Kite Technology Group specializes in helping independent insurance agencies meet their IT needs. While these insurance organizations have some of the same needs as the larger companies, they often lack the dedicated personnel and budgets to meet them. “Independent insurance agencies sell insurance in small and medium-sized towns,” said Adam Atwell, Partner and Chief Technology Officer at Kite Technology, whose expertise has earned him status as a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professionals). “They’re not the big boys, and our job is to support those folks from a technology perspective.”
Using Nerdio Manager for MSP to simplify the management of clients’ Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) environments, Kite offers its clients an advantage. “We often act as a strategic partner,” Atwell said. “We can be part of the business plan.”
When Kite heard about the new Modern Work capabilities in Nerdio Manager, the company was excited to be one of the first to adopt the extended platform. The new features enabled Kite to offer its clients the benefits of post-COVID hybrid and remote working environments without the management headaches.
“For us,” Atwell explained, “Nerdio’s Modern Work management is that shift from the local, centralized environment to a cloud-based stack. It’s a cloud-first mentality and a catalyst for remote or hybrid work. It delivers the same powerful management benefits for Microsoft’s Modern Workplace environments that Nerdio has long offered for AVD.”
A major shift in security and recoverability
Kite has seen numerous benefits from adopting the new capabilities in Nerdio Manager. “It’s really a day and night difference,” Atwell stated. “When you’re using Modern Work-based security, the ability to expand, expound, and update that stack is on Microsoft’s back. And it can happen in the cloud. You don’t need to make a $20,000 investment in a product to stay up to date. It’s already being updated for you.
“That’s a huge value add from a security perspective,” Atwell continued. “Nerdio Manager has given us a leg up on ensuring that when we push a security policy, it stays up to date, and we have confidence that it’s the same across the board for all our clients.”
With enhanced, cloud-based security comes improved disaster recovery. “We don’t have to babysit old backups and recovery points like we used to,” Atwell added. “In terms of business continuity, if a machine died today, it would take me 20 minutes to replace that in a fleet.”
Atwell is seeing huge improvements in device management. A job that once took three to four hours, such as replacing a machine, now takes only minutes to get users back up and running. Unified Application Management also transforms the process, automating updates and controls to keep applications current across all devices. With Nerdio Manager’s Modern Work capabilities, tasks that used to drag on for hours are now completed in minutes.
Redefining management and improving the client experience
Atwell also highlighted the game-changing efficiency that Nerdio brings to tenant management, transforming a once complex process into a simplified, scalable solution. “Say we have a list of a hundred-plus things that we want our tenants to be doing,” he said. “That means managing those at every client, and then you have a hundred-plus clients, that gets to be a lot to manage. Nerdio has increased our ability to do that effectively at scale. If we make a change, we see that change pushed out, and we have confidence that it’s being done on all those selected devices.”
Nerdio Manager also simplifies onboarding new clients. Kite used to roll out policies by connecting to the server and running six or seven different PowerShell scripts. “Now,” Atwell marveled, “after you’re onboarded, we just push out our baseline policies, and it’s hands-off from there. That’s fabulous”
On the client side, Kite’s customers are seeing increased productivity through improvements in accessing files, sharing information, and real-time collaboration. That’s a bonus, but Atwell knows their principal need from an MSP is technological peace of mind. “They want to know their devices are up to date,” he said. “They want to know that their devices are secure, and they don’t want to hear the noise. That’s the kind of value our customers expect. And with Nerdio Manager’s Modern Work capabilities overseeing Microsoft Modern Workplace, our tools help us meet that need.”
Learn more about how Nerdio’s Modern Work management can help your organization streamline operations and deliver superior services to your clients.
