{"id":82268,"date":"2023-04-28T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?post_type=resource&p=82268"},"modified":"2023-07-18T13:40:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T17:40:40","slug":"datactics-uses-jumpcloud","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/datactics-uses-jumpcloud","title":{"rendered":"Datactics Uses JumpCloud to Improve Security by Building a Scalable Identity and Device Management Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Datactics<\/a> is a software company that creates self-service data quality and matching solutions across a wide range of industries and data types. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Datactics has roughly 75 employees and has raised over $5 million in venture capital to date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, Datactics had about 30 employees. As the business grew, so did the demand for more structure in how Datactics managed its internal IT environment. This resulted in Datactics CEO, Stuart Harvey, bringing Dave Brown in as Head of Security and DevOps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown joined with over 18 years of industry experience in enterprise support, infrastructure design and architecture, disaster recovery, business continuity planning, quality assurance, and more. Joining a small team with only one other person, they knew the task ahead was big, but set out with a clear plan to accomplish it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A key area for any organization setting out to implement an internal IT strategy is user management. Armed with that knowledge, the newly formed team quickly set out to accomplish a defined level of user and device management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt that time, people were kings of their own kingdoms,\u201d Brown commented. \u201cSeeing this, the team quickly decided that one of the first things that needed to be done was to put a ring around our users. This didn’t mean least-privileged access, but certainly to get some kind of control so that we knew what our users were doing, when, and why.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After obtaining buy-in for this project from the senior management team, Datactics launched a proof of concept (POC) competition across various identity and access management (IAM) providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an Office 365 house, the first port of call was Azure Active Directory, however, after considering Datactics\u2019 specific requirements and pricing, it wasn’t deemed the best fit. The competition was then narrowed down to three, from which JumpCloud came out on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOut of the three we looked at, JumpCloud was by far the simplest tool that gave us everything we needed. JumpCloud was the first thing we implemented at Datactics as part of the new structure.\u201d Brown continues, \u201cBack in September\/October 2019, little did we know how handy JumpCloud was going to prove come March 2020!\u201d The sudden switch to remote work that arose from the pandemic saw the vast majority of the growing Datactics team taking laptops and devices home, so being able to enhance control over identity and access management was even more vital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In JumpCloud, the Datactics team found a solution that gives them the foundation they need to scale with confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown noted, \u201cAs a small company that is constantly growing and adapting to our changing landscape, JumpCloud gives us the user control and device control we need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Datactics team got up and running on JumpCloud right away. According to Brown, \u201cStarting with the DevOps & Security team, aided by some wonderful willing volunteers, we quickly proved how easy the product was to implement and for our user base to get to grips with it. After successful initial testing, the team quickly imported all users from Office 365 to the platform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUser import completed, we could quickly implement password policies with enforced password changes, 2FA<\/a>, and everything in between. The whole deployment was simple, and after those few minor blips that always go with a new rollout, we were up and running.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown continues, \u201cNot only did that give us the ability to control our entire user base, it also let us control what those users could do to the devices they were assigned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLike user control, device management was implemented in stages. Conscious of not wanting to seem like we were taking everyone\u2019s access rights away after six months, we needed to be very careful on how it was deployed,\u201d Brown explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JumpCloud device policy management made the rollout simple. By creating policy and device groups, the DevOps team was able to easily execute this stage of the project. As with all things, this was not without a few issues, but thanks to the assistance from JumpCloud support, no showstoppers were encountered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From an IT and security perspective, one of the main benefits of JumpCloud is the ability to manage users, devices, policies, and everything else, from a single console.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe ability to do so much from a single pane of glass is incredible,\u201d Brown explains. \u201cSince we rolled out JumpCloud, we\u2019ve added circa 40 users. Onboarding<\/a> these users was a lot easier because of JumpCloud. It was simpler for us to say, \u2018here\u2019s your device \u2014 it\u2019s controlled, this is what you can do, this is what you can\u2019t do\u2019, rather than \u2018here\u2019s a device \u2014 now off you go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With JumpCloud, Datactics has strengthened the employee experience by ensuring they have access to the tools they need to do their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s given us the ability to give our users a better day-to-day experience \u2014 everyone has access to the tools they require when they require them. Should a new tool be required after admin approval, it was made accessible to them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown continued, \u201cOur user base has seen the benefit of needing admin approval when installing software. It needs to be checked out by an admin and proven that it\u2019s not going to blue screen their machine, which is always a possibility when everyone is their own admin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a company that works with multiple government and banking clients, Datactics is always focused on security. Using JumpCloud, the team has rolled out a number of policies and commands to button up their security stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA simple but effective policy for us was the simple \u2018Screen Lock.\u2019 Having the assurance of knowing that a user’s screen will lock automatically after a certain time is great. No longer did we do nervous walks around the office to see who had left unattended screens!\u201d Brown says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe quickly followed up with other policies such as firewall control, disabling USB devices, and setting OS software update.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown commented, \u201cApplying easy-touch policies ensured that our user resistance was kept low. Things have just been improving from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Plus, the ability to have our user repository (Office 365) and online LDAP connected made all the above possible with minimal user training and frustration.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n To serve their security-conscious clients, Datactics maintains two certifications each year, Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus; one is self-assigned, while the other is externally audited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHaving JumpCloud on board makes the external auditing much simpler. When the auditors ask a compliance question, you can either go to the console or run a simple script and obtain the requested information,\u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not long after Datactics became a client of JumpCloud, the platform released Systems and Directory Insights. After another quick trial, both were successfully deployed across the estate and are now used daily. Being able to \u201cinterrogate\u201d their systems with JumpCloud has made the compliance<\/a> piece considerably easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like we wouldn\u2019t get the certifications without JumpCloud, it just would have been a lot harder and required a lot more team effort,\u201d Brown explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After three-and-a-half years with JumpCloud, Brown comments that he knows his team made the right decision \u2014 Datactics has found a true partner they can scale alongside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe asked for more Linux administration when we first signed up because that was one of our big limitations,\u201d Brown noted. \u201cJumpCloud listened. Around eight or nine months later it came out, and that was absolutely brilliant. It\u2019s been interesting to see JumpCloud grow in line with us, and anything that we\u2019ve asked for has always been taken on board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only does JumpCloud listen and respond to user feedback, the company also delivers high-touch services to customers \u2014 even the smaller ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor someone like me, who was in charge of IT infrastructure for a small company, to have a CEO reach out directly and take time out of his calendar to sit with us, that spoke volumes,” Brown said. \u201cBeing able to tell my senior management team, \u2018we had this problem, and 10 minutes later I was speaking to the CEO of the company.\u2019 That\u2019s much better than me saying, \u2018we have this problem, and I\u2019ve had a support ticket open for six months and am getting nowhere.'” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking ahead, Datactics plans to expand its JumpCloud footprint with patch management<\/a>, mobile device management (MDM) and is considering testing conditional access<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commenting on the expansion Brown shared, \u201cUsing other tools for these functions at present is a bit of an admin nightmare. The ability to have one pane of glass for all tools just simplifies everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What advice would Brown give for IT teams considering JumpCloud?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn a nutshell, get in and try it,\u201d Brown concludes. \u201cIf you can find something simpler, let me know, because we weren\u2019t able to.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.\u00a0 Learn more on why Datactics, a software company that creates self-service data quality and matching solutions, uses JumpCloud to improve security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":82705,"template":"","categories":[],"collection":[2778,2775],"wheel_hubs":[],"platform":[],"resource_type":[2313],"funnel_stage":[],"coauthors":[2726],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBringing structure and control to a growing company<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Choosing Jumpcloud for its feature-rich nature and ease of use<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Scaling their business alongside JumpCloud<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Immediate results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
With user control in place, the team moved on to device control.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Centralized identity and device management<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A stronger employee experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Improved security <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Compliance made easy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A strong partnership<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Learn more about JumpCloud<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Get started<\/a>\u00a0with JumpCloud today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"