.png){kind=logo}
Umatilla-Morrow Head Start Inc. experiences night and day difference using AV and management console.
The Company
Umatilla-Morrow Head Start, Inc. (UMCHS) is a nonprofit agency that provides education and child development programs to low-income families. Based in Umatilla County in the city of Hermiston, Oregon, the agency’s mission is to prepare children socially and emotionally for bright academic futures.
“We’re a private nonprofit that is federally funded and provides a range of services and programs,” says Mike Snyder, Information Systems Director and IT department head. “We have a unique operating model and a special mission with the added challenge of a large service area. Our 250 employees are providing services to several thousand children and families across 16,000 square miles. On any given day, my IT team is responding to support needs from employees in any location.”
The Challenge
According to Mike, finding efficient ways to deliver IT and security services to the agency’s busy staff is both the top priority and biggest challenge. “We are growing faster than ever in terms of the grants and programs we’re managing, but we don’t always have additional IT resources to support the internal growth. For example, our employees may need onsite support for everything from printer issues and software updates to virus protection. We need powerful AV and security tools that are within our budget but advanced enough to enable us to do things remotely and automate more of our daily work.”
The Solution
Mike and his team needed a more effective security solution. “We were using Symantec at a discounted price from the Techsoup solutions marketplace, but we didn’t receive good technical support, and the small business version was capped at 100 users,” explains Mike.
An IT veteran for 20 years, he sought out the best security software he could find. He looked at options from Symantec, Malwarebytes, and other providers before landing on Avast Business Managed Antivirus for its strong AV protection, reliable performance, ease of use, helpful features, fair pricing, and technical support. The cloud-based management console was the exact solution Mike needed.
“As a nonprofit, many business-grade AV options are simply outside our budget range. We also needed a security solution that lets us scale without requiring a lot of change or expense,” Mike says. “I’ve always been a fan of Avast AV free and the latest business version provides what we need at an incredible price.”
Mike uses the management console and all the AV features to monitor security levels across his networks. “Avast Business Antivirus does an excellent job catching things before there’s a problem. I especially like the sandbox feature for its fast ability to do a deeper inspection of any suspicious files. I can scan an individual file risk-free, without setting up another computer and environment to test this.
“The management console is also a lot cleaner, easier to use, and more reliable than our previous solution. We can set up devices by groups and office locations so it’s very easy to see our entire environment. We can check notifications and see whether a threat has been blocked. Recently, we saw that two employees had three identical threats blocked in a row. This is an example we can use to educate employees about risks they can manage.”
The Results
UMCHS entered a three-year contract with Avast, and Mike can enjoy peace of mind. The advanced AV features, competitive pricing, and quality of technical support make his day much easier. “The Avast Business team provided us a pricing model that really worked for our agency and enabled us to get a better product. We are getting more advanced features and deploying the services in one-fourth the time it took us using Symantec AV. The technical support from Avast Business is a night and day difference.”
Check out a free 30-day trial of Avast Business Managed Antivirus, and experience a more comprehensive solution with better feature-to-price value than other business security suites. As Mike says, “In my line of work, I’m managing the Chevy vs Cadillac mindset – it would be nice to have the fancy car, but the sensible car can take us where we need to go. With Avast Business Antivirus, I get the Cadillac for the Chevy price.”
