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Early Learning Coalition Leverages CyberArk Identity for Secure Cloud Transition
Technology Category
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Identity & Authentication Management
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
- Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
Applicable Industries
- Education
- Professional Service
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Facility Management
Use Cases
- Cybersecurity
- Remote Asset Management
- Remote Collaboration
- Remote Control
Services
- Cybersecurity Services
- System Integration
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
The Challenge
Build out a cloud infrastructure to support rapid company growth. Ease the transition to cloud with single sign-on to Office 365 and other apps. Include two-factor authentication for stronger security. Protect and manage company smart phones with EMM. Nearing the end of a contract that outsourced the community services ELC supervised, the company decided to bring the services in house and offer them directly to the public. It was a large undertaking that would require nearly 100 new employees and the opening of new satellite offices. Success would depend on an environment that could support the company’s 300% growth projections. “We didn’t have the infrastructure or services necessary to handle the anticipated increase in employees,” says Luis Mena, Director of IT at Early Learning Coalition. “So we were under a tight deadline to roll out an entirely new infrastructure.” Mena decided to leverage the cloud to the greatest degree possible. “We considered building out our own on-premises infrastructure, but that approach would have required initial hardware costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and significantly more time and IT resources than we had available,” he says. “The ease and speed of building out a cloud-based environment made it a better choice. But we needed a strong solution that would help us in the transition.” ELC began looking for a solution that would provide authentication and single sign-on for the cloud services they were evaluating. Security would be a top consideration in any solution, as well as compliance with state and local government regulations similar to HIPAA. Strong, two-factor authentication for remote users would also be required. And if they could locate a complementary solution to securely manage their mobile devices, it would be ideal.
About The Customer
Early Learning Coalition (ELC) of Palm Beach County Florida strives to ensure that families in the community have access to high quality, affordable early learning programs and services. ELC is a non-profit, funded through state and federal programs and through a partnership with the Children’s Services Council. The organization is dedicated to providing early learning resources and support to families, ensuring that children have the best possible start in life. ELC's mission is to build a strong foundation for children’s success by improving the quality of early learning programs and increasing access to these services for all families in the community. The organization works closely with local partners and stakeholders to create a comprehensive early learning system that meets the diverse needs of families in Palm Beach County. ELC is committed to continuous improvement and innovation in early childhood education, leveraging technology and best practices to enhance the delivery of services and support to families.
The Solution
ELC evaluated three SSO and EMM providers and selected CyberArk Identity for its more secure technology. “We didn’t like the fact that other solutions cached Active Directory credentials in the cloud,” he says. “With CyberArk Identity, none of our data is replicated, so no credentials could be compromised if there were an intrusion. That was a key differentiator between the services.” Another important component was CyberArk Identity’s Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) features. “We selected Samsung as our smart phone provider precisely because of the pre-existing integration between Samsung Knox and CyberArk Identity and the capacity to build security policies into our devices,” says Mena. ELC wanted to leverage CyberArk Identity’s ability to provision company-owned mobile devices and to apply corporate policies to enforce device encryption and password guidelines. The company realized they could create a separate set of policies for user-owned devices managed through CyberArk Identity as well. ELC was also looking to further boost security with CyberArk Identity’s multifactor authentication. “Our sites are all trusted sites but when a user is logging in remotely or from home, they can go through the CyberArk Identity authentication window to access any of the services they need.” Due to a lack of internal IT resources and minimal experience in rolling out identity management technologies, ELC used CyberArk Identity’s professional services for the implementation. “CyberArk professional services helped us work through several service provider shortcomings. They were able to integrate Office 365 without any assistance whatsoever from Microsoft,” says Mena. “And they helped us with services like DocuSign, Lynda.com and EasyAppointments as well.”
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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