Summary: “Having secure remote access helps our clients manage locations and streamline who can log in from where. It’s been one of the reasons we rolled out NordLayer.”
Founded in 2017, BlueGrid.io is an AI-driven IT consulting firm that offers software development, managed infrastructure, and security services. The company employs around 100 people and usually works with small- to medium-sized businesses, many of which have fully remote or distributed workforces.
BlueGrid.io isn’t a traditional software reseller It sells cybersecurity services. The company runs security audits, diagnoses what needs to be rolled out to address a client’s security issues, and then suggests a curated stack of tools. A typical client setup might include SentinelOne for XDR, ScaleFusion for mobile device management, NordLayer for network security, and NordPass for password management.
We talked to Ivan Dabić, BlueGrid.io’s Co-Founder and CEO who has a background in cybersecurity, about the company’s experience using NordLayer and NordPass.
Before NordLayer, BlueGrid.io clients shared a common problem: their employees logged in from everywhere, with no consistent or centralized way to control access Dabić says:
“Our US clients are very specific about where their employees access critical infrastructure from. At the time, the number of server locations was the most important factor for us—we needed a vendor that could meet those geographic demands.”
The US and Europe are drifting apart on compliance regulations, with each region introducing its own laws regarding data access. Location-based access controls are now a compliance requirement.
“Keeping track of who’s logging in and from which location is becoming a compliance issue, not just a security one.”
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Dabić has noticed that most of BlueGrid.io’s smaller customers—startups and SMBs—don’t care much about the specific ecosystem of tools they use. But the bigger the company gets, the more procedural it becomes:
“For clients that employ more than 100 people, changing one tool is a project in itself. It takes months. It’s much easier for them to find a vendor that integrates with their existing ecosystem than to go around and change everything.”
Secure password management was another issue. Before NordPass, BlueGrid.io had used another password manager and wasn’t happy with the level of support. Dabić saw the same mistake across its client base: no password procedures at all
Dabić has seen where that leads. Earlier in his career, his team was integrating an acquired cybersecurity company that had used its own company name, with a few letters swapped for numbers, as the password for Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) access to its network interfaces.
“Their password was so easy to crack, and they were hacked during the acquisition process. Their databases were leaked. It’s obvious that you must have one encrypted place where you keep your passwords, and a procedure that defines what those passwords should look like.”
BlueGrid.io was originally looking for a business VPN with a wide selection of server locations, especially for US-based clients. NordLayer fit the bill.
“If you are a data analytics company, you want to focus on your business. You don’t want to think about where your VPN is or where your employee is working from.”
Here is what NordLayer delivered:
“Having secure remote access helps our clients manage locations and streamline who can log in from where. It’s been one of the reasons we rolled out NordLayer.”
Using NordPass wasn’t in the original plan, but having one vendor for both VPN and password management made life simpler BlueGrid.io’s CEO wasn’t happy with the way their previous password provider handled support:
“Our old password manager had problems with syncing devices—it wasn’t terrible, but it was still annoying. So, when my account manager mentioned NordPass during our VPN discussion, I just thought: this is it.”
The deciding factors for choosing NordPass were convenience and consolidation Now, BlueGrid.io offers its clients:
BlueGrid.io creates suggestions based on what clients want to accomplish, and then implements them.
Ivan Dabić has learned that the biggest competitor isn’t another vendor—it’s the client’s status quo Prospects who have spent years with a particular tool rarely want to replace it, even with something better. As BlueGrid.io’s CEO summarizes it:
“Prospects usually object when they’re already used to using certain tools. They ask us to integrate our services into their existing setup rather than adopting something new. It’s about habit—not any problem with NordLayer or NordPass.”
For BlueGrid.io, the decision to work with Nord Security 5 years ago came down to something simple: communication
“When we choose vendors, it comes down to communication. The speed and the accuracy—the onboarding was smooth. It was a no-brainer that we wanted to work with a company that puts so much effort into supporting its future customers.”
The products slotted into the company’s offering without friction. Clients trust BlueGrid.io to handle the parts of security that aren’t strategically important to them— like secure remote access. And because NordLayer and NordPass genuinely solve client problems, selling them takes almost no effort
Since BlueGrid.io started deploying NordLayer, not a single client has requested a replacement. And because those clients keep growing, the number of secured users grows with them—without BlueGrid.io needing to resell or remigrate anything
“It comes down to what we do best: our customers trust us to conduct audits and present the best possible solution.”
For BlueGrid.io, that trust is the ultimate goal
“One of the best outcomes is that our clients trust us to set up the right ecosystem for whatever their needs are at the time.”
Ivan Dabić shares what he would tell every organization:
BlueGrid.io has built its cybersecurity practice on a simple idea: audit first, then give clients exactly the tools their problems require. For network security and password management, that answer has been NordLayer and NordPass for 5 years running.
Want to add trusted network security and password management to your own client offerings? Become a NordLayer partner
Joanna Krysińska
Senior Cybersecurity Copywriter
Joanna writes about zero trust, network security, access control, and threat prevention, but her cup of tea is compliance and how regulations shape security controls. Her work also includes the dark web topics and the methods cybercriminals use to target companies, such as social engineering or ransomware attacks, for example.
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