Achievement Network (ANet) - Best Business Transformation

[dkeith0119]

name: David Keith
title: Managing Director, Tech Xperience
company name: Achievement Network (ANet)
location: completely remote

What solution (if any) were you using before JumpCloud? A bunch of servers including an Active Directory server and an overly complex VPN network. 
What was the challenge your company was facing that led you to considering JumpCloud? We began using JumpCloud in mid-2016. The idea at the beginning was that JumpCloud would allow us to use our Google passwords to log into our laptops and eventually replace our dependence on Active Directory. This was critical as we grew to support schools in states outside of MA and our staff was more and more remote. 
What made you choose JumpCloud as the solution to your needs? To be honest. At the time, JumpCloud was the only thing doing what we were looking to do with linking Google logins to laptop logins in a completely cloud-based manner.
Could you tell us about your company’s environment? How many users? What resources do you manage, including devices + cloud/on-prem infrastructure + applications, etc.? We are a 200-person nonprofit that is dedicated to the idea that every child deserves an excellent education and the opportunities it provides. As of April 2018, in large part thanks to JumpCloud, we are a completely serverless org. This has allowed us to grow as an org and support schools in more states because we are not tied to complex infrastructure. When the pandemic hit our partnership with JumpCloud over the years, along with our strategic tech planning,  had us in a position where moving to a completely remote org was mostly painless from a tech standpoint.
Please also list any integrations, features, commands, policies, and anything else you’re using. Now’s your chance to tell us how awesome your project is and why it should win! JumpCloud has been an integral part of our laptop setup since we started. The Commands feature has been invaluable in aiding in a quick setup of each laptop. Over time we have leveraged policies as they have evolved to give us better control of our laptops. The addition of System Insights has been a game-changer for us because we can get instant status updates when a user reports an issue. JumpCloud also allowed us to introduce Apple laptops into our environment without creating a separate login experience from the PC users.
What are some results you’ve seen since implementing JumpCloud? What do you hope to achieve? JumpCloud has been transformative for both our staff and IT. It has evolved beyond our basic needs in the beginning to be a major piece of how we operate. It has simplified our lives and processes, allowed us to expand while supporting more people with fewer resources, it has consolidated what would take multiple platforms to manage into a single platform thus reducing our spending, and the enhancements to the user interface have increased the usability of JumpCloud and has made it my first stop on laptop questions and issues. Our next step with JumpCloud is to begin to leverage the MDM features with our Apple devices which will allow us to move away from Jamf Now. I look forward to continuing ANet's long partnership with JumpCloud and am very excited to see the continued evolution of the company.