versus communicating with our app. There were certain challenges some of the users that got resolved in three-four weeks.

The tool is scalable. 

During the initial setup their response has been good. After that, we have not seen much of an issue with the Google support.

Initially, the setup was complex because there was a learning curve, so the team did hit some issues with the integrations and making it work seamlessly. It was not simple but not complicated either. The solution was deployed in a week.

I think the pricing is reasonable. 

We did look into a few options. The solution was more straightforward for us because most of our ecosystem was already on Google Cloud. Rather than being extensive, we evaluated whether the product met our needs.

It is important to note down the different use' cases and then make a decision. It is recommended to undertake an early workshop for user case discovery.

I rate it an eight out of ten.

We use the solution for collaboration and productivity. My company also uses it for logging into laptops.

The tool provides a free service that you can integrate for laptop authentication. You also don’t need a separate Active Directory.

I want the tool to improve its support. It should also incorporate some functionalities. Currently, preparing presentations in Google is a pain point. The tool’s certain features like user provisioning are not intuitive as well. The product’s LDAP support is very poor. Clients do not trust the product due to the spam.

I have been using the product for six years.

The solution is stable. I would rate the tool’s stability a nine out of ten.

The product is quite scalable. I would give it a seven out of ten. We have around fifty users for the solution.

The tool’s support doesn’t provide information when we contact them.

Neutral

I have worked with Azure. If there is competition between Azure and Google Cloud, I would prefer Azure over Google Cloud.

The product’s installation is straightforward.

I would rate the tool a seven out of ten.

We are using Google Cloud Identity as a single sign-on solution or for access management where you can determine who is accessing work and when.

The most valuable feature of Google Cloud Identity is group access. You are able to assign policies to groups instead of users individually.

Google Cloud Identity the UI could improve.

I have been using Google Cloud Identity for approximately two years.

Google Cloud Identity is stable.

The scalability of Google Cloud Identity is good.

Everyone in my organization is using it. We have approximately 4,000 users using it.

The support from Google Cloud Identity is good.

The initial setup of Google Cloud Identity is not difficult. You have to create the groups and users and give them a link to the applications that you want them to access. You need to add all the permission. It's something that can be implemented easily. The time it takes depends on the complexity. For example, if you have a lot of users and the access and tools that they will have access to are high then it will add to the time.

We did the implementation of Google Cloud Identity in-house.

I rate Google Cloud Identity an eight out of ten.

We create accounts and manage Google Workspace administrative process.

The solution is moderate to difficult to use. I found the approach was practical. Following the steps made it very easy to use.

Google Cloud Identify could make the technology used easier to understand as a layman making it more user-friendly.

The interface could be more eye-catching so it is more approachable to the user. 

I have been using Google Cloud Identity for a few months.

Google Cloud Identity is a scalable solution.

When referring to the help articles I found them not helpful. Support themselves understood my query but the resolution was not satisfactory.

Creating accounts is simple, but further deployment is moderate. Maintenance is all administrative to control accounts.

For small business or independents it is not always affordable.

I considered Microsoft, but because of Google's penetration in the market, it was my preference.

Google Cloud Identity would be very helpful for a small startup or a small office. A company having Workspace accounts on Google, using their services like email, Gmail, and all the drive services is helpful.

I would rate Google Cloud Identity a 7 out of 10.

We use Cloud Identity for application authentication. 

All of Cloud Identity's features are quite fine.

The interface could be more user-friendly. 

I've been using Cloud Identity for three years.

Cloud Identity is stable. 

Cloud Identity is scalable enough for our needs. It's serving more than 3,000 users in our organization.

Google support is fantastic. 

I can't recall how long the Cloud Identity takes to set up, but it wasn't cumbersome. 

The license is yearly, and it's cheap.

I rate Cloud Identity nine out of 10.