In essence, migrating to AAD is similar to adopting another platform than AD. Many organizations find themselves at this inflection point and may not realize that Microsoft doesn’t have to remain central to identity and device management. For instance, Google and JumpCloud have joined together to offer an alternative solution. This article outlines how AD and AAD differ and what options SMEs have for modernization as they make the transition away from AD as their core directory. This limits optionality, even though many non-Microsoft resources can be managed by M365 services. AAD is a separate platform that can lock customers into a new Microsoft ecosystem. It’s reasonable to assume that it would have all the capabilities of Active Directory ® (AD), as the name implies, but the truth is more complicated than that. Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory (AAD) is a cloud directory that underpins Microsoft 365 (M365) subscription services. Its path to the cloud can be unwieldy and expensive: small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can be confronted with complex licensing and difficult implementations. Microsoft even offers incentives to move your core directory to its services. It’s very common for IT professionals to ask, “Can I replace Microsoft Active Directory with Azure Active Directory?” That’s especially true when the bulk of modern IT environments reside in or are migrating to the cloud. JumpCloud: Extend or Replace Azure Active Directory.

Azure local cloud