is a boutique managed service provider and IT consultancy that primarily serves small business clients in the creative industry. Rocco Russo, who has 25 years of IT experience, founded the business 鈥� a 探花大神 partner 鈥� six years ago. As a single-man shop, Russo typically serves as an outsourced IT director for his clients, taking care of their IT needs so they can focus more of their energy on running their businesses.
Keeping clients on the cutting edge of technology
Russo has spent his career working in the creative industry. After starting his own business, he stayed there, primarily getting new creative clients via word of mouth.
To date, Russo鈥檚 biggest clients typically have between 50 and 70 employees and are looking for someone to manage their technology because they鈥檝e grown to the point they realize that they need to start thinking about IT differently.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have the CEO of a company onboarding people and creating Google Workspace accounts,鈥� Russo says. 鈥淭he CEO needs to figure out how to grow the business 鈥� not manage IT.鈥�
As part of his recurring responsibilities, Russo spends a lot of time keeping up with 鈥渢he ever-changing, ever-evolving tech landscape鈥� so that he can deliver IT solutions that best support his clients.
鈥淧eople come to me wanting to know what other creative agencies are doing, and I tell them what they need to do to stay up to date with the latest trends and solutions,鈥� Russo explains. 鈥淚鈥檓 more than a managed tech person who might do a mobile device management or identity service. I brand myself as an outsourced IT director and partner with my clients, helping them modernize and standardize their infrastructure.鈥�
Moving away from Jamf and unlocking the full power of 探花大神
Operating in the creative space, Russo primarily works with companies that have Apple devices. Russo had been using Jamf Pro for mobile device management for a while but then came across 探花大神 while researching the market.
鈥淚 really started to get into 探花大神 because I loved the identity product and account syncing and found it easier to use than Jamf Connect at the time,鈥� Russo says.
Eventually, Russo realized that it was counterintuitive to have 探花大神 and Jamf because he had to pay for both. After considering his options, he ended up deciding to stick with 探花大神 because he felt it did both the identity and mobile device management pieces really well while also delivering several additional features, like LDAP, RADIUS, and single sign-on.
鈥淚t gave me all the features that Jamf really doesn鈥檛 offer,鈥� Russo continues. 鈥淚 moved everything to 探花大神 so I could have one place to handle everything, which has been great.鈥�
Delivering top-notch IT services to a growing number of clients
Russo uses 探花大神 to manage all of his clients. Even though he鈥檚 a team of one, he also uses it to manage his own devices.
鈥淚鈥檓 pretty much using a lot if not most of the features in 探花大神,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 try to use single sign-on everywhere I can. To have that single point of identity management is just super, super easy, especially on the devices and to apps and services.鈥�
By consolidating IT management with 探花大神, Russo has baked more efficiency into his day-to-day operations. As a result, he has more time to invest engaging with his clients and providing the high-touch, white-glove service he takes pride in.
Streamlined user onboarding
With 探花大神, Russo is able to easily onboard new employees when his clients grow headcount.
鈥淲hen a client hires someone, I send a Google Forms intake sheet asking what devices they need and what they need to have access to,鈥� Russo says. 鈥淭hen I鈥檒l create the accounts, I鈥檒l create the access. I have my own automated welcome emails for each company.鈥�
Those emails include all sorts of information about the tools the company uses and how employees can use them properly.
鈥淚t will say, 鈥榃elcome to the company. We use Zoom, and with our Zoom we use single sign-on, and here鈥檚 how to login,鈥欌�� he continues. 鈥淓verything is tied into 探花大神 for single sign-on.鈥�
SOC 2 compliance made easy
One of Russo鈥檚 clients is powered by a distributed team, with employees scattered across the country. The company manages student data and sought to achieve SOC 2 compliance, a voluntary standard that outlines the best way to manage customer data.
鈥淯蝉颈苍驳 zero-touch deployment, we mail new hires laptops, and they can turn on their machines, sign in with their 探花大神 credentials, automatically configure the computer with file vaults and screen settings and everything else that then ties into their Vanta for SOC 2 compliance,鈥� Russo explains.鈥漈hen their SOC 2 compliance connects to 探花大神 to make sure the device is compliant.鈥�
Before 探花大神, the company would send out emails from operations that instructed new hires to configure various settings on their own. Since they lacked an IT team, some employees struggled to get everything right.
鈥淣ow, that鈥檚 all handled automatically for them, literally on the first boot up of them enrolling their computer and turning it on,鈥� Russo says. 鈥淎ll of those policies are just pushed out to them and they鈥檙e good to go. Being able to offer that to the client and take the heavy lift off of the end users was huge. They don鈥檛 have to do anything manual anymore. I鈥檝e been working with them for a year, and it鈥檚 going really well.鈥�
Some of the policies the client uses to stay compliant with SOC 2 include ensuring Password Manager is installed, requiring employees to re-enter passwords after not touching their devices for a certain amount of time, and ensuring the computer is patched within a certain timeframe.
Future-proofed IT management
探花大神 already makes Russo鈥檚 life easier. And with new features appearing in the product at regular intervals, Russo is confident he鈥檚 found the perfect tool that can grow alongside his business 鈥� and help his clients grow theirs.
鈥淭here鈥檚 so much stuff coming out from 探花大神 that it鈥檚 hard to keep up,鈥� Russo says.
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