Introduction

EP Wealth Advisors is a fast-growing wealth advisory firm supporting private and small business clients throughout the United States. As an independent financial advisor, they bring an in-depth planning-based approach to address their client’s unique financial goals and needs.

Challenge

EP Wealth Advisors’ rapid expansion created new file sharing challenges - chief among them was the need to provide secure access to sensitive client information to a remote advisor network. As a rapidly growing practice, the firm did not have a centralized system to manage client data, nor a way to ensure that confidential data was protected when shared externally. 

The first priority for the business was selecting a secure cloud file sharing solution that would support privacy and data security laws specific to the financial sector, and integrate with Practifi - a newly deployed cloud CRM system.

EP Wealth’s IT team evaluated multiple cloud-based file solutions, including the M365 suite, based on three primary criteria. 

• Ease of deployment and administration
• Ability to deploy fine-grain access controls for internal and external users
• Integrations with their newly selected CRM system, Practifi.

Solution

Having put each solution through extensive testing, the decision was made to go with Egnyte, as it exceeded all of their requirements, including:

• Easy access to files for remote and traveling employees
• Granular access permissions
• Native integration with Practifi CRM

As a bonus, Egnyte’s data management and audit reporting capabilities supported the ever-growing regulatory and data privacy requirements that EP Wealth operated under, such as SEC and GLBA.

Benefits

With Egnyte and Practifi deployed as an integrated system, EP Wealth’s employees are enjoying considerable productivity benefits – from client advisors and operations, to portfolio management and financial planning.

Need-based Access Controls

IT is now in firm control of all data. Permissions are managed centrally, and real-time auditing provides complete visibility of all user and file activity from a single dashboard.

External File Sharing

Client-facing advisors can now confidentially share files with clients via a secure link, who can then remotely access these documents from mobile devices.

Fulfilling Compliance Requirements 

With policies for the automated retention, archival and deletion of regulated content, IT can effectively meet compliance requirements, and quickly produce file usage reports for regulatory audits.

The Challenge

Canal Barge Company found itself between new and old worlds when it came to document management. The shore side of its business was operating a modern centralized location for storing data, while its towboats were not. They could not access corporate data onboard their vessels, so it was apparent a digital solution with document version control was needed for boats with unreliable connectivity.

However, most crews were not tech savvy and needed a simple tool for tasks such as sharing navigational reports. Initially, the crews tried Dropbox, but overwriting each other’s files became a daily occurrence. Permissions weren’t controlled and it was challenging to track the file’s version history.

Barbara Hotard, Helpdesk Technician for Canal Barge, explains her process. “We used Dropbox for a while, but that got messy. It became cumbersome instead of an easy tool for the mariners to use.”

Crews also needed access to current compliance manuals in the case of audits, which are commonplace in heavily regulated industries, but this was unrealistic for non-digital or cloud-only, consumer-based solutions.

The Solution

Egnyte provided offline access to documents, ensured regulatory manuals were always accessible and up-to-date, and always easy to use. Hotard continued “We started looking for something that would solve one or two of those problems, and then we stumbled across Egnyte and realized it could solve all of them for us.”

Prior to Egnyte, Canal Barge had purchased Box licenses, but testing revealed the solution could not meet its offline sync criteria.

“Lack of offline sync was a real deal breaker. We needed to make sure our mariners had access to documents all the time, but Box can’t do that for read only documents.”

The IT team soon discovered more Egnyte benefits that secured its position as the solution for Canal Barge, such as granular permission sets.

The Results

The Egnyte desktop feature uses a familiar format of folders and files so the mariners intuitively started dragging and dropping documents into their rightful place.

According to Hotard, “Usually you get a lot of push back with new IT projects because people don’t want to see change. But almost immediately people were saying, ‘This makes my life easier’ and that led to rapid adoption.”

“Egnyte does a better job of providing options around what roles you can assign, how in depth you can go, and then creating groups for those users.”

Compliance document process: operations manual

Old Process:

• Print one manual per boat on special control document paper.
• Mail the manual to each boat, receive signatures from both captains acknowledging updates.
• Captain mails old version back to shore. If document is lost during shipping, process is restarted.
• Shore team must properly dispose of old manual.

Egnyte Process:

• Searchable PDF placed in Egnyte can be easily updated or accessed offline.
• Make changes digitally and save to same location; version history automatically maintained for compliance and only the changed portions are synced to save time.

These efficiency gains were repeated across a number of processes and documents, often halving the time of each task. “[Requisitions] used to take hours to do, and now they’re finished in a matter of minutes…” For Canal Barge, deploying Egnyte has hit all the right buttons, and best of all, it was easy.

Big Business, Big Risk

To say Ground Construction Limited (GCL) runs its business on a massive scale is an understatement. The company’s projects and 50-plus tower cranes dominate the London skyline. When it’s not putting up 33-story residential and commercial buildings, it’s tearing them down as an expert in the high-risk world of demolition. But it was risk of another kind that was causing concern for GCL’s IT team.

The Challenges Were Many

If Supporting GCL’s existing Windows File Server and Active Directory environment was a relatively straightforward process, managing security permissions was not. GCL’s employees had too much uncontrolled access. Not only did this create information governance problems, the approaching General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) meant the company needed to get a handle on, and restrict access to, all its sensitive customer data.

While many staff had too much access, others had too little. The bulk of GCL’s work happens onsite—in locations across London and the South East of England. Engineers and project teams needed the latest drawings, plans and work schedules to do their jobs. These files were massive – often in excess of 2GB. Even with 4G and fixed-line connectivity, remote workers struggled to up-and-download documents. Consequently, many were stored locally on laptops, and backed up to USB drives. This not only created version control issues, access and collaboration was impossible until personnel could make the trip back to HQ.

GCL’s complex file structure was a problem too. Multiple departmental and Group company drives were storing tens of thousands of files relating to live and completed projects, tenders, and all the usual data needed to support a rapidly growing business. IT needed a simple, fast answer.

Challenges Overcome

The first order of business for Ryan Gray, the company’s incoming Group IT Manager, was to gain control of this complex information environment. The second was to institute a permission-based approach, limiting file access and sharing to authorised personnel only. The third was to deliver secure access for onsite teams. Accomplish all this and GCL would enjoy fast, secure file sharing able to drive productivity and efficiency across the business. Moreover, sensitive company data would be locked-down and protected in compliance with GDPR and wider data protection regulations.

With onsite access so critical, it made sense to explore the cloud. Ryan began his due diligence with Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox. As discussions moved to more complex scenarios, it became clear these products couldn’t manage the kind of sub-folder permissions GCL needed. Having extended his search to other cloud-based platforms, Egnyte proved to be the only platform able to address all his criteria.

Deployment to GCL’s 100 onsite and 70-plus office-based staff proved to be a painless experience. According to Ryan, staff quickly embraced the new platform. The link-share functionality impressed, allowing users to ditch the free, (but slow) online file transfer applications. Similarly, Egnyte’s ability to access older versions of any given document was a much-valued feature when users over-saved the copy they were working on—something they did often.

Today, with Egnyte as GCL’s default file management and sharing platform, onsite teams of engineers, project directors and site administration can create and work on documents within a secure group. These documents automatically sync with the cloud and are replicated on an on-premise server at HQ. This local access addresses employee demands for speed without impacting bandwidth, and supports IT’s need for information redundancy and disaster recovery.

Other key benefits of the Egnyte solution include:

Information governance and compliance

GCL’s ability to define folder and sub-folder permissions at a granular level, and to provide a clear audit trail of all changes made, securing access, driving information best practice and delivering the visibility and data management required under GDPR.

Seamless sharing and collaboration

GCL can rapidly share the tens of thousands of pages of documentation, CAD files, and project specifications needed to allow teams of engineers, project architects, and site admin officers to work with the same digital documents from multiple locations, and get the job done.

Instant engagement with external partners

When managing a project as a principal contractor, GCL can establish permission-based access to specific project files and folders for clients and subcontractors. Upon completion, permission can be instantly revoked, and all warranties, groundworks data and other necessary documentation is shared securely via the link-share functionality. All links are tracked and client actions recorded.

Hybrid access and back-up

Egnyte’s cloud-based functionality is key to developing a single, centralised file structure, and a ‘single version of truth’ for documents and files across the business. The ability to provide a synchronised local copy on all devices accelerates user access and provides an on-premise back-up copy of all data.

The Rewards

A business the size, scale and sophistication of GCL needed a strong information foundation. Now it has one. And although the Egnyte platform represents a major step change in terms of functionality, information security and resilience, the familiar interface and simplicity of use ensured rapid and enthusiastic adoption across the company.

Not only has Egnyte enabled a more collaborative and productive working environment throughout GCL, the company has been able to maximise its investment and deploy a scalable platform to manage future growth.

Aside from the user benefits, GCL’s IT department continues to enjoy full control of its information environment. A single view of the entire file structure and documents, alongside the ability to accurately report against who has access to what, and the actions they take, make periodic department audits a fast and pain-free exercise. Staff changes can be identified and permissions granted or revoked depending on need – with compliance clearly demonstrated to internal leadership and external regulators.

By outsourcing ownership of its file server environment to Egnyte, GCL has streamlined its operating environment, eliminated the need to support on-premise infrastructure, and reduced information governance costs. All of which means Ryan and his team can focus more attention on delivering more innovative projects.