{"id":42903,"date":"2018-02-06T21:03:17","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T04:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?post_type=resource&p=42903"},"modified":"2021-09-28T18:11:57","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T22:11:57","slug":"upland-case-study","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study","title":{"rendered":"Upland Case Study: Unifying Heterogeneous IT Environments with One Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Upland Software<\/a> is an enterprise work management company that provides a number of cloud software services. These \u201cpurpose-built\u201d solutions are focused on enabling organizations to work harder and smarter, and have been proven at many Fortune 2000 companies around the world. Upland has built a tremendous growth strategy that centers around strategic acquisitions, and with each acquisition they are able to bring more world-class tools to their customers. However, with acquisitions comes onboarding new users and integrating heterogeneous IT environments. David Talbott, Upland\u2019s Director of Enterprise IT, needed to find a solution that could help him centralize all of these identities and simplify the management of multiple heterogeneous environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Company:<\/td>Upland Software<\/td><\/tr>
Size:<\/td>Nearly 1,000 users<\/td><\/tr>
Location:<\/td>HQ in Austin, Texas, with multiple offices around the world<\/td><\/tr>
Problem:<\/td>Assimilating heterogeneous environments, many remote workers, massive onboarding<\/td><\/tr>
Goal:<\/td>Centralize IT resources, secure access to systems<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Usually, when a company acquires another, it\u2019s a monumental event (and a monumental undertaking for IT). But for companies like Upland Software, which acquire 2-3 companies a year, integrating new users and IT environments is just another day at the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have just south of 1,000 users. 470 of those users are full-time employees, and the remainder are contractors and offshore people. We have quite a number of independent contractors that are scattered, and we have a growing UK contingent as well,\u201d said Talbott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"cloud<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There is a constant cadence of new users that need to be assigned unique IDs, added to systems, and connected to applications and networks \u2013 all around the world. But that\u2019s just the beginning. Acquisitions also require the optimization of disparate IT environments and their infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every company that Upland acquires has its own unique setup, likely with a mix of Mac, Windows, and Linux systems, a collection of unique applications, and directory services. Unifying all of these independently maintained elements is a tall order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs you can imagine, we have a playbook for acquisitions,\u201d Talbott said. \u201cMany companies that come on are similar, but they each have their differences as well. We had to look at each one of these organizations individually to determine exactly what they have and how they use it. Then we had to come up with a plan for integrating them into our environment in the least disruptive, most efficient way possible. This planning takes a lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Initially, Upland tried to center all of their infrastructure around Microsoft\u00ae<\/sup> Active Directory\u00ae<\/sup> and Office 365\u00ae<\/sup>. However, this approach proved difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOffice 365 had been a standard for Upland. But ultimately the platform became problematic as we started to pull in Mac shops or Linux servers and services,\u201d Talbott reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Upland needed a solution that was platform-neutral, so that it could truly unify and integrate all of their disparate acquisitions. Active Directory didn\u2019t fit the bill: \u201cOne of our main challenges was how to manage all of our different machine types in one directory in order to drive consistency in our password policies, group policies, and group access.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the problem was that Active Directory was built for the on-prem world of yesteryear, and Upland Software is a modern organization with IT resources all around the world. Talbott said, \u201cThe vast majority of the working community at Upland is remote. We have about a 50\/50 split of remote workers and in-office workers, and many of the in-office workers aren\u2019t always in-office. Because of this, we need to be able to support our workforce anywhere, anytime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talbott set out to find a solution that could match Upland\u2019s needs, and he found it in 探花大神 Directory-as-a-Service\u00ae<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“探花大神 is all of the solutions we need in one platform.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Solution<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Upland Software was able to use 探花大神 Directory-as-a-Service to handle their growth and integrate their acquisitions quickly \u2013 much more so than with traditional solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c探花大神 basically eliminates the challenges with integrating an acquisition,\u201d Talbott reported. \u201cGiven 探花大神\u2019s ability to establish and manage users in a single cloud-based directory, we already know exactly how we\u2019re going to integrate them. So on day one, we can get them set up much faster. This efficiency enables our growth. Ultimately, the faster we can finish the acquisition and integration process, the faster we can move on to the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"directory<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

探花大神 DaaS has helped out with the heterogeneous environment challenges that come with acquisitions, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach one of Upland\u2019s acquired organizations will have a different collection of software and hardware. Ideally, we try to keep as much of that environment intact as possible, and incorporate it into Upland. This means that we may end up with a Mac shop or a Windows shop. They may have Active Directory, G Suite\u00ae<\/sup>, Office 365, or something else. To handle all of these heterogeneous environments, we\u2019re focusing on making the 探花大神 directory the central component in to which each of those tools can automatically feed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith this set up, we don\u2019t have to worry about how we\u2019re dealing with authentication \u2013 it\u2019s all in 探花大神. It makes the heterogeneity a whole lot easier to handle.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But what about Upland’s remote workers? 探花大神 was able to help there as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the biggest struggles we had was managing the remote Upland workforce. The challenges escalated based on the applications, networks, and systems they needed to access. How were they getting that access, and how were they changing their associated passwords? Every aspect of these challenges was intensified because they were all outside the supported environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith 探花大神, we can consolidate those remote users into one directory and eliminate all of that ambiguity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe no longer need to have a discussion up front about what machine users are on, what domain they\u2019re connected to, the IP address they use, and so on. All of that stuff just goes away now. We can find it all in the 探花大神 Console.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Result<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Talbott told us that Upland Software is still in the process of migrating all of their nearly 1,000 user accounts into 探花大神, but it\u2019s not too early to give an assessment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe process of migrating to 探花大神 is going quite well. We\u2019ve had no issues, and we\u2019ve already seen a great deal of improvement. Our IT operations are more efficient and it makes everything much easier for the end user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

“With 探花大神, everything is all in one place.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what about the bottom line? \u201cThe cost efficiencies will come when we finish the full migration and can actually decommission all of our on-prem AD infrastructure,\u201d Talbott said. \u201cThe man hours of maintaining all of that infrastructure will go away as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upland Software is unifying their IT infrastructure, while granting their users efficient access \u2013 from wherever they are in the world. The next time Upland Software acquires a company, their IT department will be ready. Talbott summed it up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny system, anywhere, at anytime, with one password for each user. That\u2019s what we were shooting for, and that\u2019s what 探花大神 provides.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Upland Software is an enterprise work management company that provides a number of cloud software services. They solved their IT needs using 探花大神.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":34711,"template":"","categories":[42],"collection":[],"wheel_hubs":[],"platform":[],"resource_type":[2313],"funnel_stage":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUpland Case Study: Unify Heterogeneous IT Environments - 探花大神<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Upland Software is an enterprise work management company that provides a number of cloud software services. They solved their IT needs using 探花大神.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Upland Case Study: Unifying Heterogeneous IT Environments with One Tool\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"探花大神\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"探花大神\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-28T22:11:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top-cloud-service.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"Zach DeMeyer\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study\",\"name\":\"Upland Case Study: Unify Heterogeneous IT Environments - 探花大神\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top-cloud-service.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-07T04:03:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-28T22:11:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"Upland Software is an enterprise work management company that provides a number of cloud software services. They solved their IT needs using 探花大神.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top-cloud-service.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top-cloud-service.jpeg\",\"width\":780,\"height\":520,\"caption\":\"moving to the cloud\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Upland Case Study: Unifying Heterogeneous IT Environments with One Tool\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/\",\"name\":\"探花大神\",\"description\":\"Daily insights on directory services, IAM, LDAP, identity security, SSO, system management (Mac, Windows, Linux), networking, and the cloud.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"探花大神\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/jc-logo-brand-2021.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/jc-logo-brand-2021.png\",\"width\":598,\"height\":101,\"caption\":\"探花大神\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Upland Case Study: Unify Heterogeneous IT Environments - 探花大神","description":"Upland Software is an enterprise work management company that provides a number of cloud software services. They solved their IT needs using 探花大神.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Upland Case Study: Unifying Heterogeneous IT Environments with One Tool","og_description":"探花大神","og_url":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study","og_site_name":"探花大神","article_modified_time":"2021-09-28T22:11:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":780,"height":520,"url":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top-cloud-service.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes","Written by":"Zach DeMeyer"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study","url":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study","name":"Upland Case Study: Unify Heterogeneous IT Environments - 探花大神","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top-cloud-service.jpeg","datePublished":"2018-02-07T04:03:17+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-28T22:11:57+00:00","description":"Upland Software is an enterprise work management company that provides a number of cloud software services. They solved their IT needs using 探花大神.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top-cloud-service.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/top-cloud-service.jpeg","width":780,"height":520,"caption":"moving to the cloud"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources\/upland-case-study#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Resources","item":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/resources"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Upland Case Study: Unifying Heterogeneous IT Environments with One Tool"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/","name":"探花大神","description":"Daily insights on directory services, IAM, LDAP, identity security, SSO, system management (Mac, Windows, Linux), networking, and the cloud.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#organization","name":"探花大神","url":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/jc-logo-brand-2021.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/jc-logo-brand-2021.png","width":598,"height":101,"caption":"探花大神"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/42903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resource"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42903"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=42903"},{"taxonomy":"wheel_hubs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wheel_hubs?post=42903"},{"taxonomy":"platform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/platform?post=42903"},{"taxonomy":"resource_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource_type?post=42903"},{"taxonomy":"funnel_stage","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/funnel_stage?post=42903"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=42903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}