Built to scale, not boxed in

Built to scale, not boxed in

Built to scale, not boxed in

How Tools for Humanity transformed a complex IRU environment into a streamlined, attribute-driven platform with Remitech.

How Tools for Humanity transformed a complex IRU environment into a streamlined, attribute-driven platform with Remitech.

How Tools for Humanity transformed a complex IRU environment into a streamlined, attribute-driven platform with Remitech.

About Tools for Humanity

About Tools for Humanity

About Tools for Humanity

Tools for Humanity is a technology company building for humans in the age of AI. As AI agents and bots proliferate across the internet, the company builds tools to support World’s infrastructure that lets real people prove they are genuinely human, helping to preserve trust and authenticity in an increasingly automated world.

Tools for Humanity is a technology company building for humans in the age of AI. As AI agents and bots proliferate across the internet, the company builds tools to support World’s infrastructure that lets real people prove they are genuinely human, helping to preserve trust and authenticity in an increasingly automated world.

It is a fast-moving business with the team using a predominantly Apple estate of macOS and iOS devices, supported by a lean IT function that spans multiple regions, including a significant EU operation based in Munich. Patrick Gibson, Senior IT Engineer, leads much of that EU endpoint management work, from OS updates and software deployment through to vulnerability management.

It is a fast-moving business with the team using a predominantly Apple estate of macOS and iOS devices, supported by a lean IT function that spans multiple regions, including a significant EU operation based in Munich. Patrick Gibson, Senior IT Engineer, leads much of that EU endpoint management work, from OS updates and software deployment through to vulnerability management.

“We had almost boxed ourselves in. There was a separate Slack library item for one team and another for the next, with identical settings and just a different name, so any change meant going into each blueprint one by one.”
“We've now just got a little bit more time to spend doing some actual proper thinking about things. It's giving us more headspace because we're not worrying about our MDM.”
“We had almost boxed ourselves in. There was a separate Slack library item for one team and another for the next, with identical settings and just a different name, so any change meant going into each blueprint one by one.”

Patrick Gibson

Patrick Gibson

Senior IT Engineer

Senior IT Engineer

Gorilla
Gorilla
“Even when management asks for a large rollout, there is no need to panic. A quick message in Slack and we have the reassurance we need. For Joe it might be a two-minute answer, but for us it is real peace of mind.”
“We've now just got a little bit more time to spend doing some actual proper thinking about things. It's giving us more headspace because we're not worrying about our MDM.”
“Even when management asks for a large rollout, there is no need to panic. A quick message in Slack and we have the reassurance we need. For Joe it might be a two-minute answer, but for us it is real peace of mind.”

Patrick Gibson

Patrick Gibson

Senior IT Engineer

Senior IT Engineer

Gorilla

The Challenge: When Growth Outpaces Structure

The Challenge: When Growth Outpaces Structure

The Challenge: When Growth Outpaces Structure

Like many fast-growing companies, Tools for Humanity had built its Apple device management around Iru organically. Having moved across from a previous endpoint management platform, the team chose Iru for its more polished interface, clearer structure and enterprise-ready approach to scale, and brought management fully in-house.

Like many fast-growing companies, Tools for Humanity had built its Apple device management around Iru organically. Having moved across from a previous endpoint management platform, the team chose Iru for its more polished interface, clearer structure and enterprise-ready approach to scale, and brought management fully in-house.

Over time, though, the estate grew faster than its structure. Following early guidance and a department-by-department logic, the team ended up with roughly 40 classic blueprints, broadly one per team, and several hundred library items, at points closer to a thousand. That granularity offered fine control at first, but it came at a cost. Because each team had its own blueprint, even a small change had to be repeated in many places. A single application such as Slack might exist as a separate library item for every team, each with identical settings but a different name.

Over time, though, the estate grew faster than its structure. Following early guidance and a department-by-department logic, the team ended up with roughly 40 classic blueprints, broadly one per team, and several hundred library items, at points closer to a thousand. That granularity offered fine control at first, but it came at a cost. Because each team had its own blueprint, even a small change had to be repeated in many places. A single application such as Slack might exist as a separate library item for every team, each with identical settings but a different name.

The result was heavy duplication, limited visibility and a mounting administrative burden. Any fleet-wide change, for example adjusting how often an app updated, meant working through blueprint after blueprint, with a real risk of missing one and leaving a team unpatched or out of date. In effect, the team had become boxed in by its own automation rather than freed by it.

The result was heavy duplication, limited visibility and a mounting administrative burden. Any fleet-wide change, for example adjusting how often an app updated, meant working through blueprint after blueprint, with a real risk of missing one and leaving a team unpatched or out of date. In effect, the team had become boxed in by its own automation rather than freed by it.

As a business built around scale, Tools for Humanity needed to streamline its Iru instance around a smaller number of centralised blueprints with shared library items. The goal was simple: remove the duplication and become more efficient without losing any granular controls.  Remitech understood the mission and knew that with Iru’s release of Assignment Maps everything they wanted was possible.

As a business built around scale, Tools for Humanity needed to streamline its Iru instance around a smaller number of centralised blueprints with shared library items. The goal was simple: remove the duplication and become more efficient without losing any granular controls.  Remitech understood the mission and knew that with Iru’s release of Assignment Maps everything they wanted was possible.

The Approach: Simplifying the Estate Without Disruption

The Approach: Simplifying the Estate Without Disruption

The Approach: Simplifying the Estate Without Disruption

Tools for Humanity approached Iru directly for help, and Iru recommended Remitech’s Professional Services team.

The engagement began with a scoping conversation to understand the blockers, the goals and the shape of the work, followed by a documented project plan covering scope, requirements and timelines, alongside Remitech’s ongoing Navigator+ advisory service. The teams set up a shared Slack channel, a running project document and a clear task list, then met on a regular weekly to fortnightly cadence, with quick questions handled day to day in Slack.

Remitech Technical Consultant, Joe, led the delivery. With admin access to the Iru environment, he carried out a full audit, exporting every blueprint, its parameters and its library items, then mapping the common denominators across them. That made the scale of duplication clear and, just as importantly, gave the team the confidence to act. With an experienced engineer able to confirm what was safe to remove and how each change would behave in production, the IT team no longer had to gauge risk from documentation alone or wait on support tickets.

"Joe had done this many times before, so he could tell us what was safe to remove and how a change would actually behave in production. The documentation never gave us that level of confidence."
“We've now just got a little bit more time to spend doing some actual proper thinking about things. It's giving us more headspace because we're not worrying about our MDM.”
"Joe had done this many times before, so he could tell us what was safe to remove and how a change would actually behave in production. The documentation never gave us that level of confidence."

Patrick Gibson

Patrick Gibson

Senior IT Engineer

Senior IT Engineer

Gorilla
“We thought converting our classic blueprints to Assignment Maps would be a huge job. One conversation with Joe and it was clear it wasn’t. He had done it before and knew exactly what we needed to prepare.”
“We've now just got a little bit more time to spend doing some actual proper thinking about things. It's giving us more headspace because we're not worrying about our MDM.”
“We thought converting our classic blueprints to Assignment Maps would be a huge job. One conversation with Joe and it was clear it wasn’t. He had done it before and knew exactly what we needed to prepare.”

Patrick Gibson

Patrick Gibson

Senior IT Engineer

Senior IT Engineer

Gorilla

The work then moved beyond clean-up. Remitech helped Tools for Humanity migrate from classic blueprints to Iru’s newer Assignment Maps, using conditional, if-then-else logic to drive assignment dynamically. To make that work properly, the project looked across the wider environment, reviewing how identity data was structured in the company’s identity provider and ensuring the right attributes were mapped into Iru through SCIM. That allowed assignment to be driven automatically by attributes such as department, so the right devices receive the right configuration without manual intervention. The team also reshaped its Self Service catalogue, auto-installing the applications people need on day one, continuously enforcing non-negotiable security tooling such as vulnerability management, and giving users a trusted internal app store for everything else.

The Results: Fewer Blueprints, Greater Control

The Results: Fewer Blueprints, Greater Control

The Results: Fewer Blueprints, Greater Control

The estate is now in a markedly healthier and more scalable state. Working together, the teams reduced roughly 40 blueprints to around eight, with room to consolidate further, and cut the library items dramatically, removing the duplication that had built up over years. Migrating to Assignment Maps replaced repetitive manual edits with conditional, attribute-driven automation.

The estate is now in a markedly healthier and more scalable state. Working together, the teams reduced roughly 40 blueprints to around eight, with room to consolidate further, and cut the library items dramatically, removing the duplication that had built up over years. Migrating to Assignment Maps replaced repetitive manual edits with conditional, attribute-driven automation.

“Our instance is in a far healthier place than where we started, with significantly fewer blueprints and library items, and a structure we can keep building on.”
“Our instance is in a far healthier place than where we started, with significantly fewer blueprints and library items, and a structure we can keep building on.”
“Our instance is in a far healthier place than where we started, with significantly fewer blueprints and library items, and a structure we can keep building on.”

Patrick Gibson

Patrick Gibson

Senior IT Engineer

Senior IT Engineer

GoCardless

The operational gains are significant:

The operational gains are significant:

The operational gains are significant:

1

1

1

Improved visibility and confidence,
Improved visibility and confidence,

that the fleet is receiving the correct applications, installed and updated in the right way, with fewer gaps and far less risk of a change being missed.

2

2

2

A stronger security posture,
A stronger security posture,

with critical tooling continuously enforced and software channelled through Self Service, reducing the risk of users downloading the wrong things from the web while keeping update schedules under IT control.

3

3

3

A simpler, more centralised administration model,
A simpler, more centralised administration model,

where one well-structured change can flow to the right devices automatically rather than being rebuilt team by team.

4

4

4

A better day-one experience for end users,
A better day-one experience for end users,

who find the applications they need already in place and a clear, self-serve route to anything else.

Beyond the technical outcomes, the Navigator+ service has given the team something harder to quantify but just as valuable: peace of mind. Rather than researching, testing and second-guessing every change in isolation, they can raise a question in Slack and get a fast, experienced answer from someone who understands both the technology and their environment.

“Working with Remitech has been a really personal experience. You work directly with the engineers, syncing weekly or even daily when you need to, and that is what turned a large project into something genuinely manageable.”
“Working with Remitech has been a really personal experience. You work directly with the engineers, syncing weekly or even daily when you need to, and that is what turned a large project into something genuinely manageable.”
“Working with Remitech has been a really personal experience. You work directly with the engineers, syncing weekly or even daily when you need to, and that is what turned a large project into something genuinely manageable.”

Patrick Gibson

Patrick Gibson

Senior IT Engineer

Senior IT Engineer

GoCardless

Conclusion

Conclusion

Conclusion

What began as a clean-up became a rebuild for scale. By combining hands-on expertise with a clear, collaborative process, Remitech’s Professional Services team helped Tools for Humanity reap the full potential from their Iru instance. We  turned a sprawling estate into a lean, secure and scalable platform, and gave its IT team the confidence and ongoing support to keep it that way as the business grows.

What began as a clean-up became a rebuild for scale. By combining hands-on expertise with a clear, collaborative process, Remitech’s Professional Services team helped Tools for Humanity reap the full potential from their Iru instance. We  turned a sprawling estate into a lean, secure and scalable platform, and gave its IT team the confidence and ongoing support to keep it that way as the business grows.