The Challenge

As a Managed Service Provider (MSP) with a wide geographic reach, an emerging challenge faced by Viper IT was in maintaining a centralised view of their multifaceted and dynamic IT environments, distributed across hundreds of clients. Increased adoption in SaaS applications on client networks, commonly known as Shadow IT, emerged as a new risk to the Viper IT team. This was a particularly important risk to mitigate for Viper IT because, as an MSP, they are responsible for managing and securing clients' digital assets. If Shadow IT is not properly identified and managed, it can expose vulnerabilities that pose security risks, from data breaches to system failure, making it essential for Viper IT to tackle this challenge head-on.

The Solution

In their journey to counter these challenges, Viper IT turned to Ploy. Leveraging Ploy's multi-tenant org switcher and lightweight implementation, they implemented a tailored solution to gain full visibility into multiple distributed IT environments, enabling them to successfully uncover, manage, and mitigate Shadow IT across client networks.

2-click deployment and results in minutes

Tom Ramirez, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Viper IT found that Ploy’s deployment was one of the defining features that set it apart from other competitors he had been trialling. Unlike many Shadow IT tools that require laborious installations and frequent updates on countless devices, Ploy’s agent-less solution only takes a two-click integration process and minutes to discover all SaaS. This not only saves significant time and resources for Viper IT, but also minimises the margin of error and the complexities associated with deploying software across multiple clients and thousands of employees. Ploy's seamless integration aids in effortless SaaS management, ensuring an optimised and streamlined IT infrastructure.

“Integrating Ploy into our operational framework was remarkably seamless. The platform offered us a centralised, clear visibility of our multifaceted IT environment which has been a game-changer for us, providing much-needed peace of mind. Moreover, the responsiveness and support offered by the Ploy team, throughout this process, were beyond our expectations. They've certainly set a new standard when it comes to working with vendors for MSPs."

Tom Ramirez
Managing Director

Secure offboarding for clients & Viper IT

For Viper IT, and other MSPs alike, navigating the offboarding of their client’s employees can often be a complicated task. The issue arises when determining ownership and responsibility for the various apps that a departing employee has used or signed up for. In many instances, the onus of this process is split between the MSP and the client, making it a potentially convoluted task. In addition, there are often applications employees have signed up to that neither the MSP or client are aware of.

How Ploy helped

To address this multifaceted challenge, Viper IT leveraged Ploy's automated workflows and application discovery to streamline and secure the offboarding process. By integrating with the MS 365 tenant, Ploy can analyse email subject lines for account sign-ups as well as OAuth token grants to produce an extensive list of employee application sign-ups. Afterwhich, workflow configuration segregates applications into ones that need to be managed by the MSP and which should be handled by the client. These workflows, fully customizable to the specific needs of each client, enable Viper IT to manage offboarding procedures accurately, promptly, and securely.

Seamless org-switching between client tenants

Viper IT required easy multi-tenant switching as they integrated more and more MS 365 tenants with Ploy. Recognising the complex nature of MSPs managing multiple client environments, Ploy built out an org-switcher feature enabling swift transitioning between these environments within a couple of days.

This functionality became crucial for Tom as it allows him to navigate through various client systems within Ploy with ease. Such adaptability not only optimises efficiency, but also contributes to improved accuracy and responsiveness in Viper IT’s, IT and Cyber Security services.

"Ploy has delivered an unrivalled ease of integration and visibility that has revolutionised how we manage our client environments. Its adaptability and responsiveness have provided us the edge in navigating the complexities of multiple client systems. It's more than just a solution - Ploy is a strategic partner that provides us the confidence to face the challenges in today's digital landscape."