Desktop Management
In today's marketplace, a close alignment between organizational strategy and IT strategy is essential. The desktop computer has evolved from a tool for individual productivity to a mission-critical component for sharing information. How fast and how broadly information is shared can often be the key determinant of efficiency, productivity, and client satisfaction. However, the proliferation of desktop computers also makes it more difficult, time consuming, and expensive to manage IT resources in a rapidly changing organizational and technical environment.
Business leaders are faced with a series of hurdles in the area of end user support (i.e., Seat Management) or in the management of a distributed computing environment. First, there is tremendous pressure to improve service to the users who are dependent upon the desktop computer. Service areas of concern include:
The number of users and devices continues to grow, often while IT budgets and associated staff resources are held constant, resulting in longer response times and less time available for proactive maintenance or new integration projects.
As new software and hardware are introduced into the enterprise structure, IT personnel are faced with supporting and maintaining multiple technologies with which they are often unfamiliar, increasing the time required to field questions and resolve problems.
Skilled, experienced IT professionals are increasingly difficult and expensive to recruit and to retain. Unfilled vacancies decrease service. New hires take months to become familiar with a company's systems and procedures. Costs increase as salaries continue to rise.
Second, there is continual pressure to reduce costs. Industry analysts estimate the total cost of ownership in a non-homogenous computing environment to be over $10,000 per desktop when shadow support (support by those outside the IT group) and loss of productivity are factored in to the equation. Reasons for escalating costs include:
Frequent software upgrades/releases often result in the necessity to refresh hardware every two to three years requiring time-consuming field deployment.
Ongoing technical training is required to ensure IT personnel know how to install and maintain new technology or software and answer user questions.
Finally, business leaders must struggle with how to free up technical resources, already busy performing routine service and maintenance, for strategic projects. Businesses and organizations are increasingly interested in deploying e-commerce solutions, ERP applications or converged networks, but IT resources are consumed with daily support.
Business Solution
SAIC's Desktop Management represents a complete life-cycle desktop management solution. Desktop Management migrates organizations to a homogenous distributed environment with standardized procedures, consistent hardware and software classes, and centralized support staff. A structured, phased approach delivers:
- Lower total cost of ownership
- Improved user support and satisfaction
- Enhanced IT staff efficiency and productivity
- Increased availability of IT resources for strategic projects.
Desktop Management: Design, Assemble, and Execute
A reliable, standardized desktop is the key to effective distributed computing management. Without it, even carefully planned changes can disrupt critical business functions. SAIC applies project management expertise and a phased approach to guide transitions smoothly. Once the transition is completed, the desktop is managed based on jointly developed service level agreements to achieve maximum efficiency.
Desktop Management is modular and flexible. Services can be purchased separately to supplement internal resources, as a phased roll out, or as a full life-cycle solution.
Design
Technology Assessment documents both the physical infrastructure and the support organizations using documented procedures.
Total Cost of Ownership Evaluation details the direct and indirect costs of supporting the existing environment.
High-Level Architectural Design illustrates the target architecture needed to support a consistent distributed computing environment.
Assemble
Detailed Technical Design defines a new, standardized desktop environment including recommendations for appropriate equipment, cabling and facilities.
Implementation Deployment uses tested transition processes and planning tools for installation, logistics, integration, and project management.
Transition Services are provided as needed, including service desk support, training, and problem management during the migration to remote management.
Execute
Asset Management life-cycle service addresses procurement, systems integration, installation, asset tracking, technology refresh, and asset retirement.
The Help Desk User Support team is a single point of "accountability" to resolve application software, network connectivity, and desktop problems.
Systems Management services maintain and manage servers including fault configuration, performance and security issues, associated peripherals, and desktop computers.
Network Management incorporates a complete range of procedures and tools to maintain connectivity between the desktop computers and servers – 24 hours a day.
Field Service conducts complex LAN administrator tasks and desk-side assistance for hardware and software.
Training programs introduce the new workstations and support to the user community using a variety of delivery methods, matching the needs of the end-user.
Success Stories
SAIC continues to support many diverse projects that leverage our technical skills, best-in-class processes, and program management strengths. Desktop Management successes include:
Department of Defense (DoD)– Health Affairs
Composite Health Care System (CHCS) is a patient information management system developed and deployed by SAIC in all of the DoD health facilities globally. SAIC provides on-site service desk support, coordinated field service, and desktop management support of this proprietary system and other standard software. SAIC personnel support 535 facilities and 60,000 desktops around the world, 24 hours a day with Tier 1, 2 and 3 level support. Implementation of the CHCS system reduced the cost of patient information management by 20%.
Entergy
For this major utility in the southeastern US, SAIC provides full service desktop support for 14,000 devices. SAIC and Entergy received Gartner's top award for the effectiveness of our collaborative outsourcing arrangement. Throughout our outsourcing engagement, SAIC has provided Entergy with significant cost savings in the first year of the contract and in every subsequent year. We have achieved best practice statistics in the service desk and desktop support area. Also of note, SAIC and Entergy have now moved from top decile, as measured by Gartner, in customer satisfaction, operational and commercial performance to "Number 1" of over 190 peer outsourcing arrangements.
