Organizations continue to implement Microsoft Identity Manager (MIM) for their identity data management needs. MIM automates manual processes for on-boarding and off-boarding staff and manages their identity data. It provides reliable and authoritative identity data, especially important in the roll out of Microsoft Entra services in a Hybrid AD environment. As cloud services such as Microsoft 365 become more prevalent, the need for accurate identity data increases, and MIM is a solution to keep the data organized and up-to-date. Microsoft’s investment in its cloud offering, Microsoft Entra, highlights the importance of identity data and its role in keeping the organization secure and compliant. MIM may be a small part of the overall solution but it is a necessary component to keep the identity data reliable in the hybrid AD environment.
Organizations can overcome the limitations of MIM by taking a holistic approach to identity management. While MIM has proven to be flexible and versatile in supporting various legacy systems, it’s crucial to identify and address any outdated systems that are holding the organization back. By evaluating the full identity landscape, organizations can identify missed opportunities, close any gaps, and confidently advance their identity management strategy.
MIM has been a significant implementation for many organizations and may have been modified and extended over time, making it complex and difficult to document. The skills required to migrate MIM’s functionality to the cloud or make modifications may have been lost or become rusty over time, leading to a skills gap. Some organizations may want to migrate services from MIM to the cloud for the benefits it offers, but lack the skills to do so in a modular fashion without disrupting the business. The migration of MIM synchronization functionality to the cloud is still an incomplete story.