Oppy Replaces DirectAccess With Absolute Secure Access, Resulting in Immediate End User Experience Improvement
Oppy is a leading North American fresh produce distribution company with headquarters in British Columbia, Canada, and over a dozen offices throughout North and South America. The company sources produce from more than 26 countries and delivers to retailers, wholesalers, and food service operators across the U.S. and Canada, as well as export markets.
The Need for a Secure, Reliable Remote Access Solution in the Work-From-Home Era
Oppy’s 350+ employees need secure access to company resources and data to keep operations running smoothly. While the group started the year with a list of IT projects and priorities, things quickly changed when they had to set everyone up to work from home after the COVID-19 outbreak. Support calls spiked as users tried to connect from home, and their expectation of a seamless ‘office-like’ experience was not being met. Employees were having trouble connecting to the files they needed and sometimes had to reboot multiple times a day, creating a lot of frustration for everyone. IT was in process of replacing DirectAccess with another Microsoft product, AlwaysOn, because they are embedded in the Microsoft ecosystem, but they changed directions because of timing and all the infrastructure required to make it work. Instead, they needed an easy-to-deploy, software-based mobile VPN that was going to keep their employees working from anywhere. They also needed a solution that had good technical support so if an issue came up, someone would pick up the phone, not respond the next day.
Rebooting end users’ computers was an unacceptable workaround for Microsoft DirectAccess. In this day and age, nobody should have to reboot to get a VPN tunnel. It was very disruptive and frustrating for everyone.
How They Did It
Provide Secure Access to Corporate Files and Data From Anywhere
Oppy uses Absolute Secure Access to provide an exceptional user experience for their remote workforce, eliminating dropped connections and multiple logins. The IT team optimizes traffic through policy by sending a portion of the traffic to the corporate network through an encrypted tunnel and approved traffic straight to the Internet. The policy and prioritization engine gives them the flexibility they need to maintain an agile IT strategy.
Biggest difference I’ve noticed about using Absolute Secure Access is that nobody sends support request emails complaining about not being able to access their line of business applications or that they are having connection problems. I am a very happy customer. I’m glad I found you guys!
Seamless Connectivity = Eliminated Support Calls
Absolute Secure Access delivers an easy-to-implement, mobile-first DirectAccess replacement that supports Oppy’s existing and future remote access strategy. End users have a seamless experience with a single login across any network while enjoying ‘office-like’ access to data and files from anywhere. Absolute Secure Access also provides the IT team with the ability to optimize bandwidth by monitoring and controlling traffic.
For Oppy, Absolute Secure Access:
- Replaced DirectAccess easily without disrupting business operations
- Eliminated support calls related to remote access issues and connectivity
- Quickly transitioned entire staff to work from home during the pandemic office closure
- Provided secure and reliable access to corporate files and data from anywhere
