Crowley’s Implements a Secure and Unified Platform with Microsoft Office365

Crowleys DFK is one of Ireland’s leading firms of Chartered Accounting and business advisors. With offices in Dublin and Cork, the company has been providing client-focused audit, accountancy, taxation and advisory services for 46 years.

Crowleys DFK initially approached CWSI to become ISO 27001 certified (an international standard for managing information security) and develop a framework in which to proceed. The sudden shift to remote working during the Covid-19 pandemic prompted Crowleys to assess its remote working strategy, and to implement a secure working environment for its 160 staff while maintaining seamless and high-quality service for customers.

CWSI was tasked with releasing the true power of Microsoft Office365 (O365) for effective remote working while securing the company’s data and systems. The objectives were to enable Crowleys to manage all devices on a unified platform while maintaining a hybrid environment; work with Crowleys on its modern workplace journey by configuring devices and identities to a Zero-Trust model, and to assist the company in becoming ISO 27001 compliant.

CWSI was chosen due to its reputation as Ireland’s most experienced modern workplace security and compliance specialist. Having also come recommended by an industry peer and proven to get swift results, the proposed solution was completely tailored for Crowleys DFK’s evolving needs.

Already using O365, Crowleys was looking to introduce smart security controls to enable modern working without impeding end users from doing their jobs. To support the company’s new remote working policy, CWSI identified the need to deploy Unified Identity Management to protect company data, centrally manage remote personal and corporate devices across Windows 10, iOS and Android, upgrade the existing anti-spam solution, and implement controls to prevent data leakage or loss.

The M365 Business solution from Microsoft allowed Crowleys DFK to address these challenges and most of the cyber risks it may face as a business due to a lack of visibility of user devices, the absence of Mobile Device Management (MDM) strategy, and lack of application management. CWSI deployed the security controls in M365 Business in a three-phased process:

1. Identity Management with Azure Active Directory (a built-in solution for managing identities in O365)
2. Device Management with Microsoft Intune (a cloud-based management tool for mobile devices). User experience and flexibility improved with ability to work offline
3. Defender for Office365 with Office Advanced Threat Protection

Consistency across all devices: The solution removed the reliance on remote desktops, and resolved issues with internet access and poor connectivity with the ability to access and work offline.

Centrally managed: The deployment has taken pressure off the internal IT team as all updates and apps can be centrally managed. Office365 with Intune on local machines means all locations are managed in this way, instead of manually calling each member of staff into the office every 90 days to register their device on the network with encryption, losing valuable company time and creating a negative employee sentiment. Employee productivity has been improved with ease of use and an enhanced employee experience.

Productivity and cost savings: Previously, Crowleys allocated on average a half day per week of IT hours on resolving tickets. Now, the number of tickets raised have reduced significantly and are mostly resolved with a quick reply message, reducing both the volume of and time spent on IT issues and regaining two hours of staff uptime per week.

ISO 27001 certification: The company is now proceeding into phase two of its ISO journey. The next step will be to move away from remote desktops and move increasingly towards cloud-based applications.