Managing Director<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nBackground<\/h2>\n\n\n\n For MSPs, efficient time management is crucial. These lean, tight-knit organizations typically operate at a very high level of efficiency and must be ready to respond to a daunting spectrum of client requests at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe see ourselves as a 24\/7 appliance IT department. From their service desk to their planning, from their risk assessment road maps to their security, whatever our clients need from an IT perspective\u2014we deliver,\u201d Abbott explained. \u201cThere\u2019s about 35 of us in the company, and the majority of us are engineers. We are very strong in finance, medical, and media industries, and we support businesses anywhere from 10 to 300 employees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the traditional on-prem IT infrastructure model continues to shift to the cloud, MSPs like Priority One are seeing the need for centralized access to cloud-based applications and disparate resources spread from client to client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGoing back just eight years, everything was pretty much on-prem except email. When we looked at that space to see what our clients were using, we didn\u2019t feel confident in products such as GMail and Office 365\u2122 back then\u2014they just weren\u2019t up to scratch,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cBut over time, I\u2019d say in the last four years, the IT landscape has been steadily moving over to the cloud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Managing IT operations for 50 organizations, each with their own combination of platforms, resources, applications, and offices, requires considerable time and product expertise. Minimizing friction for users on the front end directly correlates to maximizing time for Abbott and his team on the back end. And, while locality has been a mainstay in the past, MSPs are now fully realizing the benefits of managing clients remotely with the cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe main objective that we\u2019re striving for is for a user to be able to open their laptop, connect to all of their applications in a fast and efficient way, without having to jump through any hoops. That was the goal we were trying to achieve for all of our clients.\u201d Abbott said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“So we don\u2019t want to have VPNs, and we don\u2019t want to have network breakdowns. I\u2019ve been in IT for nearly 20 years and as an infrastructure person, that\u2019s what you\u2019re always trying to deliver.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThe Challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n While moving all of their clients to the cloud became a clear objective, deciding exactly how to achieve it proved a bit more challenging. Whatever option they chose, it would need to work for Priority One clients that were currently reliant on Microsoft\u00ae<\/sup> Active Directory\u00ae<\/sup>. As the dominant centerpiece of most IT organizations for the past 20 years, the legacy, on-prem Microsoft directory solution had become a thorn in the side of Priority One\u2019s cloud-forward plans for their clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIf we\u2019re going to move our clients to the cloud, we want to move to the cloud 100%, without anything left onsite apart from the desktops and the networking equipment,\u201d Abbott explained. \u201cMoving files to the cloud was pretty easy, email was a no brainer\u2014just Google or 365\u2014but the sticking point was Active Directory and what we were going to do with that element.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The solution needed to meet the highest standards for cloud security, and it also needed to work seamlessly across Windows, Mac, and Linux, as well as a variety of IaaS and SaaS platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If you don\u2019t manage the platforms properly, either they\u2019re going to get hacked, or it\u2019s going to be remarkably inefficient. It\u2019s just not going to work if you don\u2019t piece together the right applications and make them actually seamless.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nBeyond needing an efficient, cross-platform solution, Priority One was unsure how moving to the cloud would affect their revenue, and in turn, their bottom line as an MSP. Migrating all of their clients to the cloud would require more than just changing their offerings; Priority One would need to adjust their business model as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was a concern we were going to be losing a lot of revenue if we just moved everything to the cloud, because everything would be done by the providers and we wouldn\u2019t have a job to do. This is a factor we will always investigate before moving forward with a new product.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With an inbox of client requests and a suitcase of business concerns, Abbott began searching for the best way to migrate Priority One clients to the cloud. Soon after, he came across JumpCloud Directory-as-a-Service.<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThe Solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n JumpCloud\u00ae<\/sup> Directory-as-a-Service\u00ae<\/sup> satisfied Priority One\u2019s need to remotely support heterogeneous fleets of Mac, Windows, and Linux systems. What\u2019s more, Priority One was able to cut down considerably on the time spent onboarding and offboarding employees for their clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n“When you have Windows and Macs in your environment and you want to move them to the cloud, there isn\u2019t a better choice than JumpCloud.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nAbbott continued, \u201cThe speed that you can roll out JumpCloud, globally, with very little disruption, for hundreds of people, results in huge efficiency gains. Whereas if you\u2019re using on-prem technology, you just wouldn\u2019t be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In regards to Windows management specifically, JumpCloud\u2019s Powershell Module enabled Priority One to save a great deal of time with its ability to execute commands and enforce security measures remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJumpCloud\u2019s ability to send out Powershell commands is just absolutely brilliant. We\u2019ve saved so much time with that alone,\u201d Abbott explained. \u201cWindows 10 by default doesn\u2019t automatically lock your screen, which is really strange as Windows 10 is all about security. But with JumpCloud, we were able to push a policy to fix that to all of the machines instantly, and we know they\u2019ve all got it because the command results came back and told us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Priority One was able to take the time and money they saved onboarding and managing systems to find more headroom for scaling their business. Schedules freed up, allowing admins to spend more time focusing on matters they normally wouldn\u2019t have had the bandwidth for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about doing more with less, which is a term that I don\u2019t love, but it is true. With JumpCloud, you can start serving more clients for the same costs as before. What it was costing you to manage 30 users, you can now accomplish for a hundred, and that\u2019s the benefit,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cWith this efficiency gain, JumpCloud has enabled us to focus on other things\u2014such as security as a service, and doing more project work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThe Result<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Remember those revenue concerns, and the uncertainty around how this new cloud-based, cross-platform approach would affect the amount of work available for their administrators? Well, with JumpCloud supporting their ability to grow, Priority One was able to put those worries to rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As more and more things started to move to the cloud, it became very apparent that actually, we\u2019re going to have more work to do. It\u2019s just done differently as we can now centrally manage all of these different platforms.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nAs it turns out, security, savings, and operations were all improved by moving Priority One\u2019s clients to the cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow, everything on the cloud is much more cost effective. In fact, our numbers indicate that it\u2019s really only been the last two years where it\u2019s actually better to have everything in the cloud\u2014that\u2019s from the standpoint of cost, performance, and security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With pressure building behind compliance audits, like the recently released GDPR EU regulation, Priority One remains confident that everything they\u2019re doing through JumpCloud is fully audited and traceable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always liked the analogy of creating your kitchen in a restaurant where it\u2019s just a plain glass window and you can just see the cooks working away,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cI like that analogy for what it should be like for our clients seeing us as an MSP. They can see everything we\u2019re doing\u2014completely transparent\u2014and they can see we\u2019re doing a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nLooking Ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Without a doubt, the fate of MSPs is directly tied with the IT industry at large, and Abbott sees the importance of cloud security, compliance, and automation only continuing their progression up and to the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The future is all about automation and auditing. We need to move away from the break\/fix MSP business model to a model that revolves around serving the client and quickly solving their problems.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nAbbott explained. \u201cI think automation is the key to that. Then, from a compliance standpoint, we must have remarkable audit trails of everything that\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MSPs like Priority One are seeing a new opportunity to scale with JumpCloud and grow their business. They\u2019re taking their clients and their product offerings to the cloud and not looking back to the on-prem, Windows-centric restrictions of yesteryear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday, I don\u2019t think there is anything that can\u2019t be moved to the cloud; I definitely didn\u2019t have that view two years ago,\u201d Abbott concluded. \u201cBut now, I think the cloud is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nMore Info<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Want to learn more about JumpCloud? Try a guided simulation or demo<\/a>! Ready to get started as a partner? Apply\u00a0 here.<\/a> Still need a bit more info? Get an overview at\u00a0 our Partners page.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As more MSPs join the JumpCloud Partner program, London-based Priority One has found that Directory-as-a-Service is ideal for scaling to the cloud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":22284,"template":"","categories":[42],"collection":[],"wheel_hubs":[],"platform":[],"resource_type":[2313],"funnel_stage":[],"coauthors":[2512],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Priority One Scales IT Service to the Cloud - JumpCloud<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n