Microsoft Entra ID Reviews

I usually use Microsoft Entra ID to access our resources and to manage our approvals. It is used to assign roles, set limits, and manage access levels. For specific users, I ensure that nobody else has access. My personal files are protected, and confidential projects are kept secure.

The solution has helped build trust. I trust what I am doing and make sure that my files are protected and safe.

Microsoft Entra ID offers strong security levels, especially with two-step authentication, which confirms that I am the real user. It ensures that nobody can access files or emails without permission. Additionally, it consolidates sign-in requirements across different services, like GitHub, Twitter, and Upwork, in a single application. Microsoft Entra ID changes permissions to role access ID levels, ensuring access to only what is needed.

I do not see any area needing improvement. Perhaps integration with other AI tools, beyond Copilot, could enhance its use, like signing into ChatGPT.

I have been using Microsoft Entra ID for almost more than fifteen years.

I have not experienced any performance or stability issues with Microsoft Entra ID.

Microsoft Entra ID is scalable. It can accommodate many accounts, beyond just a few.

I have not been in contact with Microsoft customer service.

I evaluated Google Identity and HashiCorp but decided to stay with Microsoft Entra ID because of its user-friendliness and familiarity.

The initial setup of Microsoft Entra ID was very straightforward.

The deployment of Microsoft Entra ID was handled in-house by our department.

I have not thought about return on investment because the company provides Microsoft Entra ID. However, the protection it offers is invaluable.

The cost of Microsoft Entra ID is around $8 per month, which I find very reasonable.

I evaluated Google Identity and HashiCorp.

I rate the solution at ten because it is a great solution for those looking for security and privacy.

We predominantly use Microsoft Entra ID for running our User Directory Service. It integrates with Intune, Exchange, and SharePoint.

Microsoft Entra ID acts as our core directory. It is essential for authentication, VPN authentication, and using onsite RADIUS. It supports our user scopes for various applications. Everything we do revolves around this directory and its authentication.

If I have one criticism, it's regarding processing times. Changes or even inbound email logging tend to take a minimum of fifteen to twenty minutes. There is a need for more real-time processing. Some user updates are instantaneous, while others can take two to three hours. A feature to force manual updates would be beneficial rather than waiting for scheduled updates.

I have been working with Microsoft Entra ID since 2009.

For stability, I wouldn't give it a ten because we have experienced some outages. I would probably rate it around a seven. Generally, it's stable, but when it goes down, the impact is substantial.

From my perspective, we haven't encountered any scaling limits. It meets our needs for user productivity.

I would rate Microsoft's technical support on the lower side. While some responses are quick and satisfactory, there have been occasions where issues took weeks or circles to resolve, sometimes closing and reopening without resolution. I would rate their support around a four.

Neutral

Through acquisitions, we used Google Workspace. We have spent a considerable amount of time with it.

The initial setup of Microsoft Entra ID is not straightforward without training. However, once you are familiar with it, the process is seamless.

We did not use an integrator or consultant for the first deployment. Initially, I did it all myself, although I have a few people working with me now.

Regarding pricing, for the services we receive, it seems within the market range and about average.

Through acquisitions, we have spent considerable time evaluating Google Workspace.

Overall, Microsoft Entra ID does what we need it to do. I would rate it around a seven on a scale of one to ten.

The primary use case is for single sign-on, service provisioning, and security features, including multi-factor authentication.

We have been integrating network services and authentication services such as PIN Identity and Entra ID, which helps in providing a consolidated security solution.

The main valuable feature is the integration into a single console, which includes authentication service and endpoint security. This consolidation of security features in one place is extremely beneficial.

The cost is one area that needs improvement. Also, there is a need for better transformation support from on-premises Active Directory policies to the cloud, as Entra ID doesn't cover this sufficiently yet. The flexibility of the security policies could also be improved.

I have been working with EntraID, previously known as Azure ID, for about three or four years.

The stability of the solution is good with a rating of eight out of ten.

Entra ID is pretty scalable with a rating of eight out of ten.

Sometimes there is a late reply, but overall, it's good. I would rate Microsoft technical support as a seven out of ten.

Neutral

Customers often consider alternatives like Okta or PingID if Entra ID does not suit their requirements.

The initial setup of Entra ID is simple.

We work as integrators, focusing on integrating network services and authentication services like Entra ID.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

I use Microsoft Entra ID to manage the identities of production and creating groups, as well as to enable multi-factor authentication for users. Other use cases include looking at devices that are linked to users.

Microsoft Entra ID is pretty user-friendly and intuitive. The graphics are particularly useful when it comes to the auditing part. I saw the benefits of Microsoft Entra ID immediately after I started using it.

I would appreciate it if they linked the Microsoft Entra ID platform with other 365 platforms, such as the governance of Power BI or the security for the App Center. That would be very useful since we have many platforms related to Microsoft 365. We need to have a link or different profiles for managing through Microsoft Entra ID, which is the main platform.

I have been using Microsoft Entra ID for four years.

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

I would rate the scalability for Microsoft Entra ID an eight out of ten.

I have contacted technical support for Microsoft Entra ID. The quality of support is regular. If you contact Microsoft support directly for Microsoft Entra ID, it's faster, but when you do it through a partner, it takes more time.

Neutral

I have not used any alternatives to Microsoft Entra ID in my career.

I wasn't in the company when Microsoft Entra ID was deployed. I started when it was already deployed. I know that the deployment of Microsoft Entra ID is pretty easy because we can do it with AD Connect.

It took me two weeks to learn how to use it. I would rate it a six out of ten in terms of the learning curve.

Its maintenance is taken care of by Microsoft. 

My advice for new users on how to start with Microsoft Entra ID is to take the Azure fundamentals certification AC-900, which gives you much insight, as well as the AC-500 for identity. 

I would rate Microsoft Entra ID as eight out of ten.

Our primary use case for the solution is building solutions using all Microsoft services, including migration projects, service provider roles, developer solutions, AI solutions, and ETL solutions for all those things, where we will use Microsoft services.

Recently, I did a migration project, which involved migrating from Microsoft Dynamics using ETL, for which I have used Microsoft Entra ID for app registration and API authentication. From Microsoft Dynamics 365, I want to connect to Microsoft services, and I perform the authentication and app registration and user login; I have used all these functions in Microsoft Entra ID.

The implementation of Microsoft Entra ID has impacted my secure access to apps or resources in my environment because it made it easier. For example, if I need to access a Key Vault and don't want to access it directly, I can use Microsoft Entra ID, and I can set all the policies there and use the Key Vault values.

These features are beneficial and valuable because they can be used to connect with third-party services and Microsoft services.

Since implementing Microsoft Entra ID, I've observed changes in the frequency and nature of identity-related security incidents. In app registration for a recent project, my Microsoft Dynamics 365 enterprise application is not visible. We need to add that app through client; we need to use AZ client, and there we need to add the ID, and it is not showing in the UI. This could be improved.

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

The Microsoft Entra integration capabilities have not influenced my zero trust model in any way.

I have been dealing with Microsoft Entra ID, which is not as an Azure product, since 2000. So, twenty-five years now. It is now known as Microsoft Entra ID.

Microsoft Entra ID is built on a robust database infrastructure for finding objects with specific capabilities, be they users, computers, members of a company, machines, or whatever else. It historically stems from the X.500 system, developed for efficiently finding specialists, as demonstrated with the Apollo project. This historical foundation underpins its effective directory services in the modern context.

Currently, Microsoft Entra ID is a pretty service. It could benefit from implementing a specific large language model instead of LDAP queries to find resources and implementation details in one comprehensive scoop. This could replace existing document references with AI-driven support for faster implementation.

I have been dealing with Microsoft Entra ID since 2000, which is now rebranded to Entra ID as a Software as a Service product of Active Directory.

The infrastructure of Microsoft Entra ID scales to register and manage various resources, including large-scale directory services for users, computers, machines, etc.

I find the support excellent. If I have an investigation and I am not progressing well, contacting support results in responses within one or two days, usually with competent people. Because it takes some time, I rate it a nine out of ten.

Positive

There are different licenses with various capabilities, as with any service Microsoft offers. Microsoft sets pricing based on customer demand, adjusting to find the optimal balance between sales volume and profit per unit, similar to how Costco manages product prices.

I rate Microsoft Entra ID ten out of ten. It can be improved with large language models for better usability, but currently, it is quite efficient. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella suggested transitioning all Software as a Service systems to agent-based large language model solutions, which seems promising. I am willing to be a reference for Microsoft and I am open to receiving contact from people with questions about my review. The solution is rated ten out of ten.

We use Microsoft Entra ID to ensure our users have the correct permissions and access. It manages privileged identity and ensures that we have proper MFA for the security of our employees.

Entra ID has made us more agile, enabling us to move faster in our tasks while providing tools for our employees to become more agile and efficient. The solution has improved our security considerably. Entra ID has helped us strengthen security across the board regarding access to apps and resources. It lets us create layers of security that help us prevent significant security issues in the future, such as nation-state attacks and token theft.

The solution helps us envision a future with zero trust, which is one of our goals but challenging to achieve. Entra ID has given us a pathway to achieve it.

Multi-factor authentication is one of the most important features of my work. Verified ID is another feature that is becoming significant. Furthermore, Microsoft Entra ID provides governance over IDs while ensuring people have the correct permissions. We also gain more visibility into security issues, leveraging automation to address them. It's made us more agile and efficient.

There are many new features being added all the time, and Microsoft is advancing at a pace that aligns with our needs. I can't think of anything immediate that needs improvement.

We have been using Entra ID since Microsoft Office 365 was released. I'm unsure of the exact year, but it's been quite a few years—perhaps 10.

The stability of Microsoft Entra ID is fantastic. We rarely encounter any significant issues.

The scalability is great. We are a larger partner, so we're a high-end example, and it's scaled very well for us.

Customer service and technical support have been outstanding. For an organization the size of ours, we have a dedicated team we frequently connect with and escalation paths for larger issues.

Positive

We previously used various solutions, but integrating everything under Microsoft has allowed us to streamline and manage everything in one place.

The setup process is quite streamlined, particularly around cost procedures. However, I don't have any additional details.

We worked with several partners, although I can't recall any names.

I don't have specific metrics but implementing the solution has definitely helped us.

Our experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is streamlined and simplified, particularly in cost procedures. I don't have more details beyond that.

I don't recall any specific alternate solutions evaluated before switching.

I'd rate Microsoft Entra ID a 10 out of 10 due to the extensive range and focus on security features.

As a bank in Turkey, we are prohibited from using cloud services for data storage. However, to utilize Microsoft Teams and implement a suitable Data Loss Prevention solution with Entra ID authentication, we adopted Microsoft Entra ID.

Microsoft Entra ID facilitated the implementation of Microsoft Teams as our collaborative platform. To prevent misuse of Teams features, particularly chat, we also integrated Symantec's data leakage prevention solution.

Microsoft Entra ID, integrated with Microsoft Teams, has enhanced the security of access to applications and resources within our environment.

People in the company are happy with Microsoft Teams, and we are quickly adopting it for collaboration. We are excited about the potential introduction of Copilot to Microsoft Teams, which is expected to be beneficial.

The most valuable aspect of Microsoft Entra ID is its ability to integrate with other cloud applications.

The quality of support has declined in recent years.

I have been using Microsoft Entra ID for two years.

Microsoft Entra ID has been stable since we started using it two years ago.

We experienced no scalability issues with Microsoft Entra ID. Our company's approximately 25,000 users were almost all synchronized to the cloud without performance problems.

Microsoft support has always been the best among all big companies. Although there is a general decrease in the quality of support across all companies, Microsoft Entra ID is still the best.

Positive

We previously used a local Microsoft Active Directory and integrated it with Entra ID. We also had other directory solutions like Oracle ID but chose not to switch because we depend on Microsoft solutions. Our desktops are Microsoft endpoints, and nearly half of our data center servers run Windows operating systems. We have existing long-term agreements with Microsoft, which led us to choose them for cloud adoption without considering other vendors.

We implemented Microsoft Entra ID in-house using resources and the help of Microsoft.

I would rate Microsoft Entra ID nine out of ten.

When I started using Microsoft Entra ID I was an identity and access management technical support engineer at an organization that was a Microsoft partner. I use Microsoft Entra ID primarily to reproduce customer scenarios or challenges they are facing to help them resolve issues on their end. 

Microsoft Entra ID offers a single pane of glass for managing user access. This unified interface provides essential notifications and guidance if further actions are needed within Entra ID. While all features can't be displayed simultaneously due to potential clutter making it visually unappealing, the centralized view efficiently directs us toward managing user access and other identity and access management tasks.

The single pane of glass affects the user's experience positively. Microsoft Entra ID makes necessary innovations when it comes to the GUI interface.

In my overall assessment, the admin center seems effective in consolidating all the responsibilities and duties that admins should be able to perform. This centralization makes it efficient for users like us global admins and user administrators to find everything we need to do in one place, adhering to the principle of least privilege. While I appreciate the admin center's functionality, I prefer working with the Entra portal for its more robust view.

Microsoft Entra ID has significantly improved our organization's security posture. One key feature is what we call privilege identity management, specifically designed to manage sensitive administrative credentials. For example, imagine a CEO with an account in Entra ID. We might also have an IT technician or support person with an admin role, like a Security Admin. We call these privileged identity accounts. While the CEO holds the highest position, they don't need admin access. privilege identity management has been instrumental in enhancing our overall security in several ways including, Robustly securing privileged identity accounts: PIM implements stringent controls and access restrictions, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive data and systems. Enforcing the principle of least privilege: PIM ensures users have only the minimum permissions necessary to perform their duties, reducing the attack surface and potential for misuse. Adding extra layers of security: Entra ID integrates multi-factor authentication and conditional access policies, further strengthening access control and mitigating security risks.

Entra ID's conditional access feature strengthens the zero-trust principle, which emphasizes continuous verification and never granting automatic trust. This policy has significantly improved our overall security posture by implementing specific controls that grant access only when users meet defined conditions.

The visibility and control provided by Entra ID permission management across Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Cloud is impressive. Microsoft has a long history in the identity and access management space, starting with Active Directory and subsequently adapting to the cloud. Their cloud expertise has served them well in developing Entra ID, a comprehensive IAM solution. I believe Entra ID represents a significant improvement, offering clear visibility and control over permissions. While I haven't used other third-party products for comparison, I feel Microsoft has delivered a top-notch feature within the IAM landscape.

Using permission management has helped reduce risk surfaces regarding identity permissions.

Entra ID has significantly reduced the time burden on our IT administrators and HR department. Take, for example, its built-in self-service password reset feature. Imagine I've forgotten my password and need to reset it. Previously, I'd have to log a request with IT, potentially waiting for assistance if they were unavailable. SSPR empowers users to reset their passwords independently, freeing up valuable time for our IT team. For our HR department, Entra ID offers integrations with third-party apps, also known as user provisioning. This comes in two flavors: outbound and inbound. Outbound provisioning specifically applies here. In this scenario, Entra ID acts as the source system, creating user accounts in the target third-party SaaS app which is like a tag assistant. For example, if an HR employee needs access to Dropbox or G Suite, we can create those accounts automatically in Entra ID and then provision them into the corresponding SaaS apps using user flows. This eliminates the need for manual user creation in each app. Furthermore, we can implement single sign-on, removing the hassle of juggling multiple passwords for different resources.

Microsoft Entra ID has significantly impacted the employee user experience, particularly through its single sign-on functionality. SSO eliminates the need for multiple passwords to access different resources. Previously, when a user was created in Entra ID, accessing other applications developed outside of Microsoft required separate credentials and logins for each platform. This created a fragmented and cumbersome experience. However, with Entra ID's SSO, user authentication and authorization for these third-party applications now seamlessly occur through a single sign-on process. This grants secure access to all integrated applications without the need for additional logins, streamlining the user experience and enhancing security.

Every feature in Microsoft Entra ID plays a crucial role in overall security. It's like the human body – we might underestimate the importance of seemingly insignificant parts. They might appear small or seemingly irrelevant, but their absence can have significant consequences. When a fingernail breaks or a hair falls out, we suddenly appreciate their role in the body's function. Similarly, with Entra ID, I wouldn't prioritize one feature over another. Each contributes significantly to the platform's robust security posture. They all work together to provide the best possible approach to cloud security. Therefore, highlighting a single feature as more valuable wouldn't be accurate.

Microsoft Entra ID can make improvements in two key areas. The first is to upgrade Workday and SuccessFactors integration to OAuth 2.0. Currently, these HR applications use basic authentication for inbound provisioning to Entra ID, while integration with other IDPs utilizes OAuth 2.0. Many organizations request the adoption of OAuth 2.0 for Entra ID as well, considering its enhanced security. The second is to provide clearer communication about features under public review. Features under public review should have comprehensive documentation outlining their capabilities and limitations. While user feedback is crucial, deploying incomplete features in production environments can lead to frustration and blame. Customers should be informed that public review features are not intended for production use.

I have been using Microsoft Entra ID for three years. 

The technical support team is always readily available 24/7. Regardless of when we raise a support ticket, someone will promptly reach out and try to resolve our specific issue. I understand that the support experience can vary depending on the agent we connect with. Some may not have extensive product knowledge, while others have hands-on experience and offer quick, helpful solutions. Overall, I'd give them a solid ten out of ten. Their constant availability and dedication to resolving our problems are commendable. Even with agents new to our organization, we can feel their effort to assist us. They escalate issues if needed, consistently check back with us for satisfaction, and demonstrate empathy while reassuring us that any limitations or problems we face will be addressed.

Positive

With the rise of cloud computing, Microsoft's exceptional hybrid identity capabilities proved invaluable for our organization. We were able to seamlessly integrate our on-premises users with the cloud through Entra ID. This implementation involved leveraging both Entra ID Connect and the cloud sync agent. While I'm unsure of their identity management setup before Entra ID, I can confidently say that the organization already relied on Active Directory on-premises before I joined.

Deploying Entra ID is generally straightforward. Once we create our Entra tenant, we gain access to Entra ID. Similarly, if we subscribe to Office 365, Entra ID is automatically created for us. This default setup meets most basic operational needs. Therefore, we don't typically need to make any further configuration unless we want to adjust security settings based on our specific organizational needs. Overall, using Entra ID is seamless and can be started directly from our tenant or Office 365 site.

The cost of Entra ID depends entirely on our organization's specific needs and use cases. For smaller organizations, like a local supermarket, it might be quite affordable with the basic free tier or a lower-tiered license. However, larger, multi-national companies with complex requirements may incur higher costs due to the need for additional features and advanced licensing tiers like P1 or P2. Instead of simply labeling it as cheap or expensive, it's important to consider our specific scenario and what functionalities we require. Different models and licenses cater to different needs, so the best approach is to carefully evaluate our organization's specific situation and choose the most suitable option.

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

In the global identity management space, roughly 70 percent of organizations, in my experience, utilize Entra ID. One key reason for this adoption stems from the prevalence of on-premises Active Directory. Many organizations have long relied on this on-premises solution, and Microsoft's decision to replicate its functionality in the cloud, resulting in Entra ID, made the transition seamless for existing users. This familiar interface and consistent experience significantly eased adoption, leading to the 80 percent user utilization rate for Entra ID within my organization.

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.

Neutral

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.