Building a secure, modern workplace with Microsoft 365 tools.
THE CHALLENGE
With employees no longer working in the office, the lobbying firm was experiencing a lack of flexibility needed to make sure their teams were able to work the same way as they did in the office. With that, also came concerns over the security posture of their workforce workstations.
THE APPROACH
The lobbying firm had a hybrid work environment but decided that getting rid of Active Directory and moving completely to the Cloud with Microsoft Modern Workplace was the best solution to jumpstart a total ‘work from home’ initiative.
"For too long we relied on an outdated and insecure IT environment. The transition to Modern Workplace meant we could be confident with a more secure Cloud solution that promotes mobility, collaboration, and productivity."
- Chief Information Officer
Empowering users to work the way they want.
The lobbying firm was seeking to digitally transform the way their employees work. By moving to the cloud with Microsoft 365, the lobbying firm wanted to empower employees to be productive wherever they are.
Using modern workplace tools from Microsoft 365 like Microsoft Teams, the lobbying firm enabled virtual collaboration spaces where their teams could have open conversations and quickly interact while working.
Recognizing solutions are not "one size fits all".
The lobbying firm knew that they wanted a customizable solution that fit the needs of their business as change occurred and users fluctuate. With a Microsoft 365 plan, they are not confined to a “one size fits all” agreement. This means their plan stays tightly customized to their needs for years.
The lobbying firm decided that they wanted to scale up and modify the applications they offered to their users. We assisted the lobbying firm with upgrading all of their licenses from Business Essentials to Business Premium to do just this.
Beyond the standard productivity applications and services most of us use daily, with Business Premium, the lobbying firm gained access to a suite of Microsoft’s continually improving cloud-based security and management tools that helped secure and protect their business from the ever-increasing volume of cybersecurity threats out there today, as well as manage employee’s user accounts, applications, devices, and data in a world where network and applications spray well beyond the company firewall.
Keeping teams secure with mobile device management.
The lobbying firm’s ‘work from home’ initiative meant that mobile devices became an integral part of their business.
Recognizing that their mobile environment couldn’t grow and evolve without restriction, the lobbying firm decided to deploy a Mobile Device Management solution to combat the security risks and other complications created by mobile devices that aren’t effectively managed.
We delivered a scalable, comprehensive mobile device management solution to regulate their mobile network while also increasing its value. Besides securing their endpoints, Microsoft Endpoint Manager also actively monitors and manages activity and vulnerabilities at the user and organizational level to avoid breaches in policy and regulatory compliance with patch updates, security controls, and isolating sensitive applications when users want to use their own devices.
"With the help of Plow Networks, we implemented Modern Workplace to change the security posture at our company. Our users are not only safe, but more productive and engaged on a new level of cooperation."
- Chief Information Officer
Transitioning from a hybrid environment to the Cloud.
With so many remote workers, but only on-premise tools like Active Directory (AD) to manage their devices, it was difficult, if not impossible, to properly secure because the business did not have a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
The lobbying firm’s decision to transition from traditional AD to Azure AD helped them better secure and govern their Windows environments and employee-owned devices, as well as surrounding workloads such as Microsoft 365, Teams, Exchange, and SharePoint.
Giving users the ability to be more mobile and agile.
To provide more security at the device and application level, the lobbying firm also implemented Intune (part of Endpoint Manager), which it uses for mobile application management.
We helped secure their workforce by assisting in the implementation and enabling them to manage their workstations and deploy policies in the Cloud, allowing them to get updates from anywhere they are connected to the internet.
We helped configure the following:
- Enforce BitLocker disk encryption so that the data on all computers is secure if lost or stolen.
- Setup OneDrive Automatic login and Known Folder Move so that users’ files are automatically stored and secured in the Cloud. This allows users access to their data from any computer and simplifies moving to new computers when needed.
- Setup Update schedules and enforcement, ensuring the computers get the patches and policy updates required.
- Setup company branding on the Intune portal.
MORE STORIES
Behavioral healthcare company eliminates redundant tasks for their teams with HR Automation.
Recruiting company keeps colleagues connected using Microsoft Teams with Business Voice.
State agency boosts employee productivity by outsourcing their IT functions using CompletePath®.
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