How VPNs are Used by Softech, Omnisend, Signpost, Kooapps, and Origo: Case Studies

Virtual private networks (VPNs) have become a standard across industries as the workforce becomes increasingly dispersed. These solutions make many bold claims about what they can do, but businesses need real-world VPN case studies to showcase how these tools can meet their needs.

Nearly 70% of surveyed companies expanded their VPN usage in 2020, with 29% using one for the first time. This massive uptick in adoption highlights how businesses believe these tools are crucial. Industry-leading enterprises worldwide have seen considerable success after implementing VPNs.

Here are five VPN case studies from companies in various industries to highlight how these tools can help companies:

VPN case studies

1. Softech

Softech is a tech company providing systems, software, and services for companies to monitor their environment. These solutions manage data about noise, pollution, traffic, and sources, handling vast amounts of data for international clients.

Given the distributed, time-sensitive, and data-heavy nature of this work, Softech needed a secure, reliable way to connect to customers remotely.

“We used to use a modem connection, but it was very slow and had a lot of security and connectivity problems. We needed a better and stronger connection to allow the company to grow,” said company owner and CEO Marco Renda.

Softech turned to OpenVPN Access Server as a solution. The VPN secured employees’ connection to remote databases without hindering their bandwidth or speed. Moving away from outdated modem connections also provided more reliability by eliminating disruptions that stood in the way of real-time data management tasks.

The VPN also integrated naturally with the company’s current software, enabling quick implementation. Teams could serve clients through the new solution without a lengthy, costly transition period.

Industry: Software solutions

VPN: OpenVPN Access Server

Outcomes: 

• Improved connection reliability for remote clients
• Provided secure access to sensitive environmental and operational data
• Fast, affordable installation and configuration

2. Omnisend

Omnisend, an e-commerce email and SMS marketing automation platform, stands as another leading VPN case study. As the company expanded globally, it discovered a need to secure remote employees’ access to sensitive internal databases. With cyber crime set to cost $10.5 trillion by 2025, remote security became paramount.

“The pandemic situation proved that internal cybersecurity policy has to change together with our growing workforce,” said Omnisend’s Director of Information Security Žygimantas Stauga. Growing teams were placing heavier loads on company infrastructure, and balancing remote security with performance proved challenging.

In response, Omnisend adopted NordLayer VPN. The VPN’s zero-trust identity controls helped ensure only authorized users could access company servers. Encrypted point-to-point file sharing enabled remote teams to work together without compromising the privacy of their clients’ sensitive data.

Using a VPN also let Omnisend employees operate without the complications of other remote security solutions. “A simple document with a few screenshots was enough” to teach everyone how to use the VPN, according to Stauga.

Industry: E-commerce

VPN: NordLayer

Outcomes: 

• Secure access to company databases for remote teams
• Traffic encryption and identity management restricted access to sensitive data
• Automated configuration minimized IT workloads amid global expansion

3. Signpost

Signpost is a customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation company serving home service businesses. The firm handles all customer communications, including text, live chat, email, and social media, placing lots of sensitive information in its hands. It realized it needed to upgrade its network when it went fully remote.

“We had reached an inflection point in the life of our corporate network. Most of our employees were working from home due to COVID, and our networking equipment was end-of-life,” explained Head of Corporate IT Alex Shtilkind.

Signpost was already using a VPN, but the older solution sent everything through the company’s New York headquarters. Once the company went fully remote, the old system became too slow to be sufficient.

After a successful demo, Signpost transitioned to Perimeter 81 instead. The new VPN included firewall as a service and a wider array of data centers, maintaining security while improving network performance.

Signpost could then give each employee a unique connection instead of sharing a single one among the whole company. Also, 1,000Mbps gateways let remote employees access Signpost’s SaaS solution without hindering their speed, delivering quality to clients faster.

Industry: Marketing automation

VPN: Perimeter 81

Outcomes: 

• Provided faster access to company systems through unique connections
• Lowered latency through edge computing and distributed data centers
• Flexibility and speed enabled a fully-remote workforce

4. Kooapps

One of the more unique VPN case studies is Kooapps, a mobile game developer. Kooapps needed a way to keep its intellectual property and user data as private as possible. Previously, the company had relied on an on-premises solution for security, but the COVID-19 pandemic complicated that approach.

Flexible work arrangements and building capacity restrictions made it impossible for all employees to access on-premises resources when they needed them. Kooapps had to switch to a remote access system but needed to maintain privacy amid that transition.

A VPN via Twingate offered the ideal solution. The VPN’s simplicity of setup and accessibility on mobile platforms met the developer’s need for agility and multi-platform support. Employees were able to get started in a matter of minutes.

“They just need to download the app, enter their credentials, and then they’re done. There are no special setup processes that are platform-specific for users to follow,” said co-founder and manager Solon Chen.

Twingate’s zero-trust model provided the security Kooapps needed. Two-factor authentication and network encryption ensured that no unauthorized users could access the remote server full of sensitive data.

Industry: Gaming

VPN: Twingate

Outcomes: 

• Implemented remote least privilege access
• Enabled remote work in minutes
• Gained more insight into network activity for increased security

5. Origo

Origo is an Iceland-based managed service provider offering its clients software development and IT infrastructure. The company serves 30% of the country’s entire workforce as one of Iceland’s digital revolution leaders. That massive user base posed a challenge when staff began to work from home amid lockdown restrictions.

“Our previous VPN solution had been both troublesome and unstable,” said Arnar Gunnarsson, Origo’s CTO. “That was a major concern when COVID-19 forced the majority of our employees to start working from home.”

The company’s secure remote access went from 20 users a day to more than 1,000, creating the need for a more agile, reliable solution. A more modern VPN solution from FortiClient gave Origo the agility and stability it needed.

Remote workers enjoyed connection speeds up to 1Gbps, similar to what they’d experienced in the office. The VPN’s multi-platform support also enabled employees to access company systems from their phones.

Two-factor authentication, secure sockets layer (SSL), and internet protocol security (IPsec) combined to provide the necessary protection, too. The VPN “solved both our performance and security challenges,” said Gunnarsson. “But most importantly, our employees are satisfied.”

Industry: Managed service provider

VPN: FortiClient

Outcomes: 

• Boosted productivity from improved accessibility and agility
• Secured remote access through several security protocols
• Improved employee satisfaction by enabling safe, productive remote work