Planning your hybrid environment

Identity is key when planning and implementing a Microsoft 365 environment. While the default identity method within Microsoft 365 is cloud-only, most organizations will need to plan for deploying hybrid identities when introducing Microsoft 365 to their organization. So, what is hybrid identity? Well, in simple terms, it is the process of providing your users with an identity in the cloud that is based on their on-premises identity. There are several ways that this can be achieved, and the available methods will be explained in detail later in this chapter.

The basic principles of hybrid identity in Microsoft 365 are shown in the following diagram:

Figure 1.1 – Hybrid identity

Let's examine how to start planning for hybrid identity in Microsoft 365.

The first step to establishing the correct identity lies in determining the business needs of your organization. It is important, at this stage, to recognize...