Case Study: Microsoft SharePoint Data Security for a Pharmaceutical Consulting Company

How a Pharmaceutical Company Leveraged SharePoint Data Security to Improve Data Organization & Compliance

SkyTerra’s client is a leading provider of pharmaceutical research and development services that focuses on innovative and personalized treatments. With a large amount of data from various sources and formats, the Company needed a reliable and scalable data management solution that could handle their data organization, governance and compliance requirements of varying contractual obligations. SkyTerra helped them both deploy SharePoint for the Company and configure the SharePoint data security setting to meet the needs of their highly regulated business.

The Challenge

The consulting company was using a mixture of different data storage tools, such as SharePoint, Dropbox, flash drives and hard drives, to store and access their data. This resulted in a chaotic and inconsistent experience, high risks and unnecessary expenses from having to deliver several contractual requirements across varying platforms. With some of the data being sensitive and confidential, such as patient data and case studies, the Company  required strict security and regulatory standards.

The organization wanted to streamline and unify their data management systems and ensure that they could access and use their data effectively and efficiently while complying with industry best practices and regulations. It quickly became apparent that the company needed to leverage the latest features and functionalities of Microsoft SharePoint, data loss prevention and permission-based access for all of their sites, hubs, libraries and metadata.

The Solutions

The first thing the pharmaceutical consulting company needed to do was to move to a full-stack Microsoft product. The Company contacted SkyTerra Technologies to move them off of GoDaddy and into the full-service Microsoft product.  In doing so, the Company also added backup solutions and email hygiene into the environment, ensuring that communications were secure, backed up and protected from threats. By implementing Microsoft solutions, they now had more control of their environment and could rest assured that the Microsoft Modern Workplace tools could be deployed and implemented, securing their communications and data in ways previously unavailable to them through their GoDaddy licenses.

The pharmaceutical consulting company then joined with SkyTerra Technologies, a trusted Microsoft partner, to implement the SharePoint FastStart solution. SharePoint FastStart is a quick and easy way to get started with SharePoint, by providing a framework and a set of best practices for data organization and management. SkyTerra Technologies helped the Company with migrating data from Dropbox,  processing said data and providing security settings and access management tools to ensure a smooth and seamless transition from their old systems. SkyTerra Technologies also provided training and support, answering questions, resolving issues and offering tips and best practices.

Furthermore, the Company then contracted with SkyTerra to provide ongoing support through a “FITS,” or fractional IT services, contract.  By enacting this engagement, they now has a team of SkyTerra engineering and resource planning professionals they can count on to build, maintain and organize the environment to their fullest extent actively and proactively.  FITS contracts give SkyTerra Technology customers the flexibility to access the full repertoire of engineering resources to address areas of compliance, security and ongoing IT support.

The Results

By switching to Microsoft SharePoint, the Company  was able to achieve the following benefits:

• Organized and simplified data management: The Company was able to consolidate all their data storage tools into one platform, reducing complexity and costs. They were able to create sites and hubs for each of their projects and teams, as well as libraries and metadata for each of their data types, enabling them to access and use their data from anywhere, using any device.
• Improved data quality and security: The company was able to enhance their data quality and security, as well as their compliance with industry standards and regulations, which often evolve and change. They can now apply governance and compliance policies to their data, such as retention, deletion and auditing, and protect their data from unauthorized access and breaches using encryption, authentication and authorization.
• Increased data value and insights: The Company is now able to improve their data valuable insights, innovation and collaboration. They are able to use SharePoint to analyze and visualize their data, using tools such as Power BI and Excel, and are able to use SharePoint to share and communicate their data, using tools such as Teams and Outlook.