We employ the product for several tasks. The first is as a way to check and double-check on end-user identification. The second case is for application identification. We use this product in a business environment where there are multiple applications that a user needs to choose between, like a database or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). The product helps to secure these connections.
Strong single sign on security comes packaged with simplicity in this on-premises-only solution
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The key feature of Ilex that we need — given the type of environment and requirements that our clients have — is that the product is installed on-premises. This works for us in meeting the requirements of the projects we work on and for the client. The on-premises deployment meets restrictions and the end-user is able to control all the configuration in their own IT environment.
What needs improvement?
I think maybe one thing that the vendor may already be considering — I don't know if it is officially on their roadmap — would be to have a SaaS offering. Today there is no software as a service or PaaS (Platform as a Service) offering from Ilex. For the projects that we use it for, the only option is on-premises integration.
So, one way to improve the product is to add a SaaS (or software as a service) offering as an option. The second way is increasing the range of API integration.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Ilex Sign&Go for three years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I think this solution is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We do not have a huge usage load in our implementation of the product at our company. We know this because we have been working with clients and speaking with them as users and they literally have thousands of users on the product. Based on their testimonial and their lack of problems in performance, the scalability is there. In our company on our projects, we stay in the range of only hundreds of users, which is very small in comparison.
As far as the number of people we require for maintenance, we are the level two maintenance with the vendor. To use and to configure on the client's side — for our clients — they really should never require in excess of one person full-time or the equivalent. Sign&Go has got a pretty low administrative requirement as far as maintenance is concerned.
On our side, as far as the second level of support, I would say we get very few requests for actual issues with the product. The product stability is good. So, as far as running the maintenance on our end, we tend to only have a request is when a client needs to integrate a new workstation or do something else to expand their operations.
How are customer service and technical support?
I think the technical support people at Ilex are extremely skilled. I do not have direct experience in making the calls to support there, but I think the team which is providing the third level support at Ilex is made up of only experts in the product. They are people who have multiple years of experience working with and servicing it. The clients only reach that level after we have tried to solve their issues ourselves as second-level support. It is more-or-less a rare thing for the clients to get passed to Ilex.
So, I would say, from our experience, that Ilex support is really good.
The only apparent problem clients may encounter if they need to get to that third level of support is that Ilex is a French company. So, when the client has to contact support, they may have to either speak French themselves or wait for a technician to get back to them. I think that Ilex will have to address this at some point by developing and expanding the team to have full professional third-level support in German and in English. That may be one of the only problems with support.
But in terms of expertise, these people at Ilex are super-expert and completely professional.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also know quite a lot about, and sometimes use, other products with clients, like Okta and Team (Elastic SSO). We have not really switched away from those products. But there is the fact that when given a project and asked for our recommendation and there is a choice, Ilex is the best solution that we can offer.
One of the reasons why I point out that Ilex is an on-premises solution is that some clients want to have a fully secure environment and to have a SaaS offering that they will use for the SSO. In that case, Team would be a good potential option.
Okta is maybe considered a bit more complex end-to-end. It is probably better applied in a situation where we are talking about very big projects where companies can spend months and a lot of hours putting their solution together. The budget for implementing this product is extremely high. Because of all these reasons and by comparison, we almost always recommended Ilex as the best solution for the sake of prompt and efficient project deployment.
What other advice do I have?
On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Ilex Sign&Go as an eight out of ten. What I would like to see included in the next release to make it at least nine would be the SaaS option. This is the one feature or option that they would need in order to be a good fit for more customers and create more demand.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
