Global Non-Profit Partners with Ntirety on Modernization of Azure Identity and Access Management System

Overview

The client is a prominent, global non-profit organization working to raise money for charitable causes. The non-profit works to bring people together to build strong, equitable communities where all can thrive. They are one of the world’s largest privately funded charities, serving almost 2000 organizations in 40 countries and making life better for 48 million people a year. The non-profit’s priorities are set by local entities, and they collaborate with private, public, and nonprofit partners to boost education, economic mobility, and health resources.

Download Case Study Booklet 

Challenge

The client was facing challenges related to their Microsoft Azure cloud-based identity and access management system. Their system was being managed by Microsoft Active Directory; a feature of Microsoft Azure that helps ensure only authorized users have access to a client’s cloud resources. The client wanted to make significant changes to the design, configuration, and implementation of their system. Their end goal was to both modernize their environment and enhance security through implementation of best-in-class identity and access management practices and technologies.

“I am sure we will be in business for a long time. I can count on Ntirety and their people so that we can provide good services for our organization.”

-Technology Services Director of Prominent Global Non-Profit

The non-profit client and Ntirety had an existing relationship dating back 15 years, since a legacy acquisition of one of their environments. Despite this, they only knew Ntirety in a limited capacity as a hosting company. Although they trusted Ntirety’s expertise, they didn’t initially consider Ntirety could offer additional, advanced solutions. They were pleasantly surprised to learn Ntirety could bring Active Directory expertise to the table and determined to engage Ntirety in their RFP process. They ultimately selected Ntirety because of this unique differentiator; they could keep everything in-house and running through Ntirety.

Solution

The non-profit relied on Ntirety’s Advanced Services team to provide a solution, which included consulting as well as education. Ntirety began by conducting an assessment of the client’s existing system and environment, surfacing issues and asking questions the company wouldn’t have considered otherwise.

Ntirety worked to modernize the non-profit client’s Active Directory environment and move away from their legacy operating system. Ntirety delivered an updated Active Directory schema, and a final configuration which vastly improved security in the cloud environment. The migration project included setting up a controller, which was joined with Active Directory. The new configuration left the client with a much more secure control plane offering restricted access through a central, tightly controlled space.

“Ntirety not only provided world-class consulting on the project, but also ensured that our needs were being met every step of the way.”

-Technology Services Director of Prominent Global Non-Profit

The most critical piece of the Ntirety solution was the backout plan. The non-profit needed to modernize but was worried about making the changes safely. With Ntirety’s expertise and deep knowledge of best practices, the changes to the environment were reliable, and the updates done in a way that minimized risk throughout their operations. Ntirety even put a fallback plan in place, which enabled the team to return to a pre-upgrade condition if a problem arose. This allowed the client to feel confident and facilitated a smooth transition.

The entire solution was supported by a dedicated member of the Ntirety Professional Services team, who was readily available to the client. He answered any questions, and provided training to clearly illustrate how the modernized environment would work.

Results

The client selected Ntirety’s Advanced Services team to consult with them on the design, and eventual implementation, of an upgrade to their cloud-based identity and access management features. The direction and knowledge provided by Ntirety allowed the client to enhance the security posture of their cloud environment. For the client, it’s now easier to manage and monitor their resources through one central, highly secured area. Their modern system has higher security and performance standards, as well.

“Back in 2022, when we reached out to Ntirety for a project regarding our Active Directory schema, we were a little hesitant: Ntirety is a hosting organization, after all. You would know about SQL, WORDPRESS, PYTHON, and IIS but Active Directory?” “Daniel (Professional Services) changed all our thinking toward Ntirety: we should have reached out to you sooner.”

-Technology Services Director of Prominent Global Non-Profit

The non-profit client was familiar with Ntirety as a hosting company but didn’t realize how many other ways Ntirety could contribute to their success. However, once they began working with the Ntirety team, it became clear that Ntirety was a comprehensive and trusted provider with deep expertise in security, compliance, cloud, and consulting. The client was “wowed” with Ntirety’s customer service, and appreciated having a dedicated, direct point of contact throughout the engagement. Today, Ntirety continues to support the client’s cloud infrastructure.

Managing security and compliance is a strategic, economic imperative that directly impacts business outcomes. Ntirety is the only company that embeds compliant security throughout IT and company culture, protecting enterprises with a comprehensive compliant security solution. With over 25 years of experience and deep security expertise, Ntirety’s security operations centers (SOCs) simplify risk management programs with a full protection, recovery and assurance suite of services. Learn more about Ntirety’s award-winning and globally-trusted Compliant Security Solutions at ntirety.com.

Schedule a consultation to see how compliant security will protect and optimize your business by visiting ntirety.com/get-started today.