Interlaced Addresses the Unique Needs of its Apple-Centric Client Base with OneLogin Partnership

Founded in 2010 by Apple alumni, Interlaced.io ‘grew up’ focusing on providing Apple-optimized IT services, over the years adding capabilities for PC, network, servers, and security support, eventually evolving into a full-service IT Managed Services Provider. Each of Interlaced’s clients is supported by a crossfuntional team, composed of a Project Manager, a Customer Success & Strategy Manager, a Lead Solutions Engineer, and an around-the-clock, expert-staffed helpdesk - this ensures that we can meet any client ask. Additionally, Interlaced architects implement and support beautiful technology infrastructures that ensure a streamlined user experience. By utilizing state of the art support tools, Interlaced is able to provide seamless end-user support to organizations across the country, with supported users across the globe.

Justin Wells, CEO of Interlaced, explains his company’s guiding tenets: “Interlaced’s purpose, why our teams get up every morning, is ‘Propelling Teams Towards Their Dreams.’ This requires that our teams plan long-term Technology Roadmaps, which ensure that clients’ technology is a catalyst, instead of a hurdle, for their strategic business growth. All of our solutions, tools and processes are carefully selected to enhance user experience, promote collaboration & speed, build towards the most common compliance frameworks, and set the foundation for security.”

Challenges
Approximately 80% of the devices that Interlaced manages on behalf of its clients are on the Apple OS – no surprise considering Interlaced’s core segments and the growing adoption of Apple devices in the workplace. At the same time, over two-thirds of the mailboxes it manages are on Google. All those clients, devices, and mailboxes are in good hands with Interlaced. The company’s tight-knit relationship with Apple and its modern, cloud-first approach to IT have helped establish its unique value in the Managed Service Provider (MSP) space.

However, as Jeff Gaines, President and Chief Operating Officer for Interlaced, explains, the typical enterprise directory structure doesn’t work well in Apple environments. “You run into inherent issues with Macs on Active Directory. Plus, Apple sunsetted its Open Directory running on Mac Server.”

With a goal of helping its clients address this issue, Interlaced sought a directory service in the cloud. “One of the biggest IT-related issues that growing businesses face is onboarding new users efficiently. We wanted to centralize Identity and Access Management without making it burdensome for our forward-thinking, cloud-first clients.”

Solutions
As Interlaced explored its Identity and Access Management (IAM) options, the OneLogin Single Sign-On (SSO) solution stood out. “The OneLogin Cloud Directory works well with Apple Directory. Plus, OneLogin’s integration with other directory services means we can easily support our clients, and even set up hybrid models,” says Gaines.

For Google mailboxes, Interlaced can auto provision and deprovision on the fly with OneLogin’s tie into Google Directory and Google OAuth. Moreover, OneLogin’s support for SAML means trusted authentication between OneLogin and other applications. Even when Interlaced’s clients use form-based authentication, the MSP gets the convenience of a central OneLogin dashboard.

According to Wells, “When making product decisions, we heavily weigh the quality & breadth of integrations with other applications and tools. This is where many OneLogin competitors fall short. We also look for a clear Win (User Experience), Win (Client/Business Impact), Win (IT Support Professional Experience). OneLogin exceeds expectations for our users, our clients’ decision makers, and our team of experts.”

Gaines adds to this. “The pricing and feature structure is simplified so you know exactly what you’re getting. Moreover, it was clear from OneLogin’s responsiveness that this would be a partner invested in our success.”

Results
About 20% of Interlaced’s customers are using OneLogin. In addition to selling OneLogin to fit specific client needs, Interlaced made OneLogin the cornerstone of its security service packages. “We saw rapid adoption by our security-focused clients. It’s a strong selling point that we can centralize all of a company’s applications and access, and offer all the security features OneLogin provides,” continues Gaines.

Interlaced also finds tremendous value in OneLogin SmartFactor Authentication™, which provides context-aware adaptive authentication. “This is a big selling point for us. Even if a customer wants to defer multi-factor authentication, they can get suspicious activity flagged. That really resonates with non-technical stakeholders,” explains Gaines.

OneLogin gives Interlaced a central directory and canonical system of record to manage all user access and permissions, and keeps a log of active users. Interlaced’s helpdesk uses OneLogin to auto provision licensing and automate access and revocation for data and permissions. At the same time, the company’s clients get the assurance that only trusted, authorized users can access their resources. “It gives us and our clients peace of mind that we can lock out a user with the click of a button,” continues Gaines.

Along those lines, OneLogin saves Interlaced time, which is especially important as it serves fast-growing organizations and those experiencing lots of turnover as they try to find the right employees to fill their seats. “Those scenarios equate to lots of user onboarding and offboarding, which we can largely automate with OneLogin. That reduces our support tickets by a large percentage,” says Gaines.

That’s not all. A behavioral health software company approached Interlaced with the need to be more HIPAA compliant. The IAM solution it was using lacked the logging features they required for compliance. Interlaced recommended OneLogin and, in one week, flawlessly integrated nearly 40 applications and set up a trusted identity provider link. In addition to satisfying its compliance requirements, the company saved $2,000 per month on every seven seats.

Interlaced has also been able to easily assist clients as they move to work-from-home models in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. “OneLogin and the other technologies we call upon made the transition seamless. While other companies were scrambling to set up VPNs and other equipment, it was business as usual for us. In fact, our ticket volume actually declined,” explains Gaines.

In OneLogin, Interlaced believes it has found the right IAM partner. “With OneLogin, both our clients and our company see value. Our clients get an industry-leading SSO solution and we get a partner that is responsive and empathetic to our needs as a small business, and willing to work with us to deliver value to our clients,” concludes Gaines.

Why OneLogin?
OneLogin brings speed and integrity to the modern enterprise with an award-winning single sign-on and identity management platform. Our portfolio of solutions secure connections across all users, all devices and every application, helping enterprises drive new levels of business integrity and operational velocity across their entire app portfolios.