Dickinson Dees LLP

Successful national law firm, Dickinson Dees LLP, previously used a variety of different application versions and software patches - but had no centrally automated means of effectively managing them. To address this requirement, Dickinson Dees introduced a modular, future-proof approach to managing its 700 clients, based on Altiris™ Client Management Suite from Symantec and implemented by Phoenix Software. The solution - recently integrated with Symantec™ Endpoint Protection - has resulted in one consistent and reliable desktop infrastructure that has cut end-to-end client imaging phase from two hours to fifteen minutes, saving an estimated 1,400 hours in IT management time and resources in the process.

One of the UK's leading independent regional law firms

Dickinson Dees is renowned as the leading law firm in the North East, but has expanded into new markets nationally over the past four years, opening offices in York and London as its client portfolio has grown. The firm provides legal services to corporate, commercial, public sector and private clients across the UK, employing over 650 staff across all of its offices, of whom 65 are partners.

Following a period of rapid growth for the firm from 2000-2008, desktops were acquired at different times and deployed with slightly different versions of software and patch levels. As a consequence there was a certain degree of inconsistency across different areas of the firm which resulted in a high volume of support calls to the firm's technical support team, which in turn, led to higher management costs and issues with platform instability.

This prompted Dickinson Dees to take action, as Simon Earnshaw, a partner and Director of IT at the firm, explains:

"We had more than 700 desktops across the estate and it reached a point where a small upgrade or application roll-out became a major exercise. We sometimes needed to deploy software on a desktop without being sure what the base architecture was on the device, so we decided that it was time to stop fire fighting and take action to standardise our desktop environment, and automate the day-to-day PC management."

The first decision was straightforward: Dickinson Dees decided to replace the patchwork of PCs with one standard architecture, based on Microsoft Windows XP (chosen because the existing applications suite was proven with this version of the operating system). The second step was to choose a desktop lifecycle management solution as part of the company's Desktop Build project. "We adopted a structured evaluation process, looking initially at Gartner's Magic Quadrant and customer reference sites," says Earnshaw. "Using this approach, we narrowed the field down to an Altiris tool from Symantec, LANDesk and Microsoft."

Each of the vendors was asked to provide a suitable implementation partner for the client management deployment, and Symantec put Dickinson Dees in touch with Phoenix Software Limited - a Symantec Platinum Partner and a pre-eminent UK provider of IT services, software asset management and software licensing. This made all the difference - as we shall see - in the final decision-making process. First though, the shortlist had to be reduced further and Microsoft was the first to be eliminated. "We excluded the Microsoft client management solution because the current iteration was not sufficiently integrated and we believed there may be issues when it came to upgrades," says Earnshaw.

Therefore the shortlist was down to just two vendors: Symantec and LANDesk. Similar solutions, the company believed, on paper - so the outcome would all depend on the vital proof-of-concept (POC). For this phase, Dickinson Dees provided both vendors with a checklist of tasks, including the ability to execute bare metal restore and hands-free management, to be completed within a three day window.

Altiris thrived in all tasks. "Altiris delivered on every aspect of the checklist criteria. The POC was also conducted on our own infrastructure and Phoenix displayed an excellent degree of knowledge transfer throughout the test. Symantec and Phoenix won the POC hands down."

Modular, future-proof client management

Dickinson Dees chose the service-oriented Altiris™ Total Management Suite from Symantec to provide a modular and future-proof approach to managing the law firm's diverse and distributed IT infrastructure.

Client Management Suite was the first part of the solution to be deployed. Although the program is still being rolled out, comprehensive client discovery and inventory already enables Dickinson Dees to optimise software licences, better support its 700 end users, and reduce the costs associated with operating system deployments and software rollouts.

Automated imaging reduces the time the firm's IT team has to devote to imaging PCs; while standardised, approved, hardware-independent images are helping to reduce support and maintenance costs. As part of Client Management Suite, Dickinson Dees is also capitalising on regular, automated software and patch management; and remote client troubleshooting and remediation.

The fundamental advantage of all this is increased quality, according to Earnshaw:

"For the first time, we have one consistent and reliable desktop infrastructure. Dickinson Dees has visibility into all the hardware and software for each client system; we can provision applications and software with fewer errors; and we can fix client PCs using the flexible remote management capabilities. Previously, individuals sometimes received the wrong image or an item of software was left off; now we can provide a high quality image 100% of the time, in less than fifteen minutes which all adds up to valuable service delivery for our internal clients."

The cost savings can't be ignored either. During the POC, the Dickinson Dees and Phoenix teams were able to reduce the end-to-end client imaging phase from two hours to fifteen minutes. Factor in the law firm's more than 700 PCs and that is a saving of almost 1,400 hours in IT management time and resources for a single desktop refresh. "Ultimately Altiris has saved Dickinson Dees a considerable amount of time and money by allowing us to reallocate limited resources where they can add more value," says Earnshaw.

As part of the deployment, Dickinson Dees is also exploring the use of Symantec™ Workspace Streaming to deliver on-demand application provisioning, offline cache, licence recovery, and instant application upgrades. Workspace Streaming helps increase end user productivity with controlled access to Dickinson Dees' Windows-based applications from any location, including remote users. In due course, the law firm will also begin using the Wise Package Studio™ application lifecycle management software to prepare applications for deployment and hardware independent imaging.

Citrix server build time cut

In Dickinson Dees' server environment, Altiris is also used to simplify and centralise the company's Citrix server deployment. Previously, it used to take at least a day to build and deploy a Citrix server; this can now be accomplished in less than 45 minutes using the Altiris™ Deployment Solution from Symantec.

Credit for the success of this implementation, says Earnshaw, rests with the skills of the Phoenix team:

"Their working knowledge of the Symantec technologies, coupled with the excellent knowledge transfer, sets Phoenix apart from some other IT vendors we have worked with. The team enabled Dickinson Dees to become self-sufficient very quickly on the client management technology. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend Phoenix to other organisations. The company can clearly deliver security and systems management solutions not only to exacting standards but also to budget."

With client management under effective control, Dickinson Dees' attention has turned to endpoint security. Previously, the firm was using a McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator solution to integrate between the company's endpoints, network, and data to reduce security gaps. Upgrade problems and subsequent performance issues with the security software prompted Dickinson Dees to study the alternatives.

Endpoint Protection integrates seamlessly with Altiris Client Management

"As a law firm, we are particularly sensitive about data loss - either by inadvertent or malicious means. When it came to choosing an endpoint security solution, we asked ourselves, 'why shouldn't we choose Symantec Endpoint Protection?' We struggled to find many reasons not to. We briefly considered other options, but Endpoint Protection integrated seamlessly with Client Management Suite, the performance was good, and it offered the breadth of threat protection functionality we needed."

Endpoint Protection is currently deployed to protect Dickinson Dees from virus outbreaks and device access control. "Endpoint Protection gives us a remarkable granularity of control over CD-Rom drives, USB sticks, and other devices. This is a crucial advantage for a law firm and allows us to significantly reduce the risk of data loss," he says.

Together, Symantec and Phoenix have given Dickinson Dees a crucial advantage when it comes to security and client management. Centralised endpoint management, a single image to all desktops, and fast, easy deployment of operating systems, software, and patches mean the law firm has a consistency to its desktops it's never experienced before. It also means the company has the flexibility to adapt quickly to emerging technology trends.

find out more

For further information on the Symantec solutions and services available from Phoenix Software, contact your Phoenix Account Manager on 0845 265 1265, email info@phoenixs.co.uk or visit www.phoenixs.co.uk/symantec-cs

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