Misionero Shifts to Microsoft Azure to Enhance Operations, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Capabilities
“Employees are getting a better user experience since the migration to Azure, the environment performs better and is more stable, and administration is easier.”
— Justin Balas, CFO | Misionero
Misionero, founded in 1973 in California’s Salinas Valley, prides itself on implementing new technologies that focus on long-term ethical growing, processing, and harvesting practices.
Specializing in organic specialty salads, organic and conventional washed and trimmed lettuces, organic and conventional bagged vegetables, and meal replacement salad kits, Misionero operates in four locations across California and Yuma, Arizona. Its brands include Earth Greens, Garden Life, and Green Wave Farms.
Misionero relies on managed services provider (MSP) ZAG Technical Services to provide ongoing support for its technology investments, including Microsoft Azure and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) environments.
Customer Challenges
When ZAG began working with Misionero more than two years ago, the company was near end of life for its on-premise data center, needed to be better able to securely support remote work, and lacked a business continuity/disaster recovery (BCDR) plan. The challenges of supporting and maintaining the on-premise system began to take a toll on the company’s ability to plan strategically for technology investments down the road.
As a managed client, ZAG Technical Services worked with Misionero to identify the goals of the organization and the technology that would need to be implemented to meet them. “As the world shifted to more remote work, it was difficult for our team to access the resources they needed to do their jobs securely,” said Justin Balas, CFO at Misionero. “The more challenges we identified, the more sense it made for us to look at a cloud-based environment.”
Solution
ZAG recommended the migration of Misionero’s systems to Microsoft Azure and AVD, which would allow the company the flexibility to not only add more capacity to its storage capabilities, but also provide a solid framework for more remote work. Azure does not require on-site hardware, which significantly reduced the capital expenditure needed to invest in a new on-premise data center and storage solution.
ZAG also provides ongoing support to Misionero through its managed security assurance that offers ongoing application updates and maintenance, user support, device and backup monitoring, and workstation patching.
Misionero also implemented Azure AD Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), which adds an additional layer of protection for its email applications. MFA requires users to authenticate their identity on multiple devices to access critical systems such as email.
Customer Benefits & Outcomes
The benefits of implementing the Microsoft Azure environment is centered around stability for Misionero and its technology systems, as well as the peace-of-mind knowing that the company’s data is backed up in the event of an outage of security event.
“Employees are getting a better user experience since the migration to Azure, the environment performs better and is more stable, and administration is easier,” said Balas. “As we expand within the Azure ecosystem, we’re realizing the long-term benefits of the solution as we can better scale as we grow.”
Customer profile
Customer: Misionero
Website: www.misionero.com
Customer size: 1,200 employees
Region: Monterey, California, United States
Industry: Agriculture/Fresh Produce
Partner: ZAG Technical Services
Software and services
- Microsoft Azure
- Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop
