Elevate CDB delivers secure browser access for remote staff using Amazon WorkSpaces Web

As a provider of consumer-directed benefits (CDB) solutions, Elevate CDB (Elevate) needed to provide its agents with access to web-based applications while maintaining a strong security and compliance posture. Running exclusively on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company built its agent access solution using Amazon WorkSpaces Web, a low-cost, fully managed, Linux-based service designed to facilitate secure browser access to internal websites and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. Using Amazon WorkSpaces Web, Elevate provided remote access for support staff using personal devices. WorkSpaces Web also allowed Elevate to protect sensitive web content while securing personally identifiable information (PII) and satisfying requirements for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Elevate is a 100 percent remote company. A small number of employees choose to work at the Elevate headquarters in Colorado, but most of its agents are contract employees who work remotely. Customers use Elevate tools to manage CDB, such as employee benefits and reimbursements. Elevate agent numbers fluctuate with demand, with new users requiring rapid onboarding. 

Elevate needed to provide new agents with applications and tools without having to configure, ship, and manage remote endpoints. The solution needed to enable a strong compliance posture because users regularly interact with PII and electronic personal health information. Elevate began implementing Amazon WorkSpaces Web in August 2022, and within 3 weeks had a solution running. “Getting Amazon WorkSpaces Web up and running was really straightforward,” says Paul Trout, senior cloud architect at Elevate.

Using Amazon WorkSpaces Web, the company onboards new employees in minutes, rather than days. This reduces the burden of managing company-owned devices and VPNs. Agents access a remote web browser running in a secure environment, with a connection to Elevate web applications. To protect PII and electronic personal health information, the company manages user settings through Amazon WorkSpaces Web for control over access to clipboard, file transfer, and local printers. 

Elevate uses Amazon WorkSpaces Web alongside its identity provider and other AWS resources. With increased agility, Elevate IT staff can pursue higher-priority projects, such as application development. Elevate can also make near-real-time adjustments based on staff feedback. “When someone reports a problem, it quickly gets fixed for everybody,” says Trout. A fix can be implemented in minutes by updating the browser or user policies and restarting the web portal. 

Compliance with HIPAA and SOC2 is critical for Elevate. “Amazon WorkSpaces Web helps us maintain compliance because 90 percent of what our staff does happens through the secure portal,” says Trout. Elevate optimizes expenses by predicting spend using the Amazon WorkSpaces Web pay-as-you-go pricing model, which charges customers only for monthly active users.

Elevate plans to grow the number of partners integrating with its CDB solutions, and it expects to have 10 partners onboard by the middle of 2023. As the company expands, it will use Amazon WorkSpaces Web to efficiently scale. “Amazon WorkSpaces Web works like other AWS services,” says Trout. “You have what you need to get started, and as your needs change, AWS has a broad range of end user computing services that can grow with you.”