Life Without Barriers boosts data security, empowers human services with Defender, Purview, and Entra ID

Every human has a right to move through the world with freedom, dignity, and support to reach their full potential. For the Australian human services provider Life Without Barriers (LWB), this isn’t just a belief—it’s a guiding principle that shapes everything from frontline care to the technology systems behind it.

What began in 1995 as a small, passionate team supporting people with disabilities has grown into one of Australia’s largest nonprofit organizations, expanding through key mergers to deliver services in disability support, child and family care, aged services, mental health, and homelessness. Today, with over 8,000 employees and volunteers supporting more than 16,000 clients, LWB continues to ground its work in human rights and the power of authentic relationships.

“Our organization has grown fourfold in just a decade,” says Ian Robinson, Chief Information Officer at Life Without Barriers. “With that comes complexity, including the potential for risk.” Over time, LWB’s digital ecosystem had become a patchwork of legacy systems, siloed data, and disconnected applications. This created issues with data integrity, inconsistent flows, and a lack of a clear source of truth. Security was reliant on a collection of best-in-class solutions that, while effective in isolation, created blind spots and administrative overload across the organization.

“We had tools that were individually very good, but managing them was a challenge,” Robinson explains. “Our team was often context-switching, jumping between dashboards, and having to work reactively.” LWB knew it needed a more unified approach to security, especially to protect highly sensitive data, including client health records and financial details.

Building a unified security foundation

LWB had previously modernized its infrastructure with Microsoft Azure, giving it a strong foundation. Working with Increment, a Microsoft partner with deep roots in cybersecurity, Life Without Barriers mapped out a unification and digital protection plan using the Microsoft Security Program for Nonprofits, which includes Microsoft 365 E3 with Microsoft Security and Compliance add-ons, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Identity, Entra ID, and Defender for Cloud Apps.

“With Microsoft we get an all-in-one solution offering productivity tools and the highest levels of built-in protection, visibility, and intelligence across users, devices, apps, and data,” says Ryan Pool, Head of Information Security and Governance at Increment. “It was the right choice for LWB’s needs.” At the heart of the implementation is Microsoft Purview, a toolset that enables data classification, information protection, and loss prevention. LWB also adopted Entra ID for role-based access and identity security. 

“Rather than rushing to impose controls, we started by running these tools in passive mode, monitoring behavior, tracking data flow, and observing how information moved throughout the organization,” says Philip Musgrave, Manager, ICT Service Delivery at LWB. This allowed LWB to understand potential impacts before enforcing restrictions.

Increment worked closely with LWB to create a data map grounded in the organization's actual business processes. “We spent a lot of time mapping real-world workflows to custom classifiers in Microsoft Purview,” says Pool. “We didn’t want to block good sharing of data and information, we wanted to stop the wrong kind, whether accidental or intentional.”

The approach established Life Without Barrier’s security journey as a collaboration between IT, frontline teams, and leadership. “It reflected our commitment to relationships, with each other and our clients,” says Musgrave. “I think our sense of shared purpose was foundational to our success.

Protecting data, empowering people

The results of the transformation were immediate and far-reaching. Within months, Microsoft Purview and the Defender suite had identified over 321,000 documents containing sensitive data with significant concentrations in Exchange email and SharePoint environments, 129,000 of which were directly tied to high-risk categories specific to LWB’s mission. 

In total, more than 8.3 million business activities were monitored, and custom classifiers developed with Increment achieved 95% to 96% accuracy in detecting high-risk, sensitive information. This level of precision opened the door to automatic labeling, smarter access controls, and far greater confidence in data integrity. “Now, it’s easy to distinguish between a staff member securely sharing information with a care team and someone mistakenly mishandling private data, and correct it,” explains Musgrave. “People can do their jobs without compromising trust.”

For frontline staff, the burden of navigating complex security policies eased. “It’s really simplified how LWB staff work. With Entra ID they can just turn on the laptop, log in with their unique details, and do what they want without running into the old barriers. This has significantly reduced calls to IT for help,” says Musgrave. 

With data classification running silently in the background and recommendations for labeling built into their workflows, employees can spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on human connection. “Our goal is to take away time spent on mindless administrative tasks,” says Robinson. “We want to give that time back to frontline workers so they can spend more of it with the people they’re here to serve.”

Beyond day-to-day efficiencies, the shift has strengthened LWB’s overall risk posture. The organization is better equipped to prevent accidental breaches, detect insider threats, and protect against external attacks. 

Perhaps most importantly, the transformation has begun to shift the culture of data responsibility across the organization. As Robinson explains, “People used to just save files where they could find them. The technology is helping all of us think differently, making classification part of how we work without adding extra burdens.”

Embedding trust, scaling impact

As of mid-2025, the organization has completed the first of three strategic horizons developed with Increment and is preparing to advance into the next phase. Though only partway through its journey, its unified solution has already reduced breach risk, improved compliance, and eased the workload on staff. The roadmap will build on this, helping LWB automate access controls tied to HR systems, expand auto-labeling for sensitive content, and embed role-based restrictions to further reduce exposure.

“The aim is a secure, streamlined digital environment that supports human service delivery without getting in the way,” says Pool.

Adds Robinson, “With the support of Increment and Microsoft technologies, we’ve not only reduced risk, but built a more connected, confident organization. Our people have more time to do what they do best—providing personal attention to clients and helping them get the assistance they need to live life to the fullest.”

Discover more about Life Without Barriers on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and YouTube.