Mobile Mentor implements Microsoft’s technology to protect patient data while upholding privacy

SECTOR UPDATE - Mobile Mentor

Kiwi technology firm, Mobile Mentor has successfully secured the devices of 33,000 employees across one of USA’s leading teaching hospitals, to ensure the data and privacy of patients, clinician and staff are well protected.   

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is one of the largest healthcare employers in Tennessee.  Mobile Mentor recently rolled out a significant modernisation project for VUMC, designed in part to overhaul its technology stack and therefore enable its workforce to safely and securely access information from home.

VUMC found that many employees were using their personal devices for work purposes, so data security became even more crucial - something that turned out to be very timely given the influence of COVID-19 and the pervasive impact it is having on traditional working structures. It also wanted to future-proof itself as it deploys more apps to its employees. 

Being a high-trust environment, it was important for VUMC to not only protect patient information, but to also respect the personal privacy of all device owners. 

“We needed to be mindful of building a balanced policy and approach that accounted for the privacy and security of both patients and staff,” says Denis O’Shea, founder of Mobile Mentor.  

The complex project was phased over 18-months. It identified and addressed the known risks and issues from stakeholders in IT, Security, Finance, HR, and of course, the employees. Microsoft Intune with App Protection Policies was configured to protect Office 365 apps (Outlook, Teams, Excel, etc.) on personal devices (BYOD) that were not enrolled or managed by VUMC’s own information technology team.

“It gave us a lot of credibility being able to articulate the fact we were changing our model and moving from a device-centric approach to an application-based approach,” says Andrew Hutchinson, Chief Information Security Officer of VUMC.    

The security measures Mobile Mentor implemented enabled granular controls to be applied to the Office 365 apps. Furthermore, automatic protocols could be put in place to ensure that sensitive data was safeguarded – such as not allowing work-related email attachments from Outlook to be saved to a personal folder or file storage on a device. 

In addition, visibility of the employee's personal apps, browsing history and social media activity are off limits. The new configuration also allows data to be easily erased from the Office 365 apps, without touching any of the employee's private apps or photos if devices are lost or need repair. 

To ensure a smooth transition, Mobile Mentor provided wrap around assistance and implemented a dedicated support team to proactively address privacy concerns from the clinical community. This helped achieve a 97% customer satisfaction score. 

By working closely with VUMC, they answered 2,245 calls and resolved 2,226 tickets from people with issues, often with support from a team based right here in New Zealand.

Secure mobility for an Academic Medical Center from Mobile Mentor on Vimeo.

Source: Mobile Mentor media release

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