“IT shouldn’t be building PCs or installing software. We should be focused on helping the business grow. Mobile Mentor provided a clear trajectory forward to achieve this.”
– Neil Patel, VP of Technology, The Trust Company of Tennessee
The On-Premises Dilemma During the Pandemic
Prior to COVID, The Trust Company of Tennessee did not operate with a remote workforce. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic stuck, forcing workers into remote work, the company needed to act swiftly to ensure that their team could continue working productively while also protecting sensitive company data.
The pivot to remote work presented The Trust Company team with a dilemma. In addition to the team working off-premises, they were now hiring employees to work remotely in a full-time capacity. However, their file servers, phone system, and network were all local.
The group found themselves asking important questions in this new remote reality such as: How do we manage our endpoints? How do we ensure that client data is protected outside the office? How do we prevent data leakage?
The Trust Company needed to move to cloud-based infrastructure to support and secure their growing remote workforce. It was clear that Microsoft 365 and Intune were the solution to what they were looking for. However, their internal IT was already stretched thin with existing projects. Their group simply did not have the bandwidth to tackle a major shift in operations.
Embracing Modern Endpoint Management with Mobile Mentor
“I don’t consider this a vendor/client relationship. I consider this a true partnership.”
– VP of Technology, The Trust Company of Tennessee
The Trust Company of Tennessee engaged Mobile Mentor to modernize their Endpoint Management strategies and infrastructure.
First, Mobile Mentor conducted a technical discovery. The discovery included items like The Trust Company of Tennessee’s current endpoint security practices, identity, security, and tooling, and their current employee support processes. Then Mobile Mentor submitted a design and build plan that addressed Trust Company’s specific needs using Modern Endpoint Management.
Once complete, Mobile Mentor designed and built The Trust Company’s environment using Microsoft 365 technologies. This included a design of security policies and device profiles to meet their unique business requirements, an Intune configuration with Autopilot and Apple Business Manager, and the development of support collateral for Zero-Touch Provisioning.
Further, Mobile Mentor implemented Azure AD features like Conditional Access, dynamic groups, modern authentication, self-service password reset, and other security measures.
Mobile Mentor configured over 40 applications to update and deploy to The Trust Company’s workforce. Personal smartphone security was put in place as well. Finally, Mobile Mentor configured and deployed Microsoft Defender.
Mobile Mentor then tested The Trust Company’s new environment to ensure high quality and worked with The Trust Company to migrate all company devices to Intune. Next, The Trust Company completed service onboarding and all tickets began routing to the Mobile Mentor team. A knowledge base of content was provided to users. A service portal and feedback process were implemented.
Once The Trust Company of Tennessee’s environment was configured, the group began their ongoing relationship with Mobile Mentor in a Business As Usual (BAU) manner. Modern Endpoint Management is a co-management model so Mobile Mentor partnered with The Trust Company.
In our co-management model, Mobile Mentor works with The Trust Company IT rather than trying to replace it. The ongoing support from Mobile Mentor enables The Trust Company’s team to operate in a cloud-first, remote-centric capacity. Legacy Servers are being planned for deprecation and sunsetting over the next year.
The support services that enable Trust Company include:
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24 x 7 x 365 phone & email support for devices & Office 365 apps
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A support portal for The Trust Company Employees
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Restoration of services and content to replacement devices
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Day-to-day management of Microsoft Intune
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Management of the Intune Company Portal
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Management of Intune App Protection Policies
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Management of Conditional access policies
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Deployment of App Updates
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Management of Apple Business Manager
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Management and updates for device profiles
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Management of Windows Autopilot with hardware vendors
With support from Mobile Mentor’s Modern Endpoint Management team, the The Trust Company of Tennessee is positioned for long term success.
“[Your agent] did a great job assisting me with this issue. I appreciated that he asked if this is my primary computer, or if I had a backup. He researched and had me up and running in about 20 minutes. Great work!”
– CSAT responder
Meeting the Challenges of Today through Modern Endpoint Management
As a result of their new co-managed service from Mobile Mentor, The Trust Company of Tennessee now enjoys peace of mind, knowing that their fleet of devices are securely managed – including personal smartphones.
Windows updates are configured using Windows Updates for Business. OS updates occur automatically over the air, but control is maintained, and bad updates can be paused or rolled back when required.
Meeting the Challenges of Today through Modern Endpoint Management
As a result of their new co-managed service from Mobile Mentor, The Trust Company of Tennessee now enjoys peace of mind, knowing that their fleet of devices are securely managed – including personal smartphones.
Windows updates are configured using Windows Updates for Business. OS updates occur automatically over the air, but control is maintained, and bad updates can be paused or rolled back when required.
Modern Endpoint Management uses modern device management with Intune and Windows Autopilot. This allows The Trust Company to leverage Zero Touch Provisioning. Zero Touch Provisioning means new devices can be purchased and shipped directly to employees. Then the employee unboxes the new device and signs in from anywhere. The device self-provisions over the air. Device provisioning has been cut by 90% compared to traditional image-based Windows management.
Zero Touch Provisioning works on The Trust Company’s corporate smartphones as well.
The Trust Company is now more secure. Using modern authentication and single sign on has allowed users to access their accounting system without the need for separate credentials and cumbersome sign ins. This capability has been a big hit with The Trust Company’s employees and auditors alike. No longer will employees need to store a rolodex of passwords on Word docs, Excel sheets journals, or notes.
The Trust Company is now in the process of going serverless and eliminating domain controllers. Their authentication is now running through Azure AD for all user accounts.
“With ongoing managed services support from Mobile Mentor, the group can continue with a lean in-house IT team while outsourcing day-to-day tasks and maintenance pertaining to Microsoft365 and Intune.”
Since partnering with Mobile Mentor’s support in July 2021, The Mobile Mentor service team has resolved 955 tickets for The Trust Company of Tennessee’s end-users with a customer satisfaction score of 100%. The ongoing support has allowed their IT team the bandwidth to contribute to innovation and business growth.
The Trust Company of Tennessee’s remote team is now enabled to work on their device securely from anywhere. Their experiences with those devices have also been enhanced and will continue to improve as their IT department embraces modern management capabilities. It is safe to say that The Trust Company of Tennessee’s future is looking bright with Microsoft 365 technology.
We expect that The Trust Company will be able to streamline their software suite and save costs by using Microsoft 365 technology. Sunsetting on-premises servers will further reduce costs and increase employee productivity while removing the need for VPNs.
We are excited and proud to be a partner of The Trust Company of Tennessee.
“[Your agent] is always so friendly and easy to work with. He always responds very promptly. He helps to find work arounds when it is a vendor issue instead of IT.”
– CSAT responder
