Case Study: Vulnerability Management with 9Health

Dain Linder is the Director of Information Technology at 9Health in Colorado, which has been partnering with volunteers across the state to put on 100+ health fairs per year since 1980. Dan is responsible for working with employees and volunteers to provide everything from simple hardware replacements to overseeing vulnerability management. The levels of technological proficiency among the volunteers in particular, ranges widely. Relying on on-premise servers and VPN connections to relay important and sensitive information had been a challenge. A few years ago, the non-profit transitioned to Microsoft Office 365, but not many adopted it for daily use. It took an on-premise ransomware attack a little over a year ago for them to bring in SkyTerra.

“[SkyTerra} has been able to not only shore up any security vulnerabilities, but also provide us with best practices, support, and training as they pertain to our environment and all of our Microsoft services.  Since that original fix, they have helped us with multifactor authentication and completed a major migration into Teams and Sharepoint.  Being able to provide our people with access to information when and where they need from the cloud is such an easy and efficient way to work.”

– Dain Linder

The Process

Our primary goal is to make our customers’ ability to get their jobs done as easy as possible.  When troubles arise, we recognize that knowing the backstory saves time.  And we know that depth of Microsoft knowledge can help uncover business process efficiencies.  This has proven true especially during pandemic migrations.  Life is not going to look the same for any of us after things shift to the new normal.

We’re not a big company, we have just shy of 30 paid staff, but [SkyTerra] was essential in our being able to migrate from an on-premise environment. The ability to work from the cloud during this time has helped us work on the pivot we will need to take in looking toward our organization’s future. The entire migration, training, and onboarding was all done in one week. The amount of work they were able to accomplish in that amount of time was remarkable.”

Primary Outcomes

The fact that 9Health is a non-profit and partners regularly with volunteers to run their revenue generating events was an extra motivation for us to identify areas where we could lower costs and save them effort.  We recognize that vulnerability management is also a top priority considering the amount of sensitive health documents and data that their organization is responsible for.  As a small business ourselves, we understand that security, efficiency and cost-consciousness are top of mind for companies like 9Health.

Working with SkyTerra

Establishing relationships with our customers is a fundamental part of our mission to set businesses up to do what they do best.  By assigning experts to work with customers from the moment we meet them, we are able to ensure that their needs are met in the timeframe and within the budget that works for them.  Even though we are a Microsoft partner and are experienced in servicing their products, selling their products has never been the priority.

“SkyTerra is fantastic to work with and learn from, and I know they have our best interest in mind.  Being able to go to them for questions or support issues has made a huge difference.  I’m not the end all be all on decision maker here at 9Health, but I can go to my boss and say SkyTerra will reduce cost and secure systems.  It makes that part of my job much easier.  The level of trust started from one project and continues to now. SkyTerra is our advocate, they aren’t trying to sell us things because they are money-makers, they make a difference for our business and who we serve.”

Products & Services Utilized by 9Health

• Microsoft Office 365
• Microsoft Azure
• Project Management Team
• Managed Services

9Health is the largest volunteer-driven, non-profit health, wellness and prevention effort in the nation. The mission of this Colorado-based company is to raise health awareness and provide people with the tools they need to take responsibility for their health. With the support of more than 16,000 volunteers from across Colorado, they have helped save thousands of lives by providing affordable and convenient screenings and health education. Since their inception in 1980, 9Health Fair has counted more than 2 million individuals who took the time to learn more about their health and take control of their lives.  To learn more about 9Health Fair visit their website https://www.9healthfair.org/.

If you are interested in learning more about how SkyTerra can help contact us today!