Michigan-based MSP Safety Net has worked to keep their clients compliant with industry standard regulations and deliver high quality service since the company was formed in 2003.
Jeff Fulton, fCIO at Safety Net, said the ability to balance internal growth and deliver enterprise level service to their clients is a big part of how the team have been able to find continued success. With more than 40 employees, Safety Net serves clients across Michigan with a focus on security and keeping their clients in compliance with the various industry regulations needed such as health care, legal services, and banking.
Some of the compliances that come into play are due to customers that have Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard requirements they must follow.
ScalePad Lifecycle Manager’s asset monitoring and reporting has become an important part of their service to clients to meet those compliance requirements.
So, Safety Net isn’t just providing IT services; they ensure that their clients are able to meet the standards of regulatory institutions without fail.
Keeping clients in compliance
For clients that must keep their processes in line with specific regulatory requirements, tracking their inventory has been a key method to keeping clients in compliance with those regulations.
As the fCIO, Fulton asks clients about the standards they need to comply with. If working with a credit union, Safety Net needs to keep the client in line with Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which requires financial companies to protect their customer’s sensitive data and explain their data sharing policy.
Once they know the regulations, the Safety Net team begins to mold their service around those needs. If clients are deficient in certain aspects, then Safety Net can work with them to develop better policies to meet those goals. With the Lifecycle Manager report, clients get an accurate snapshot of their assets that can be extremely helpful in determining regulatory compliance.
By working with clients in this way, Safety Net can be proactive when it comes to making process improvements for their clients. They don’t need to wait for something to go wrong, or for notification that their client is not compliant with an industry standard. Safety Net’s support efforts allow clients to improve internal processes and technology beyond the minimum standard for compliance.
Reports and asset monitoring for compliance
Fulton discovered Lifecycle Manager when searching for a tool that would give Safety Net better lookup capabilities and create reports faster. The process to collect data, export it into a spreadsheet, and create reports had become extremely time consuming. Fulton was looking for a way to make those processes faster and easier so that time could be spent on more meaningful tasks.
Once incorporated into their workflow, Fulton said the automated asset monitoring and reporting created easy-to-understand reports that both Safety Net and their clients valued. They didn’t need to spend time manually writing reports when Lifecycle Manager was able to automatically generate and email them to clients on a regular basis.
Speeding up the reports process and getting it into the hands of clients was a big benefit for the collaboration between Safety Net and their clients on compliance. With a complete understanding of the clients’ assets, Safety Net meets with client leadership to discuss the regulations their business needs to adhere to.
Old hardware can introduce security vulnerabilities and be a point of failure when trying to meet regulatory standards. Safety Net uses Lifecycle Manager’s asset monitoring to help convince their clients to update assets when they are old or unsupported. Being able to show them the report that clearly shows old hardware, like a years old server, has been a good way to help clients understand the reasoning behind why old assets need to eventually be replaced.
For Fulton and the Safety Net team, their success has been a result of dedicated efforts to provide a detailed and high-quality service to their clients, while also being proactive in their efforts to protect client security and regulatory compliance.
That proactivity, Fulton said, was part of the reason why they have been able to add more clients without dramatically increasing the workload of their team. With high-quality, automated services like Lifecycle Manager and a proactive MSP approach, Safety Net looks to continue their success for years to come.
How Safety Net Transformed Compliance and Client Service with Lifecycle Manager
| Category | Before Lifecycle Manager | After Lifecycle Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance Reporting | Manual, time-consuming; data collected and cleaned via spreadsheets | Automated, easy-to-understand reports delivered directly to clients and auditors |
| Asset Monitoring | Fragmented and difficult to lookup in existing RMM tools | Real-time monitoring with actionable insights on aging hardware and OS |
| Audit Readiness | Needed to manually compile audit artifacts | Lifecycle Manager reports used directly as audit artifacts |
| Client Communication | Less transparency; reports not always client-facing | Reports shared regularly with client leadership; used in IT meetings and planning |
| Hardware Refresh Planning | Reactive; old hardware often overlooked until failure | Proactive; reports highlight aging assets and support budgeting/replacement planning |
| Service Efficiency | Staff time spent generating reports manually | Staff time redirected to proactive services like firmware updates, firewall reviews, and strategic planning |
| Scalability | Growth limited by manual tasks and reporting | Scaled client base without overburdening staff due to automation and efficiency |
| Client Value Perception | Harder to demonstrate service value | Clients value Lifecycle Manager’s clear reports; CEOs use them in strategic decisions |
| Proactive Issue Prevention | Often reactive—waiting for issues to arise | Preventative approach enabled by regular visibility into asset lifecycle and risks |
| Tool Discovery and Adoption | Frustrated by RMM limitations; searching for alternatives | Found Lifecycle Manager as a solution to fill reporting and inventory gaps |