Pathway Genomics Corporation is a San Diego, California biotechnology company with 90 employees and annual revenue of $3.2 million. It is a medical diagnostic company offering genetic testing, with mobile apps and AI that support health treatments. Almost one-third of its employees work remotely and travel internationally, so secure remote collaboration is essential, and as a healthcare-related business it must comply with regulations such as HIPAA.

Pathway Genomics needed to revamp its entire IT department. Almost one-third of its 90 employees work remotely and travel internationally, so the company needed a more secure way for its people to collaborate from anywhere, without the overhead of building and staffing that capability in-house.

Compliance was a second constraint. As a genetics testing business, Pathway Genomics must abide by binding regulations such as HIPAA, and any managed service provider (MSP) it chose had to be able to establish an appropriate environment and keep it compliant over the long term.

The company's expectations for an MSP were high. It wanted a partner with a cluster of experts who could design the right environment, manage the infrastructure long-term and provide a deeper bench of talent and experience than it could hire directly, at a lower overall cost than employing its own IT staff.

Pathway Genomics chose to outsource its IT to Managed Solution, a managed service provider that holds top Microsoft partner designations. The engagement covered the design of a new environment, the migration to it and its long-term management.

Managed Solution migrated the company to Office 365 and integrated it with Microsoft Azure, giving remote and travelling staff a secure, cloud-based platform for collaboration. It set up Active Directory to provide identity management across the environment, so that access to systems and data is controlled consistently regardless of where employees work. Managed Solution also took over software licensing on the company's behalf.

Beyond the migration, Managed Solution provides ongoing operations: on-site and on-call support for employees, plus 24/7 management of Pathway Genomics' IT network. That management is delivered with the company's regulatory obligations in mind, so the environment stays aligned with binding regulations such as HIPAA rather than compliance being handled as a one-off project. The 24/7 help desk and on-site support also help employees learn and get more from their technology tools.

• Reduced overall IT spend compared with employing an in-house IT team
• Addressed HIPAA compliance through a managed, regulation-aware environment
• Enhanced user experience, with a 24/7 help desk and on-site support helping employees use their tools
• Access to a broader pool of IT talent and experience than direct hiring would provide
• Employees freed from day-to-day IT issues to focus on the core business