CanFirst Capital Management manages growth and income funds and invests in major Canadian markets as well as select secondary markets.
SITUATION
CanFirst Capital Management was working with an outdated IT network platform which needed to be modernized and upgraded. They were outsourcing their IT needs to a thirdparty subcontractor and their data was being stored on their premises. CanFirst also needed to increase security on their remote server. When the pandemic struck, CanFirst had no means of accessing their data, leaving the entire team disconnected from the office and unable to work remotely.
Mark Braun, CanFirst’s Executive Vice-President of Investments & Business Development, contacted CrucialLogics based on a recommendation. Braun hired CrucialLogics to secure and migrate their old network to the cloud so the company could work remotely. The CrucialLogics team also needed to improve CanFirst’s data security to meet the demands of investors and limited partners and ensure that security measures were up to standard for any investor or financial audit.
SOLUTION
CrucialLogics divided the data migration and security upgrades into two phases. In the first phase, they migrated CanFirst’s on-premise network to the cloud, enabling the team work remotely. Phase two included extending the security protocols to all entry points, moving CanFirst’s data to a secure corporate platform which would be managed inhouse, and ensuring their entire IT infrastructure was ready for when the team returned to the office full time.
CrucialLogics took a holistic and strategic approach phasing in the transition of technology while managing change and user impact. The team implemented perimeter security and redesigned the security zone, deployed Advanced Cloud Data and identity protection, modern hybrid identity, endpoint management with Intune (with MDM and MAM policies) and the necessary policies and technical controls with Azure compliance. CanFirst now has proper device management and enrollment, intrusion detection, anti-virus and malware protection, web filtering and a secure SSL VPN.
The project evolved into a developing arrangement with more IT issues to manage, and a third phase was initiated. As part of this phase, CrucialLogics implemented their HyperCare help desk solution to manage CanFirst’s systems.
RESULTS
CanFirst’s server was successfully migrated to the cloud in May 2020. Corporate security controls were onboarded onto all staff computers, which was no easy task, as the CanFirst team is scattered across Canada
To make this task even more challenging, CanFirst allowed employees to buy their own computers, almost doubling the onboarding time. CrucialLogics remained flexible amidst these challenges. The most difficult part of the onboarding operation has been bringing the team’s phones into the security bubble. CrucialLogics overcame all of these obstacles and more to deliver on CanFirst’s IT needs. Braun commented, “I feel confident that CrucialLogics knows what they’re doing, and we have been put on the right path.”