[Episode 10] When One Identity Provider Isn't Enough for Jira Cloud

[#1]

Hello Everyone!

I was reading one of Atlassian's document recently about Multiple Identity Providers (IdPs) being available with Atlassian Guard enterprise, and it got me thinking...

Why would a single Jira instance ever need more than one Identity Provider?

At first, it sounded like one of those enterprise-only features that very few organizations would actually use.

But the more I looked into it, the more I realized it's a pretty common requirement.

Organizations migrating from Jira Data Center to Cloud often don't have a single identity provider. One team might use Microsoft Entra ID, another relies on Okta.

Imagine a setup where:

• @company.com users authenticate with Microsoft Entra ID.
• Another business unit continues using Okta.
• Partners sign in with Google Workspace.
• A recently acquired team continues using Keycloak until their migration is complete.

Instead of asking users which login option to choose, they're automatically directed to the right Identity Provider based on your organization's rules.

The more I read about it, the more I realized that multiple IdPs aren't just an enterprise feature, they're a practical solution for organizations that don't all operate the same way.

While working on our OAuth/OIDC SSO for Jira Cloud app, we started hearing similar conversations from customers who wanted to support multiple Identity Providers without complicating their migration or changing how different teams already authenticate.

It made us look at this use case a little more closely.

The interesting part is that multiple IdPs aren't just about supporting different login providers, they're about giving organizations the flexibility to grow, migrate, and integrate new teams and third party applications without disrupting user access.

I'm curious, do different teams in your organization use different Identity Providers? How are you managing the login experience today?

[Anwesha Pan]

Hi @Ananjan_miniOrange 

Great write-up — this is a topic that doesn't get nearly enough attention, especially for organizations in the middle of a migration.

In our company, we have been using Microsoft Entra ID for SSO. 🔑

Thanks for sharing!

[Ananjan_miniOrange]

Hey @Anwesha Pan

Thanks for your kind words!