Ntirety - Experts & Thought Leaders

AbsoluteCare is a healthcare provider that focuses on providing comprehensive and preventative care to the most vulnerable populations in the United States. Since 2000, AbsoluteCare has enabled the treatment of thousands of chronically ill patients by using innovative health management tools. ARG is a technology consultancy dedicated to helping companies find the right match for their technological needs, and is a trusted partner of Ntirety. ARG has helped more than 4,000 companies connect with the right partner for their specific IT, telephony, and networking needs for over 30 years. Data storage With a large number of Protected Health Information (PHI) in their data warehouse, it was essential for AbsoluteCare to guard against potential threats. The healthcare provider works with insurance providers to find specific individuals in need of their services and to safely store data and properly process information AbsoluteCare needed the right partner. Challenge AbsoluteCare’s previous vendors did not have the database management and database architecture expertise As a growing company, in 2016 AbsoluteCare decided it would be best to reduce reliance on some of its dated technology stacks and start with a clean slate. AbsoluteCare’s previous vendors did not have the database management and database architecture expertise that was needed to manage the large amount of information that the healthcare provider was responsible for. Cybersecurity was handled by multiple partners, increasing cost, risk, and complexity. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) The company utilised Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) services from their previous vendor, but they struggled with performance issues. VDI is important for AbsoluteCare as a company because they have several applications that require desktops to be on the same Local Area Network (LAN) as their servers, which are in the data centers. A functioning VDI was a requirement for the business to operate. Data management As a growing business in the healthcare industry, AbsoluteCare works with large health insurance companies. Another part of AbsoluteCare’s business operations that is not as obvious is data management. To deliver quality patient-facing programs and associated technologies, data is needed to provide a solid return on investment (ROI).  HITRUST certification Additional HITRUST requirements would be added, and a higher level of compliance would be a part AbsoluteCare analyses a lot of Protected Health Information (PHI) for these payers, which needed to be securely stored away from the world. This meant that AbsoluteCare would need HITRUST certification, and two years after starting their IT infrastructure from scratch, they were able to achieve that goal. In the coming years, however, additional HITRUST requirements would be added, and a higher level of compliance would be a part of these new requirements. Lack of security functions AbsoluteCare’s previous vendor did not have the transparency when it came to managed security functions, including logging, monitoring, and alerting. The previous vendor could not show evidence and the confidence needed to show assessors and auditors that the necessary security work was being done.  The company had matured to the point where they realised they needed to be able to scale faster and level up on security to address expanding requirements due to their rapid business growth- increased staff, increased PHI data, and growing compliance requirements. Solution AbsoluteCare signed the contract with Ntirety after a comprehensive selection process led by ARG AbsoluteCare turned to ARG to help them find a good match for their infrastructure and security needs. ARG Senior Technology Advisor Cassie Diehl surveyed the marketplace to find a provider that met AbsoluteCare National IT Director Chris Becker’s specific qualifications for a comprehensive multi-faceted secure solution. Becker was able to identify a gap between what their current vendor offers, then translate the business’s needs to technical specifications with a vision of their ideal provider. Working with Diehl, Becker created a list of requirements that would align the IT organisation to better meet the business’s needs. In early 2020, AbsoluteCare signed the contract with Ntirety after a comprehensive selection process led by ARG. Database offering Ntirety’s database offering and ability to manage AbsoluteCare’s data warehouse while comprehensively handling security separated Ntirety from the competition.  Ntirety was able to provide a complete and transparent security solution that gave AbsoluteCare confidence and peace of mind in their chosen provider. Endpoint Detection Response (XDR) Ntirety’s VDI fulfilled AbsoluteCare’s needs to properly execute business tasks. Ntirety’s Endpoint Detection Response (XDR) provided detection and protection for the business from malware. Through Ntirety’s Disaster Recovery services, AbsoluteCare was safeguarded against attacks and downtime. Ntirety provides the AbsoluteCare team with a clear-run book that provides actual, actionable documentation that can be followed by the team and has enough details to help new people understand the process.  SOCaaS and IaaS Ntirety’s IaaS keeps AbsoluteCare reliably connected to high-performing servers, systems Ntirety’s Security Operations Center as a Service (SOCaaS) and Compliance as a Service (CaaS) helps to keep secure and compliant. Ntirety’s Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) keeps AbsoluteCare reliably connected to high-performing servers, systems, and virtual desktops.   NOCaaS Ntirety’s Network Operations Center (NOCaaS) provides AbsoluteCare with enterprise backend network and system support, plus updates and upgrades. The database was backed up to Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for durability and ease of access if needed. Ntirety chose Amazon S3 for its “industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance.” DBAaaS Finally, DBAaaS enables AbsoluteCare to access database expertise with a simple email or phone call. “Our data is extremely important to us and our partners, and we cannot afford for it to get in the wrong hands,” Becker said. “We are grateful for our partnership with Ntirety, who keeps our data safe and protected from unknown threats.” Results Ntirety was able to meet all of AbsoluteCare’s requirements from primary infrastructure to robust backup Due to Diehl and Becker’s hard work, AbsoluteCare was able to get connected with the Ntirety team. Ntirety was able to meet all of AbsoluteCare’s requirements from primary infrastructure to robust backup, to Disaster Recovery (DR). ARG considers Disaster Recovery a critical part of having a secure cyber environment and is happy when clients can sleep better at night knowing their IT infrastructure is in good hands.  Security posture Ntirety aided the business in maintaining a strong security posture and providing deep domain expertise that allowed them to manage everything down to onsite assets. With the growing number of PHI and servers, the business was responsible for managing, a reliable provider was a must. Through Ntirety, AbsoluteCare gained full access to activity in their security infrastructure, including full access to reporting from the SIEM, what the criticality levels were so the business could properly adjust them, and send alerts. The information Ntirety provided met the exact needs of AbsoluteCare. Comprehensive security suite AbsoluteCare could continue to comply with HITRUST requirements with Ntirety’s help in securing data “Ntirety’s comprehensive security suite has been an impressive security shield for our business,” said Becker. “Additionally, we don’t have the budget to stand up our internal infrastructure or internally hire the expertise required to protect against today’s artful criminals.” AbsoluteCare could continue to comply with HITRUST requirements with Ntirety’s help in securing data. The healthcare provider could reliably use VDI through Ntirety and could trust that operations would run smoothly. Additional requirements In addition to the HITRUST requirements, some customers wanted additional justification to entrust AbsoluteCare with their data, and Ntirety was able to stand as proof that their data was safe. Having clear documentation from comprehensive Ntirety “run books” that had all the details needed to understand the AbsoluteCare infrastructure, gave Becker and the team additional confidence in working with Ntirety as a partner.

Michigan Mutual is a mortgage broker founded in 1992 by brothers - Mark and Hale Walker. Over the past few decades, the business has expanded across 35 US states and now has a total of 100 Mortgage Loan Advisors. As a company that handles financial information, being able to quickly communicate with customers, while keeping personal data secure, is a top priority and core to their value proposition. The challenge is having all the right tools and technology in place, in order to compete with big players and some nimble smaller ones. Michigan Mutual moves back office IT servers Michigan Mutual had to move their back office IT servers from their office suite to a data centre Michigan Mutual had to move their back office IT servers from their office suite to a data centre that they owned and operated. Over time their server, storage, and network set-up became outdated. A decision had to be made on how to make sure data management was as efficient as possible, in the spring of 2017. With Ntirety’s help in taking over the management of their IT infrastructure, the Michigan Mutual team can now focus on their core business of delivering competitive mortgages to their customers.    Ntirety’s virtual desktop services solution (VDI) To free up their time and increase availability and security, Michigan Mutual turned to Ntirety for a virtual desktop services solution (VDI) and moved everything from their data centre to be on Ntirety’s VDI and DR infrastructure. The VDI and on-premise DR Solution moved to Ntirety in August 2017. In June 2018, their applications and back office were also moved to be fully handled by Ntirety. The Michigan Mutual Team then entrusted Ntirety to provide: Unified Cloud Service Level (UCSL Advanced) – With Ntirety’s advanced cloud service, Michigan Mutual can Co-Administer their environment with Ntirety. The mortgage insurance company receives 24x7x365 monitoring and detailed insights on any changes within their environment from Ntirety. Cloud Desktop – This allows virtual desktops to be easily accessible from virtually anywhere. Disaster Recovery Managed Service – In case of a disruption, a security compromise or unlikely disaster, Michigan Mutual wanted to be able to continue delivering services to its customers. The setup, monitoring and management of a disaster recovery solution is provided by Ntirety, in order to ensure the functionality of mission-critical applications. Cost came into play when picking a solution for the Michigan Mutual team and Ntirety was able to provide an affordable solution, with a great Return On investment (ROI), while providing best-in-class services. Ntirety’s Managed Services ensure quick response time The migration to Ntirety’s data centre gives the Michigan Mutual team more servers and desktops Ntirety’s Managed Services helped provide a quick response time to any changes in Michigan Mutual’s infrastructure. With Ntirety onboard, the mortgage insurance company now has more uptime and availability to focus on other business operations. The migration to Ntirety’s data centre gives the Michigan Mutual team more servers and desktops that are available all the time and running at peak performance. The uptime, speed, availability and ease of use lets people do their jobs and compete to ‘get their share of the pie’, according to Michigan Mutual’s Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Information Officer (CIO), Bruce Clarke. Centralised administration and cloud desktop Centralised administration and cloud desktop means that regardless of what happens in any individual area, employees can just go somewhere that has internet, and they’re back up and running. Bruce Clarke said, “We have been fortunate in the fact that the Ntirety team has been able to focus and to get attention to things quickly, to help us get results.” Ntirety offers reliability, communication and support The reliability, communication and support from Ntirety have helped Michigan Mutual to feel valued as a customer and feel confident in the Ntirety solution. That confidence allows the Michigan Mutual team to stay focused on being competitive in the market, rather than worrying about managing their infrastructure.

In the ever-evolving business landscape, this national direct marketing firm recognised the importance of technology to not only stay in front of their customers but to continually optimise internally for their business as well. After many years working with the Ntirety team, the direct marketing firm knew they would get the insights and recommendations to keep the firm competitive and cost-effective. Runaway cloud costs The direct marketing firm quickly adapted and learned to harness technology to keep up with their customer needs, but their cloud costs were not scaling with their operations. Although they found reliable performance and availability putting their workloads on Amazon Web Services (AWS), deciphering the AWS invoices left the firm lost on where, how, and why the company was bill was so high. For a company always aiming to grow, runaway cloud costs could easily derail their progress and drain resources without the firm even realising it. Spend management services Ntirety’s spend management services started reviewing and providing quarterly insight Giving their AWS invoice an expert set of eyes, Ntirety’s spend management services started reviewing and providing quarterly insight for the direct marketing firm on the optimal ways to purchase AWS services to meet their desired business goals and budgets. Always staying at the forefront of the latest AWS products and services, Ntirety helped the firm a step further into cost optimisation with the introduction of the AWS Savings Plan, released in November 2019. This new AWS service covered the direct marketing firm’s diverse workloads in a more flexible and cost-effective way than more traditional methods like adding more reserved instances that can lock-in the user a particular instance type or size. Cloud cost confusion Through years of analysing their AWS infrastructure and usage trends and forecasting, Ntirety’s close understanding of the firm’s long-term strategy enabled the team to align the AWS Savings Plan to meet the business needs. Ntirety alleviated the cloud cost confusion with AWS Savings Plan helping reduce overall costs. Ntirety’s management recommendations helped the direct marketing firm see a 30% reduction in compute costs. With Ntirety’s AWS knowledge and expertise, the firm was able to optimise costs by using the AWS Savings Plan as well as implementing other recommendations: Convert older instances to modern instance type Identify opportunities auto-scaling to reduce the idle Identify changes like rightsizing, under-used resources Prevent unnecessary purchase of reserved instance Resource tagging and grouping to align costs against projects and departments From the long-time partnership, Ntirety knows the business well enough to confidently make recommendations and implement changes efficiently. For the direct marketing firm, Ntirety’s spend management services resulted in reductions in both cost and confusion.