Efficiency, scalability, business growth – these are just a few of the words Mike Carroll, Founder and Principal Consultant of B Corp certified IT solutions company Brightly, uses to describe Onwardly’s platform and partner program. This partnership sets a new standard for managed service providers and the SMEs they serve.

Brightly is an Auckland-based IT provider, helping purpose-driven businesses make a positive impact with IT strategies that consider the whole picture: innovation, efficiency, security and sustainable growth. Since partnering with Onwardly in 2023, the team at Brightly have implemented Onwardly within their operations – bringing several of their customers on board to improve their security and privacy outcomes.

“One of the core technology principles at Brightly is continuous improvement in security, and we take the approach that a rising tide lifts all boats. We all need to be working together to improve security and privacy within organisations in Aotearoa given the ongoing security threats we face.”

Streamlined operations with Onwardly

Onwardly has streamlined Brightly’s operations when delivering security and privacy services to their client base.

By integrating Onwardly into their governance sessions with customers, Brightly can now share the same dashboard, allowing both parties to track progress seamlessly. Mike says this feature has been invaluable in identifying ways clients need additional support and showcases their progress over time.

"What we’ve done is integrated Onwardly into the governance sessions with some of the customers. Being able to share the same dashboard and see the progress that’s being made, which tasks might be kind of getting traction, which ones might be stuck or blocked and might need additional help from us. That’s all really useful - and I think one of the key things is the ability with the dashboard is to show progress over time to the teams we are working with. Really, really helpful."

Alignment with the MSP business model

Partnering with Onwardly is not just about the platform for Brightly, it’s also the access to industry-leading expertise and resources. This alignment allows Brightly to offer additional governance support to their customers, ensuring a “right-sized approach” to security and privacy without the need for extensive resources or expertise.

"Onwardly is well aligned in terms of that overall approach to improving people’s security maturity. It’s a key value add for customers wanting that additional level of governance support as well." 

Mike notes that Onwardly also provides the benefits of both standards based frameworks such as ISO 27001 and SOC2, with region-specific approaches aligned with local privacy laws.

Driving future business growth for Brightly

The partnership with Onwardly is a key driver of future business growth and development for Brightly. Integrating security and privacy into their offerings alongside innovation and digital transformation is essential for tech companies, especially MSPs.

"It’s key to growing our business. Security and privacy need to be a core part of everything we do, and being able to leverage a platform like Onwardly gives us the resources that can be used efficiently across multiple customers without needing to reinvent the wheel. That scalability is critical, enabling us to be more efficient at the same time as improving our customers’ security and privacy governance."

A “gold” recommendation to other MSPs and IT providers

Brightly wholeheartedly recommends Onwardly’s platform and partner program to other MSPs and IT providers interested in providing cyber resilience services. In Mike’s words, “basically, just get on it.”

By leveraging Onwardly, organisations can scale and improve their services without reinventing the wheel. With all the necessary tools and resources readily available, including runbooks and policies, Onwardly offers a scalable solution that enables efficiency and effectiveness in delivering security and privacy services to customers.

“It’s built to be multi-tenant, it’s built to be scalable. It’s got all of the resources, so it’s not just the framework and self-assessment you’re getting, but you’re also getting the runbooks, the policies - all of those resources are just gold." 🌟

Learn more about our partner program and how you can grow your MSP's security and privacy services with us.