Canon Business Solutions Southeast, Inc.

Success Story

Canon Business Solutions utilizes Novell ZENworks for Desktops 4 to support rapid growth.

Overview

Canon Business Solutions Southeast, Inc. is a leading retailer of professional business and consumer imaging equipment and information systems. The company is a subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., which employs about 11,000 people in over 30 locations.

Challenge

With explosive growth in the past two years, Canon Business Solutions needed a better desktop management solution for its 1,000 employees in 10 locations. The company was experiencing difficulties with its current solution, including incompatibilities with its multi-platform environment, and was not getting the service it needed. Without any IT staff in its remote locations, the company also wanted better remote control and policy management from a single point of administration.

Novell solution

"With ZENworks for Desktops 4, our IT team can do more with less. Our savings in manpower can be reinvested in new equipment. We also aren't preoccupied with as many day-to-day issues therefore allowing us to concentrate on our plans for the future."

John Grabowski
IT Manager,
Canon Business Solutions Southeast

Canon Business Solutions turned to its own IT subsidiary, Sintaks, to find a solution with more robust functionality and support for multiple platforms. Canon Business Solutions decided to implement Novell ZENworks for Desktops 4 to improve imaging, remote control, as well as application, policy and inventory management.

"They were using a competitive product and weren't getting the level of support they required," said Tom Gartland, Manager of Field Services at Sintaks. "We analyzed their situation and then began the task of finding a more responsive vendor offering software scalable enough to support their rapid growth. Novell's ZENworks for Desktops 4 provided the answer."

In just two months, Canon Business Solutions worked with Sintaks and Novell to install ZENworks for Desktops 4 and begin the initial roll-out. ZENworks integrates with Novell eDirectory to provide efficient, centralized management that simplifies workstation administration.

"The integration of eDirectory with ZENworks makes it easy for us to link applications to users no matter where they go, which we were unable to do with our previous vendor" said Eric Owren, Network Engineer at Canon-SE. "We are now working to tie other applications to eDirectory to improve both the security and management of our entire network."

ZENworks configures desktops according to user identity, enabling users to receive a personalized desktop each time they log in from any location or access device. Many of Canon Business Solutions' 1,000 employees share PCs. Providing a consistent desktop with each log in improves their productivity while working from any PC in any office.

The policy management in ZENworks gives Canon Business Solutions administrators a single point of administration to standardize desktops with applications, shortcuts and Internet settings. Previously, the IT staff had to send new configurations to each workstation, an inefficient and time-consuming process. With ZENworks, administrators make simple changes to group policies and the changes are then replicated to appropriate departments.

Canon Business Solutions also has improved remote control functionality with ZENworks. Today, administrators can give support based on user identity – rather than the serial number of the machine – and can be more responsive by knowing the user's identity, location and job function.

By using the imaging functionality of ZENworks, Canon Business Solutions will no longer need the third-party imaging software previously required. Administrators expect to image machines 50% faster than before.

"As an early adopter of ZENworks for Desktops 4, we have been extremely impressed with the stability of the software and the immediate benefits," said Steven Zajac, System Engineer at Sintaks. "Novell has been an extremely responsive partner, always readily available and willing to put us in touch with senior engineers when necessary."

Canon Business Solutions plans to implement ZENworks for Servers to manage both its NetWare and Windows platforms. The company also plans to upgrade to NetWare 6 to take advantage of iFolder to improve file storage and synchronization, as well as iPrint to reduce the complexities of network printing.

Results

Canon Business Solutions is already realizing significant time and cost savings from ZENworks for Desktops 4. After a recent roll-out of ZENworks to three new branch offices, the IT staff received 90% fewer calls than with previous roll-outs. Canon Business Solutions expects better workstation management to decrease the number of machines needing work each week by 80% – freeing up nearly the entire schedule of one IT engineer. The company estimates a 30-40% gain in overall administrative efficiency, and a 200% return on investment in the first year.

"With ZENworks for Desktops 4, our IT team can do more with less," said John Grabowski, IT Manager at Canon Business Solutions. "Our savings in manpower can be reinvested in new equipment. We also aren't preoccupied with as many day-to-day issues therefore allowing us to concentrate on our plans for the future."