SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) vs. Okta

Overall, Solar Winds Access Rights Manager (ARM) is reliable and easy to use once you figure out how to get what you want from the tool. They have both a client and web version of the tool that can be used. Each one has different functionality so just have to remember where to go to do the task you want. We are still early in our usage, but so far it seems to be working well!

Incentivized

It has extensive compatibility and rich feature set of integrating with a wide array of core systems and SaaS platforms. Daily I utilize Okta's user-friendly central hub to simplify access the numerous applications we utilize within my company (Google Workspace, Slack, Zoom, Salesforce, Microsoft Office 365, among many others.)

Incentivized

• SolarWinds Access Rights Manager is easy to set up and configure. We had the first report generated in a few hours.
• The automated feature for the reports is great. We just set it and forget it and now the reports get emailed on schedule.

Incentivized

• Okta handles lockouts and password changes very seamlessly. Most end users no longer have to contact our IT department to reset their password or unlock their account.
• Okta does MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) very well with the use of their own app, Okta Verify. We utilize this for VPN connections and having MFA or 2FA has strengthened the security of our internal network.
• Okta's administration GUI is easy to use, and easy to set up. Adding applications to the organization is easy and requires very little work to deploy.
• Users can utilize Okta to store passwords securely and safe on their own account. They also can one click login to personal sites if they use Okta to store their password.
• Okta's support system is very knowledgeable and quick to respond to issues. We've had a few cases that were resolved within hours and that helps immensely when working with end users.

Incentivized

• Licensing model when we changed over to SolarWinds was [I feel] a nightmare. It needs to be more streamlined and SolarWinds needs to understand what their customers require. When we changed over to SolarWinds we found it very hard to get answers to what modules we were still licensed for.
• Our current system is not functioning. We can't login to the application with the accounts we created that were working. The error that appears doesn't help to resolve it. So at present we just renewed licenses for this year and we can't use the system.

Incentivized

• The user interface of Okta is basic and needs improvement. There's some learning curve for new users.
• One time integration effort is high for the initial setup. Took us around 3 weeks.
• Okta times out pretty quick making us login multiple times in the day.

Incentivized

It is in place and working. No time or money to consider anything else.

Incentivized

Okta has a passion to provide secure and scalable identity solution. Their passion has come across as advocacy in a way that has deepened my knowledge of the field of authentication. I took identity for granted before but after seeing features such as external authentication I know that Okta can enable my business to reach new heights

End user experience is much better than administration

Incentivized

Some of its features are great and some are slightly complex and not easy without vendor support.

Incentivized

On occasion the server will need to be restarted to get things running again

Incentivized

The Okta Identity Cloud advertises 4 9's of reliability and I would go as far to say that it may even do better than that. As a true Global organization that operates in just about every region of the world, we have yet to have an issue with The Okta Identity Cloud that has impacted our business operations.

Incentivized

Satisfactory performance

Incentivized

From my perspective, for the things that my group uses it for, Okta is very fast. It is as least as fast as the local password database methods that it replaces on our campus enterprise services. I do not believe that it slows anything down at all. In fact, not having to think too much about the login, because they all look the same, probably speeds things up somewhat.

Incentivized

Very slow response times and sometimes I found the solution and ended up sharing it with support

Incentivized

Their support team has always been extremely responsive and more than willing to go above and beyond the call of duty. They've done screen shares between our help desk staff and end users to work through issues. They are quick to respond and genuinely care about getting issues resolved. Couldn't be happier.

It was my first exposure to this type of product and I wasn’t given the time to figure out how best to implement it. I would say get a plan together of what you are tying to accomplish first

Incentivized

While the CatTools are used mainly by a colleague of mine, DameWare is only used periodically and definitely not on a daily base. We chose ARM (when we bought it, it was called 8Man) because it had a good and well fitting set of features for a reasonable price. In addition to that, we could quite easily configure some features for our needs. Other products didn't get even close to this feature list for this price.

Incentivized

Previous to Okta, we did not have a central cloud IdP system, each app had it's own authentication and authorization internally. That led to a fairly messy and divergent situation where every system had a different method and look for authentication and authorization. Cross-remembering what password went with what was a constant problem for the Service Desk, who had to know how to manipulate all of the various local password systems.

Incentivized

No experience with this

Incentivized

Being a cloud native application, The Okta Identity Cloud is extremely scalable and easy to setup. By integrating into existing directories and applications via standard techniques and protocols, it is very easy to both initially setup and add additional users as required. Once all the necessary integrations are setup, it's a simple rinse and repeat process to onboard additional users (which can be automated with imports as well)

Incentivized

• Because it's cut down on the mistakes and time lost creating new user accounts, this has meant there is a reduction in tickets relating to changes needing to be made to user accounts. Whether this was the incorrect spelling of the name, or the need to add/remove security groups. With ARM now doing the user creation along with the templates we've created, this has dramatically cut down the number of support tickets regarding user accounts, meaning our team now has more time to tend to other pending tickets.

Incentivized

• The initial investment (CapX) on Okta seemed like a lot for our organization (with a limited IT budget), but the investment was 100% worthwhile. We were impressed with how easily/quickly it was up and running in our environment.
• Implementing Okta into our environment has greatly increased our security posture by granting us MFA and SSO. Having MFA helps to lower our Cyber Security Insurance premiums greatly as well.
• As with most IT Security tools, the costs of prevention far outweigh the costs of a compromise. Calculate the costs of a breach and then compare it to the costs of Okta, you will find Okta is an exceptional value for what it offers. Additionally, the ability to automate tasks saves a ton of time/money for us. For example, the integration with our HRIS system means that when HR terminates an employee, we can have Okta automatically disable their accounts and all SSO applications assigned to them. Previously this was a slow and manual process performed by our Service Desk technicians (at an hourly rate).

Incentivized