Client Profile
A leading North American insurance solutions provider that offers insurance claims services that are engineered to help customers grow.
Challenges
Like many businesses impacted by the economy, the client had implemented some strategic downsizing; a process that took a disproportionately large toll on the in-house IT Department. The firm’s Help Desk Support staff had shrunk from 13 employees to just three, a transformation that had outpaced the overall downsizing initiative and fundamentally altered the structural capacity, resources and servicing capabilities of the department as a whole.
The significant decrease in support staff personnel, and ongoing company reorganization (including evolving business processes) clearly highlighted the need for a more efficient endpoint management solution. The inability of the smaller IT Department to maintain the same level of service in the face of growing complexity and reduced manpower was becoming increasingly evident. Structural inefficiencies (the Finance Department operated a completely separate inventory/asset database from the IT Department, adding weeks of unnecessary manual labor to the yearly audit report) were exacerbating the problem.
At that time, LANDesk was in place. However, it was not fully functional and, as a result, was only being used to provide remote access to endpoints. And because it was not meeting their business needs, the client had let LANDesk support expire.
Something had to change.
Solution
After performing a systematic analysis of the issues and potential solutions, CBI recommended implementing Symantec’s Altiris Client Management Suite (CMS) solution, an option that would introduce service-oriented management software that would enable the client to manage IT assets, integrate Web services, enhance security and acquire additional systems management capacity. Concurrently, CBI collaborated with the client to evaluate a LANDesk revival project that they had expressed interest in exploring. CBI provided a proof of concept, architectural analysis, numerous technical evaluation calls, and other pre-sales efforts around the client management business challenge.
Ultimately, the LANDesk solution was rejected. A combination of high expense, poor performance and failure to meet business needs made a LANDesk revival both costly and impractical. In contrast, the Altiris CMS was not only less than half the cost of reviving LANDesk (including software, hardware, and consulting costs for both projects), it showed great promise from a functionality and efficiency standpoint. Additionally, the client’s sister company in Europe was already using the Altiris CMS solution with very positive results.
Results
The results were immediate and dramatic. The CMS deployment has not only reduced support efforts and costs; it has improved the end-user support experience, increasing productivity, and will reduce the total annual licensing expenditure as a result of better reporting and asset management. The CBI solution also delivered enhanced security, preparing the client to migrate from an aging and unreliable McAfee implementation to Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) in the coming year.
The CMS deployment also created a foundation for more robust encryption initiatives. The client will be transferring to the Symantec Encryption platform during the next fiscal year. The structural inefficiencies were addressed by integrating the existing Oracle database, allowing the Finance Department immediate visibility to asset and inventory tracking. The client is so pleased with the results delivered that they are considering future adoption of the Altiris Server Management Suite (SMS) to manage server assets.
Final Analysis: A glowing reception
The CMS deployment has been both exciting and empowering. In the words of the client’s Desktop Support Manager: “It’s time to put on my cape and manage the entire helpdesk from one console. Damn, it feels good to be a gangster.”
