Alimetry is a medical device manufacturer headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand that builds products that aid the diagnosis of gastric disorders. Founded in 2019, the company has a team of 50 employees working across New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In September 2023, Alimetry closed a $15 million Series B round.
Needing to control data & devices
When Guy Baron joined Alimetry in November 2020, the company had 10 employees.
“We bought a few laptops and people started working,” says Baron, a one-man IT shop who serves as Alimetry’s ICT and Implementation Lead. “Everything was open, and people could do anything they wanted. We rather quickly understood that we needed to control the data and devices.”
Today, Alimetry’s IT environment includes Windows, Mac, and Linux machines, which made mobile device management a challenge. As a company that operates in a heavily regulated space, Alimetry needed a solution that enabled them to control users, data, and passwords — critical capabilities for achieving ISO 27001 compliance.
“Using traditional Microsoft solutions was a problem,” Baron says. “We also tested the way Google controls devices and users, but that wasn’t flexible enough for us.”
Choosing JumpCloud for cross-OS device management & compliance
As Baron began looking for a solution that would enable him to simplify IT management and control each operating system through the same pane of glass, he came across JumpCloud, the unified identity, device, and access management platform. After a productive discussion with JumpCloud representatives, Baron was convinced it was the ideal solution for Alimetry’s needs.
“We chose it specifically for being able to manage Linux, Mac, and Windows,” Baron says. “Controlling users and passwords was great, too; password policies are something you see in all the ISO frameworks that we were chasing, like ISO 27001, just making sure the right people are logging into the right machine and controlling the basics with password management.”
As a distributed team, Alimetry’s IT environment lives primarily in the cloud; since JumpCloud is cloud-native, the decision was even easier.
Securing devices & data while simplifying day-to-day life
JumpCloud has made Baron’s life simpler, particularly with its MDM and password management capabilities.
Password Manager is an amazing tool for us.
Guy Baron
“Password Manager is an amazing tool for us,” Baron explains. “Each year, we have a lot of interns come in and stay for three months, and they then go,” which can cause problems when it comes to trying to access certain accounts. “This is something we didn’t have before — we couldn’t control the passwords. The fact that it’s centrally managed and we are able to enable, disable, add, and retrieve devices and all the backups is great.”
Baron also likes the fact that he can see, at a glance, who’s using strong and weak passwords just by looking at a dashboard.
“We don’t have the manpower to look into that manually, and JumpCloud gives us the information,” he says. “That was a very welcome addition.”
Simplified IT management
Thanks to JumpCloud, Baron’s been able to run Alimetry’s IT environment smoothly, without the need to add more headcount even as the company scales.
“We need fewer people because we can manage so many things within JumpCloud,” he says.
When new users come on board, Baron creates a profile in JumpCloud, which then pushes users to other systems they use, such as Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.
“It makes onboarding really easy,” Baron says. “When you create a user, they automatically get provisioned in those other systems, and we assign licenses as needed.”
Compliance
JumpCloud has made it easier for Alimetry to demonstrate compliance with both internal and external policies.
“For example, with 27001, we have JumpCloud which enables us to show that we’re using a Password Manager, that we’re securing the password itself for each account, we can show that we’re using an MDM, and that we have encryption on the drives,” Baron continues. “Reports is another good feature. During one of the audits, the auditor wanted to see what access people have to each machine, so we used Reports for that as well.”
Dynamic groups
To streamline device management, Baron is taking advantage of JumpCloud’s Dynamic Groups.
“I use Dynamic Groups for devices,” Baron says. “We have different policy groups for different operating systems, and then we have special groups for our production devices or meeting room devices; as they require a slightly different policy.”
For example, it takes longer for screens to get locked in meeting rooms.
“You don’t want to lock it while people are in a meeting because they didn’t touch the mouse,” Baron says. “Our production devices have specific features, too. We’re running some scenarios where the machine stays on for hours, and you don’t want updates to automatically restart the machine in the middle of a certain test.”
Remote Assist
Running IT for a team of 50 distributed around the world, each of whom has a different level of technological skills, has its fair set of challenges; JumpCloud Remote Assist has been quite helpful for Baron managing users and devices remotely.
I’ve been in IT for over 20 years, so I think I’ve used most of the big-name remote assistance tools. The JumpCloud one is the best I’ve used.
Guy Baron, Alimetry
“I use it a lot,” he says. “I’ve been in IT for over 20 years, so I think I’ve used most of the big-name remote assistance tools. The JumpCloud one is the best I’ve used. Remote Assist makes it easy for us to support employees worldwide and to get them up and running quickly. We provide hands-on assistance, including setup and training, so we can troubleshoot issues efficiently and for them to start using our tools without delay.”
Exceptional support
Every now and again, Baron needs to troubleshoot an issue with JumpCloud; such is the nature of technology. When this happens, he reaches out to JumpCloud’s support team, which has always been incredible.
“It’s just amazing,” he says. “We pay for 24/7 support because JumpCloud is so central to what we do, and I need that quick support that you get with the big players. You just log in, open a chat window, and within a few minutes, someone’s there to help.”
Additionally, Baron is also impressed by JumpCloud’s thorough documentation, Help Center, and JumpCloud University — all of which help him get even more value out of the platform.
“To ensure I had the necessary skills to manage our Jumpcloud platform as the sole IT person, I leveraged its extensive knowledge base to also obtain a JumpCloud certification,” Baron explains.
Future-proofing IT
As Alimetry continues to scale, Baron is taking advantage of more and more JumpCloud features. Recently he enabled Patch Management and is thinking about using RADIUS to authenticate WiFi access when his schedule frees up a bit.
JumpCloud keeps adding features at a very impressive rate.
Guy Baron
With new features being rolled out at regular intervals, Baron is confident he has a tool that meets his needs both today and in the future.
If you’re thinking about trying JumpCloud out, Baron encourages you to “just go for it.”
“There’s the simplicity that JumpCloud has within the interface that Microsoft and Google haven’t been able to achieve,” he says. “It’s very easy to use and understand, and there are so many benefits.”
About JumpCloud
JumpCloud® delivers a unified open directory platform that makes it easy to securely manage identities, devices, and access across your organization. With JumpCloud, IT teams and MSPs enable users to work securely from anywhere and manage their Windows, Apple, Linux, and Android devices from a single platform.
To see the power of JumpCloud yourself, request a demo or start a 30-day trial today.