• Protects sensitive data with Context-Aware Access controls

• 3+ hours of device onboarding reduced to 10 minutes

• 80%+ of employees operating entirely on Chromebooks

• Eliminates vulnerability to email-based cyberattacks with ChromeOS

• Saves hardware budget by purchasing ChromeOS devices to allocate more funds toward employee resources

Since Goodlord facilitates financial payments and leasing contracts, it has to adhere to strict data regulations to protect personally identifiable information (PII). "Our customers trust us to keep their business’ and tenants’ data safe, so if someone leaves the company, we need to be able to shut down their access to information as soon as possible," says Nick Ioannou, information security manager at Goodlord. "With Google Workspace, we simply close down their account, and we know the data is safe in Google Drive."

The operations team manages the entire company within Google Workspace. Goodlord has a centralized way to manage accounts, gain visibility across calendars, and uncover insights only possible because its teams collaborate on one platform. In addition to peoples’ digital footprints, Ioannou’s team is responsible for securely managing hardware security. "With so much of our business already running in Workspace — because it’s nice, simple, and just works — we made the decision to move many of our teams to Chromebooks," he shares.

"It takes us three to four hours to configure a new Windows computer or Macbook out of the box to get new team members ready for their first day," he adds. With Chromebooks, devices are preprovisioned with zero touch enrollment, centrally managed with ChromeOS device management, and secured with Context-Aware Access, so user access is preapproved but they can’t use their device until their first day. Then when the time comes, they can log into Google Workspace. "With that, they’re up and running in 10 minutes with everything they need," Ioannou says. "And I can easily manage all of these users remotely. With other devices and collaboration suites, I would need third-party privileged access management tools and monitoring solutions to do what Workspace does out of the box."

At this point, more than 75% of Goodlord is using ChromeOS devices, and this consolidation helps improve the company’s security posture. "This lets me sleep at night," Ioannou says. "There’s a reason movies about cybersecurity are about cyberattacks; if something exciting is happening, something’s gone wrong. Bad actors can’t run scripts or create rules in Gmail the way they can in Outlook, so our ChromeOS users are immune to command scripts or phishing attacks."

Goodlord has also reduced worries about managing vendors and application security with ChromeOS — all of the applications the team needs are running directly in Chrome. Bugs and potential vulnerabilities are updated automatically in the background without disrupting their workflows whereas other device owners at the organization have to be monitored and notified to manually update individual apps and their operating system. "We’re currently working toward an ISO 27001 certification, and I don’t feel like I’m managing 300+ people," Ioannou says. "I feel like I'm managing 70 Windows and Mac users, and everyone else is already secure."

If Goodlord’s team encounters any problems with one of their Chromebooks, factory resets only take a few minutes because they can quickly deprovision and re-assign devices, disable lost or stolen machines, and remotely powerwash data. "If I had to factory reset another laptop, I’d count myself lucky if the person didn't lose half their day," Ioannou says. This quick turnaround time also helps the company recover from broken devices. "They can be working in other regions, and I can place an order at a store near them, they can pick up the new device, open it, log in, and they'll be able to immediately resume working," he adds. The same goes for any time an employee visits another office — they can borrow a spare Chromebook and get up and running from anywhere.

"Since Chromebooks only cost a fraction of the price of other devices, we've been able to more easily expand our workforce," says Ioannou. "When our laptops only cost as much as two headsets, I can put more budget toward more devices for a growing team and equipping our offices with great technology." All of the company’s conference rooms and office screens are also connected to Chromeboxes, so it can display dashboards in Google Sheets or Google Slides and easily join calls through Google Meet, which ensures teams always have access to the tools they need.