#cybersecurity | hacker #cybersecurity | #hackerspace | Is Google Cloud Identity Premium Right for Your Org?

By Ryan Squires Posted January 11, 2020

Google Cloud Identity Premium is the next-step offering for IT organizations looking to leverage their Google identities for more than just Google services. With more IT environments utilizing web applications, this product can help streamline management and access of those services. Let’s take a look at this premium solution and see how it can help you. 

How Is Google Cloud Identity Used?

Google Cloud Identity is compulsory with usage of any Google services such as G Suite or Google Cloud. Effectively, it’s the platform that enables management of users on Google services. The result is that most organizations leveraging Google Cloud rely on Google identities to accomplish a great deal. But those identities only work for Google-specific tools, and some IT admins want to accomplish more with them. 

Premium Extends Google Cloud Identities

The strategy around Google Cloud Identity Premium seeks to use these identities for more than just Google-specific resources. Through SAML and OAuth services, a Google Cloud identity extends to third-party web applications like Slack^®. Additionally, IT admins can leverage the premium solution for mobile device management (MDM) services for iPhone^® and Android devices. 

These features come with a price though. Google Cloud Identity Premium is not inexpensive; using it results in an extra $6 per user per month cost in addition to the regular G Suite or GCP costs. 

Note: The first-year promotion pricing for Cloud Identity Premium is $4, which is a slight discount to capture your interest. 

Is Google Cloud Identity Premium Right for You?

Of course, whether Google Cloud Identity Premium is the right solution for you depends on your needs. It could be a good fit for you if:

1. You are already leveraging Google Cloud services. 
2. The opportunity to center your organization on a Google identity entices you. 
3. Shifting your core identity provider from something on-prem like Microsoft^® Active Directory^® or OpenLDAP to a cloud-based platform is in your plans. 

The challenge with this approach stems from whether this premium identity and access management (Read more…)