Mixbook’s IT department gets enterprise-grade information protection using Nira

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The company has been using Google Workspace for 12 years, across HR, finance, and its customer support team. It was difficult to gain insight into who had access to these files as well as the ability to easily change document-sharing permissions. 

“We wanted more functionality than Google Workspace was providing,” explained IT Manager Micah Granger. “Google gave these big, scary warnings about security risks, but then there was no way to dive into what the warnings meant, what sort of documents were being shared out, and where they were getting shared out to. We just didn’t have that type of visibility.”

Mixbook wanted a tool that would fill in the gaps that its IT department didn’t have the resources to handle. This led the company to search for a better security solution and find Nira. 

Other platforms Mixbook considered were out of budget and offered functionality that the company just didn’t need. Meanwhile, one of the big selling points for Nira was its ambitious roadmap and promise to deliver features faster than expected. 

Nira also provided constant contact through excellent customer service and was responsive to Mixbook’s questions and needs. Another plus was Nira’s quick time to value and dead simple setup process. 

A huge asset was Nira’s time to implementation. Other solutions took 30 to 90 days depending on the features we asked for. With Nira, the ability to sign in, review risk, and remediate access issues immediately was phenomenal.

Micah Granger,

IT Manager

Decisions based on data, not assumptions

Nira gives Mixbook immediate insight and full visibility into permission risks

Nira instantly helped Mixbook gain insight and comprehensive visibility around its internal and external permissions risks, allowing the company to make choices based on real data. 

Nira gave us clarity about our risks so we could make data-driven decisions.

Micah Granger,

IT Manager

Nira let Mixbook identify any issues like accidental oversharing or documents that had public links that anyone on the internet could view.

By being able to gain factual information about potential problems, Granger was able to better handle issues. 

“If I don’t have the data, and I can’t see what’s going on, I am only able to make assumptions or best guesses, which is not a good way to come to a decision,” Granger explained. 

Granger was able to fine-tune his security response based on real-time data and full visibility he could access through Nira. He could then easily investigate abnormal access behavior or analyze access to specific files before deciding how to best move forward. 

Third-party access management made easy

Nira lets Mixbook manage and remediate third-party access issues, swiftly and securely

After gaining insight into risks, Nira allowed Mixbook to swiftly remediate access issues. Through the tool, the company could easily manage vendor and partner access to sensitive documents. 

“Vendor access management is important, especially as a small company since we’re going to be sharing constantly with other companies to do our jobs,” Granger explained. 

For example, when Mixbook ended a partnership with a company and needed to remove the partner’s access to files it had shared for marketing purposes. Mixbook wanted to identify documents created by the marketing department and remove the partner’s domain. Over the years, hundreds upon hundreds of files had been shared with the partner that needed to be taken care of. 

“We wanted to make sure once our partner’s contract ended, they didn’t have access to that data anymore,” Granger explained. “Nira made it simple for us to manage.” 

Nira’s system provided Mixbook with the ability to review all external domains with access, assess how much access those domains had, and find out whether any confidential information or stale data was being shared. Mixbook was able to then quickly restrict and remove vendor and partner access with just a few clicks using Nira. 

A foundation of visibility and action

Mixbook can easily resolve issues around files with public links and quickly transfer ownership when employees move departments 

Before Granger started using Nira, getting quick and comprehensive visibility into which documents had public links and were accessible by anyone on the web was virtually impossible.

“Public links were always a concern of mine, and not being able to dig through them using the Google Workspace Admin interface was a main driving factor to find a better solution,” Granger said. 

Nira helped Mixbook identify all of its documents that had public links, easily evaluate the documents and whether they should be available to anyone on the internet, and restrict access as needed. Access issues related to sensitive information that should not be shared publicly were quickly resolved. 

Nira also helps when people move to new departments or switch roles, a process that happens often in a rapidly growing company as departments expand. 

Previously, the process to transfer ownership was tedious and time-consuming.

With Nira, it’s become streamlined and simple. 

Using Nira, Mixbook is able to quickly get visibility into the documents shared with and owned by people who are changing roles. The IT team is able to transfer ownership where required and remove access to documents that will no longer be needed in the new role.

As Mixbook grows, the ability to easily transfer and remove access to information will continue to be essential, says Granger. 

Expert guidance and responsive customer support 

Nira empowers customers to succeed

Nira has become a partner to Mixbook, through guidance on best practices, customer service, and responsiveness to feature requests. 

Being able to leverage Nira’s knowledge and expertise was huge for us. Not only did their team address my requirements for a tool, but they also sent over a workbook for best security practices. That insight is exactly what we were looking for in a partner.

Micah Granger,

IT Manager

He also appreciated Nira’s excellent customer service and customer success process, which went above and beyond other companies in the security space. 

“One of the best things about working with Nira has been their customer service being so responsive to our requests or questions,” Granger explained.

According to Granger, Nira utilizes its experience working with other companies to understand their needs and pain points. It then incorporates this insight when building new features, which it does quickly and efficiently. 

One of the great things about working with Nira has been the absolutely astounding, fast pace of growth as well as its new features and the time-to-market for those features.

Micah Granger,

IT Manager

This was critical for Granger, who doesn’t always know what requests may come from company leadership in the future. It was a huge benefit to have a partner who had thought deeply about risks and security issues and continued to introduce new capabilities based on real customer questions, pain points, and needs.