Microsoft Entra External ID Simplifies Customer Identity Access Management

Key Takeaways:

• Microsoft Entra External ID will become generally available on May 15.
• This new service provides customers with the ability to create secure sign-in interfaces for customer-facing web apps and pages.
• Microsoft offers free access to Entra External ID features for commercial customers until July 1, 2024.

Microsoft Entra External ID, the new customer identity access management solution (CIAM) that the company announced last year, is set to officially launch on May 15. This new service allows organizations to create sign-in interfaces for customer-facing Web apps and pages.

Microsoft mentioned that it could be challenging for IT admins to manage external identities (such as customers, partners, and business clients) as well as their access protocols. The new Entra External ID capabilities enable employees to collaborate with business partners and guests seamlessly. This feature facilitates secure access for external identities to corporate apps and resources through either invitation or self-service sign-up.

“With External ID, you can consolidate all identity management under the security and reliability of Microsoft Entra. Microsoft Entra provides a unified and consistent experience for managing all identity types, simplifying identity management while reducing costs and complexity,” Microsoft explained.

Secure collaboration

Microsoft highlights that cross-tenant access settings let administrators manage external collaborators’ access to corporate resources. The ID Governance for External ID feature facilitates automatic review and revocation of access after periods of inactivity or project completion. This capability helps IT admins to ensure that only authorized external users have access to sensitive internal resources and data.

Moreover, Microsoft Entra External ID allows customers to natively integrate secure authentication capabilities into the sign-in experience of their web and mobile apps. They can use authentication options and verifiable credentials to streamline the sign-up/sign-in process for end users.

Microsoft Entra External ID pricing

Microsoft notes that commercial customers can enjoy free access to all Entra External ID capabilities until July 1, 2024. The company is offering access to these features for the 50,000 monthly active users (MAU) at no additional cost, with additional active users priced at $0.03 per MAU.

Furthermore, organizations can take advantage of the discounted price of $0.01625 per MAU until May 2025. If you are interested, you can learn more about External ID pricing on this FAQs page.