Simplified Desktop Management for the Company That Simplifies Wireless

Enterprise Networks & Servers, Nov 2004

CASE STUDY

How important is it to save time and free up resources when you're one of the largest wireless company in the U.S.? You could say that wireless is all about simplification, so it comes as little surprise that at the company's California call center, they made simplifying IT a priority.

One of the largest wireless services providers in the United States, this company dedicates itself to providing wireless technology designed to enrich the lives of its more than 24 million voice and data customers. Providing cellular/PCS service in 43 of the top 50 markets nationwide, it also provides corporate e-mail and other advanced data services through its GPRS, EDGE, and Mobitex packet data networks.

The company's vision for its internal systems miiTors its vision for customers - simplify. For its customers, simplification means offering easy-to-understand, affordable rate plans and excellent customer service. For its IT department, it means simplifying systems maintenance across its vast data centers with software from ScriptLogic.

IT department heads at the company needed to find a way to make troubleshooting easier for the more than 1200 PCs that its department supports at the California call center facility. At the time, they were overwhelmed with the multitude of different tools that they needed to use to keep the PCs running and up-to-date. When problems cropped up, the first order of business was always to figure out which program was causing the problem. When a new supervisor was appointed to oversee IT for desktop systems, he found that they were using a lot of broken tools and too many man-hours to get things done. Shortcuts were created in old batch files, Internet favorites via a Microsoft utility, Outlook profiles with a shareware tool. All with no centralized way to handle desktop administration tasks, so it took inordinately long times to set up and launch anything new. Sneakernet was a regular part of administrators' days.

The Solution: One Tool Does it All

Fortunately for that new desktop IT supervisor, the decision to purchase the ScriptLogic solution had already been made when he took on responsibility for the function, so he didn't have to put up with the headaches for too long. Once ScriptLogic was up and running, he put it to work.

Over the last two years, he has used ScriptLogic and Desktop Authority to add icons, set up multiple Outlook profiles, create new configuration INI files, apply Microsoft patches, make proxy changes, update virus definitions - everything - across 1200 desktops.

With 1200 seats to maintain, the job becomes nearly impossible to do well without a tool that allows changes and updates to be made without visiting workstations. Each and every change he has made in the desktop environment across the entire call center has been via ScriptLogic and the ScriptLogic Desktop Authority, and the Desktop IT supervisor claims that it would be nearly impossible to say how much time it has saved him and his staff over the years.

ScriptLogic centralizes the multi-function administration of Windows-based networks. Its graphical user interface makes desktop administration easier by eliminating redundant tasks and streamlining a host of time-consuming activities. With it, network administrators can manage Windows clients and applications more efficiently, applying settings to a specific computer or user, and deliver that configuration for each user every time they log on, no matter if it's the same PC every time, or a different one.

In this wireless provider's call center, the users move from building to building, desktop to desktop. ScriptLogic lets them access their standard, familiar setup as they float around each day. Backgrounds, e-mail set-up, Internet favorites and program access are all set for each individual user. When they log on, their settings are applied so they see their workstation no matter where they are. ScriptLogic not only makes the company's IT department more productive, it makes each and every user more productive, too.

ScriptLogic combines the functionality of log on scripting, group policies and user profile management into an intuitive management console without the need to write or debug a single line of code. And, with Desktop Authority, all of the benefits of ScriptLogic can be performed remotely, so IT staff doesn't have to travel building to building or come in to troubleshoot when they're on-call. All they need is Web access to put problem solving at their fingertips.

Desktop administration at the California call center is truly streamlined. According to the IT supervisor for desktop systems, they use it for "almost everything," including setting backgrounds, legal notices, mapping drives for all the various departments, mapping printers, setting all the local security policies, locking down control panels, redirecting favorites and My Documents to network shares, all the start menu icons, their email profiles, Internet home page and proxy settings... a true simplification success.