OOONO is a consumer electronics startup that builds safety devices for consumers, including CO-Driver, a traffic alarm that notifies drivers of upcoming speed traps and road hazards. Founded in 2017, OOONO is powered by a team of 90 employees who work primarily out of its Denmark headquarters, with a small team operating out of Germany.
Building foundational IT infrastructure for a startup
In May 2023, Joseph Cunningham joined OOONO as the company’s inaugural head of IT. At the time, OOONO had 40 employees and was operating like a typical startup would.
“It was like you had to go to one side of the room if you wanted access to Microsoft and the other side if you needed a new computer,” Cunningham says. “I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to build up the entire IT infrastructure myself. I could have never dreamed of a job like this.”
As the first order of business, Cunningham began looking for a mobile device management solution that would enable him to control OOONO’s computers in an environment that is 60% Mac and 40% Windows.
Choosing feature-rich JumpCloud for mobile device management
In a previous role, Cunningham had used several different tools to manage mobile devices, including Kandji, Intune, and Meraki.
“I wasn’t really interested in going out and buying 10 different products,” he continues.
As Cunningham narrowed down his options for an MDM solution, he came across JumpCloud, provider of secure, frictionless device and identity management solutions.
“I was trying to figure out what was going to work with Windows and Apple, and I found a few options,” Cunningham says. “JumpCloud was the only one that stood out as a good product. Plus, it had a lot of other features I could use as well, so we kind of hit the ground running.”
Consolidating IT management tools & setting up for scale
At the highest level, JumpCloud makes it easy for Cunningham to protect company devices. After rolling the platform out, Cunningham’sbegan shoring up security on laptops — a task that was a breeze.
“Now, if someone loses their computer, I can remotely wipe it,” he says. “I also installed policies so that screens lock after five minutes of not doing anything.”
Though OOONO is still in its nascent stages, Cunningham is using JumpCloud to build an IT foundation that will position the company for scale and enable them to comply with relevant regulations down the line.
“I’ve embedded many software packages into JumpCloud,” he says. “We have a VPN, we have antivirus, we have a service desk, and we install a program on all of the clients that will report back geolocation of each device and tell me whether the drives are encrypted and how much storage is available. We also have Patch Management as well.”
Looking ahead, Cunningham hopes to connect JumpCloud with OOONO’s HR system to onboard new hires and use dynamic grouping to grant access to relevant applications and systems automatically — and do the inverse for offboarding.
Ultimately, Cunningham envisions a future where “JumpCloud manages everything” for him, HR manages onboarding and offboarding via JumpCloud, “as it should be,” and he’s able to spend most of his time focusing on higher-level IT projects. As he works toward that goal, Cunningham continues to leverage more and more of the JumpCloud platform.
“Tonight, I’m flipping the switch for single sign-on for Microsoft, so that will eliminate one more thing,” Cunningham continues. “I’m also just about to get rid of 1Password and move over to JumpCloud Password Manager.”
Securing mobile devices & sensitive company data
OOONO’s flagship product is installed on a driver’s dashboard and pairs with a mobile app on the customer’s device. To ensure optimal user experiences, the developer team has “every kind of phone you can think of” and is routinely testing the app to make sure it works as designed on many different devices.
To protect these phones and the sensitive data on them, Cunningham turned to JumpCloud.
“I’ve enrolled all of the mobile phones and have the passwords for them stored in Password Manager,” Cunningham says. “Anyone can pick up a phone; the reason for enrolling them is not to put any restrictions on them, it’s just to protect the devices because these phones are often left on desks, and someone could just pick them up and walk out with them, taking the IP with them.”
Enlisting the help of Professional Services to reduce costs
Currently, Cunningham is working with a small team across the organization, and he recently enlisted the help of JumpCloud Professional Services to get his deployment optimized to his exact specifications.
“JumpCloud can do a lot of things, but in order to achieve my big dream, I have to get the foundation in first, and it’s those kind of foundational blocks that I was missing,” Cunningham explains.
Not only did partnering with Professional Services bring Cunningham closer to realizing that big dream, it’s also saved him time and money.
“I’ve actually gone out and looked to hire consultants, but no one is an expert in JumpCloud, so I would have to spend a lot of time training them up on the platform, and it’s just kind of wasting money,” Cunningham explains. “I know with Professional Services, I can say, ‘This is the problem I’ve got,’ and then 10 minutes later it’s fixed or they’re going to look into it for me and give me a relevant answer.”
When those two new hires come on board later this year, Cunningham plans to enroll them in JumpCloud University so they can get up to speed with the platform at their own pace.
If you’re considering a solution like JumpCloud for any of the features it provides, Cunningham encourages you to give it a try and take a look under the hood.
“It can do a lot more than you think it can,” Cunningham says. “JumpCloud can do so much. It’s really saved me so much time and also benefited me financially as well. I don’t have to buy many different point solutions, I can just buy one. Everything has been nice and easy, and I haven’t run into any problems.”
Learn more about JumpCloud
JumpCloud changes the way IT administrators manage their organizations by providing a comprehensive and flexible cloud directory platform. From one pane of glass, manage user identities and resource access, secure Mac, Windows, and Linux devices, and get a full view of your environment.
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