Windows IntuneCustomer Solution Case Study

Nonprofit IT Team Relies on Cloud Services to Reduce Costs, Promote Progressive Ideas

OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Nonprofit organizations

Customer ProfileThe Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy nonprofit dedicated to exploring vital global issues. It employs from 250 to 325 people.

Business SituationThe CAP IT team had insufficient tools to manage the portable computers that it loans to its teams of professionals who travel around the world on fact-finding missions or field projects.

SolutionCAP subscribed to Windows Intune, a cloud-based PC-management solution from Microsoft, to help ensure that its portable computers are well-protected by deploying security updates and software.

Benefits Empowered IT to support employees Enhanced security to support remote

workers Streamlined operations to reduce costs Aligned with cloud strategies to

simplify IT

“Using Windows Intune, even our junior help-desk staffers look like seasoned IT pros. As far as IT support, we have turned things around 180 degrees.”

George Estrada, Vice President of Technology, Center for American Progress

The Center for American Progress (CAP) has a workforce of policy makers who travel the world promoting the principles of progressive thinking through advocacy and field projects. They rely on their portable computers whether they are monitoring elections in Sudan or gathering information about workplace demographics in California. Working with partner New Signature, CAP subscribed to the Windows Intune cloud-based solution for PC management and security. With built-in PC management and endpoint protection services available through a simple, web-based console, IT staff can more easily manage updates and distribute software, as well as provide remote assistance and proactive support so that CAP staff can work productively. By using Windows Intune, CAP can keep IT costs down to allocate as much funding as possible toward its core mission: increasing public awareness of progressive ideas.

SituationThe Center for American Progress (CAP) was founded in 2003. CAP applies the principles of progressive thinking toward developing new policy ideas that address energy, national security, economic opportunity, immigration, education, and healthcare issues. In eight years, CAP has grown from two people to more than 300 policy makers. This workforce swells and contracts according to the political climate and the amount of grant money or donations that CAP receives to fund projects.

CAP allocates as much funding as possible toward its core mission: increasing public awareness of progressive ideas and expressing those values through hands-on projects and information-gathering carried out by CAP teams around the world. Consequently, the IT team works to support this mission under tight fiscal restraints.

When George Estrada, Vice President of Technology at the Center for American Progress, joined the organization in July 2009, he joined an IT structure “that was still running as a startup.” This was particularly true when it came to managing the desktop. Approximately 98 percent of the organization’s PCs are desktop computers; the other 2 percent are portable computers that are loaned out to the 30 percent of CAP employees who travel frequently.

Until recently, the CAP IT team found it challenging to support employees working outside of the office. Estrada is aware that these challenges had a trickle-down effect on employees’ productivity and, therefore, the organization’s ability to fulfill its goals.

“There were no workflows or standard processes to distribute software or security updates to ensure remote employees had up-to-date laptops,” says Estrada. “We couldn’t see what computers were running what software, so it was difficult to take any steps toward standardizing the desktop to simplify IT and reduce costs.”

To help manage its desktop PCs, CAP turned to New Signature, a member of the Microsoft Partner Network with Gold competencies. New Signature deployed Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. “The solution worked well for the office PCs, but to extend System Center Configuration Manager to reach the portable computers at CAP seemed like a serious undertaking,” says Christopher Hertz, Chief Executive Officer at New Signature. “CAP has enterprise-level security policies in place, and they didn’t want to open up the network to manage computers externally. Like many of our midsize customers, CAP needed a simple tool to ensure the health and security of those laptops outside of the corporate domain.”

“Troubleshooting issues and providing remote support was a huge problem,” confirms Estrada. “All we could do was offer basic support over the phone, but it got to the point where staff lost faith in us and simply didn’t call. We would have to wait to get the laptops back in the office before doing anything. The majority of the laptops were full of malicious software, and we had to re-image them before applying any software upgrades or security updates that they missed while on the road. The whole thing was 100 percent reactive.”

26

“All we could do was offer basic support over the phone, but it got to the point where staff lost faith in us and simply didn’t call.”

George Estrada, Vice President of Technology, Center for American

Progress

The IT department wanted to promote employee mobility by gradually issuing staff with portable computers, docking stations, and smartphones running Windows Phone as part of the organization’s hardware refresh schedule. Before he could make progress with this initiative, Estrada had to find the right tool to manage and secure the portable computers that staff relied on during their critical missions outside the office. CAP turned to its long-time technology partner, New Signature, for help.

SolutionNew Signature recommended Windows Intune, a cloud-based solution from Microsoft that combines desktop management, endpoint protection, remote assistance, and upgrade rights to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system and future versions of Windows. (The endpoint protection is built on the same Microsoft Malware Protection Engine used by the Microsoft Forefront Protection Suite.) To deploy Windows Intune, an IT staffer installs client software, the Windows Intune Center, onto managed PCs at CAP. Once installed, the software returns data on the web-based Administration console. To perform management tasks, such as security updates, software distribution, endpoint protection, and remote assistance, the IT staff member logs on to the console. All that’s required is an Internet connection and a Microsoft Silverlight–enabled browser.

“Windows Intune is a perfect fit for CAP,” says Hertz. “It provides that single pane of glass into understanding the health of their

laptops without having to open up the corporate network.”

Estrada and the IT team use Windows Intune to solve their challenges managing the fleet of mobile computers loaned out to CAP employees. The solution also dovetails with the organization’s plans for downsizing its physical infrastructure. “Windows Intune fits into our cloud strategy: we gain remote PC management services and the support of a major organization like Microsoft at a low subscription fee, so we can scale to match our fluctuating workforce. For CAP, the decision was a no-brainer.”

In June 2011, Estrada deployed the Windows Intune client software to five portable computers for a national security team that was due to travel abroad. “It took two hours to deploy and most of that time was spent gathering the equipment and getting it ready; for this particular setup, we used USB flash,” says Estrada.

The IT staff had a lot of issues with the national security team bringing back malicious software (malware) from various parts of the world, so it made good sense to start with them. “We are going to use the endpoint protection in Windows Intune to keep malware definitions up-to-date on our laptops so that staff won’t be bringing viruses back when they return to the office,” says Estrada. “We are currently provisioning another team with laptops running Windows Intune. My security expert was so impressed with Windows Intune that he has taken the lead and ownership of this initiative and made it a requirement that all laptops be configured with Windows Intune.”

36

“Windows Intune is a perfect fit for CAP. It provides that single pane of glass into understanding the health of their laptops without having to open up the corporate network.”

Christopher Hertz, Chief Executive Officer, New Signature

Estrada also plans to take advantage of several new features of Windows Intune, such as software deployment. “The latest version of Windows Intune will be a huge step forward in the assistance we can provide to staff working on projects in the field,” he says. “It won’t matter if they are monitoring elections in Sudan, we’ll be able to push out the applications they need to do their work. This is as close as we’ve got to being a truly global office.”

Hertz concurs: “CAP wanted full desktop management without the infrastructure, and the latest version of Windows Intune will deliver. CAP is excited about the application deployment, the read-only administration, and the enhanced dashboard that offers them a single pane of glass into the health of their organization.”

BenefitsSince subscribing to Windows Intune, the Center for American Progress has achieved a paradigm shift in its ability to support field operations, empowering IT staff to support field operations as employees promote the tenets of progressive thinking and move ahead with critical projects around the world.

“Using Windows Intune, even our junior help-desk staffers look like seasoned IT pros,” says Estrada. “As far as IT support, we have turned things around 180 degrees. It’s not too far a stretch to say that Windows Intune is enabling CAP’s mission, because now our staffers have more reliable tools in the field.”

“The other great thing about using Windows Intune is that the CAP IT team will be able to grow with the tools as they develop over time,” adds Hertz. “Windows Intune also demonstrates to customers like CAP that Microsoft is releasing updates and new features quickly. CAP feels confident that the product will grow as their needs grow.”

Empowered IT to Support EmployeesA significant goal for the IT department is to make sure that CAP employees can work productively to promote progressive ideas. The IT team is using the remote assistance, software distribution, and security update functions available with Windows Intune to help boost productivity in the field.

“We have to do our job so the folks in the field can do theirs,” says Estrada. “We want people to focus on their work, not on their computers. With Windows Intune, we can finally live up to our mandate. Now we have the tools to deploy updates and software to ensure their computers are in good working order; as a result, we are gaining back our credibility with employees in the field.”

Enhanced Security to Support Remote Workers Using the centralized endpoint protection in Windows Intune, CAP can provision its traveling employees with portable computers that are more secure and reliable. CAP IT staff can proactively monitor the distributed computers to identify potential issues before they impact remote employees’ productivity whenever that employee connects to the Internet.

46

“It’s not too far a stretch to say that Windows Intune is enabling CAP’s mission, because now our staffers have more reliable tools in the field.”

George Estrada, Vice President of Technology, Center for American

Progress

“A lot of folks get hit with malware when they are overseas—being able to assure them they are OK is a big deal for these employees,” says Estrada.

Streamlined IT Operations to Reduce Costs Today, Estrada and three of the five-person IT team use the Windows Intune Administration console to manage the desktop, sending out security updates and distributing software as needed instead of waiting until a portable computer is returned to the office.

“Our security manager is saving three or four hours per computer by not having to re-image laptops when they are returned,” says Estrada. “For a typical, five-person team returning from a trip, that’s about 16 hours of his time, roughly [US]$423 for that period. Over the course of a month, this could easily go up to three times as much. I want to deploy more laptops to promote mobility, but I don’t want this to incur more IT support costs. Windows Intune will help me achieve this goal by minimizing the support burden for the IT desk. So as we retire desktop PCs and deploy more laptops, Windows Intune will be on all of them.”

Aligned with Cloud Strategies to Simplify IT

Estrada is using Windows Intune as a key service that supports his goal to move CAP toward cloud services. He feels that it is clear that the benefits of cloud-based services—easily deployed, highly scalable services available for low cost and requiring no server infrastructure—will simplify IT. “My vision is to move everything to the cloud so that we can focus on customer service internally. We have proved that Windows Intune is the best way to go for CAP.”

Windows IntuneWindows Intune simplifies how businesses manage and secure PCs using Microsoft cloud services and Windows 7, so your computers and users can operate at peak performance from almost anywhere. You can provide a better experience for your

56

For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about New Signature, call (202) 452-5923 or visit the website at: www.newsignature.com

For more information about the Center for American Progress call (202) 682-1611 or visit the website at:www.americanprogress.org

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published December 2011

Software and Services Windows Intune Windows 7 Enterprise Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft System Center

Configuration Manager 2007

Partners New Signature

workforce that’s easier to manage by standardizing your PCs on Windows 7 Enterprise or on an earlier version of Windows—it’s your choice. Windows Intune fits your business by providing a comprehensive desktop solution that gives you big tech results with a small tech investment.

For more information about Windows Intune, go to:www.windowsintune.com

66