1. Info-Tech Research Group1 Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice. Info-Tech’s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns. © 1997-2013 Info-Tech Research Group Inc. Save 30% on Support Costs by Streamlining Desktop Management Invest in planning and automation and earn long-term management savings. Info-Tech's products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.© 1997 - 2013 Info-Tech Research Group

2. Info-Tech Research Group2 Keeping your users’ desktops running smoothly can be a major drain on IT’s resources. Optimize and save up to 30% on your management costs. Introduction CIOs looking to shift IT from a reactive to a proactive posture. CIOs looking for ways to reduce the cost of desktop management. Desktop administrators who want to simplify desktop management and free up technician time for more strategic projects. Organizations that cannot or do not wish to completely virtualize their environments and still have a significant desktop infrastructure. Enable your desktop technicians to do more with less. Reduce the number of technician interventions on user desktops. Simplify the deployment of new desktops and software. Better secure the system with patch management. Save time and money on desktop management. This Research Is Designed For:This Research Will Help You:

3. Info-Tech Research Group3 Executive Summary Desktop management is a time sink. A majority of IT professionals agree that desktop management is more often than not a drain on IT resources. It takes more time than necessary, and draws technicians and their time away from more strategic – and more valuable – projects. Careful planning is key. Before desktop management can be properly streamlined, it is critical to engage in a number of planning activities to have a complete understanding of requirements. Have a strong sense of your users and their needs, including the applications they use every day to do their jobs. Good desktop management begins with good image management. Many IT departments continue to deploy a library of thick desktop images, clinging to a unique image for every hardware profile or use case. With the adoption of Windows 7, this has become an unnecessary inefficiency. It is now possible to build hardware-agnostic thin or hybrid disk images that can significantly simplify deployment and management of user systems. Focus on the long-term costs, not the short-term savings. Many organizations balk at the cost of investing in the kind of up-front planning and setup required by a well- managed desktop environment. However, focusing solely on the short-term costs obscures the far greater value that can be realized over the long term. Good desktop management reduces the time each technician must spend on each system, reduces downtime, and enhances security. All of this adds up to long-term cost efficiencies that are well worth the cost of investment.

4. Info-Tech Research Group4 Save 30% on Support Costs by Streamlining Desktop Management Lay the Foundations for Desktop Management Success Build a Plan to Simplify Desktop Management Assess the Need for Desktop Management Optimization Identify Desktop Management Challenges Faced by Your Organization Keep Your Systems Secure with a Patch Management Plan Take Advantage of Technology that Eases Desktop Management Morning Session 1 Morning Session 2 Afternoon Session 1 Deliver Success with Strategic Application Packaging Afternoon Session 2 Plan Initiatives to Optimize Desktop Management Build a Roadmap to Desktop Management Success Build Your Optimization Plan from the Disk Image Up

5. Info-Tech Research Group5 How to use this blueprint We recommend that you supplement the Best Practices Blueprint with a Guided Implementation. For most Info-Tech members, these Guided Implementations are included in your membership plan.* Our expert analysts will provide telephone assistance to you and your team at key project milestones to review your materials, answer your questions, and explain our methodology. Info-Tech Research Group’s expert analysts will come onsite to help you work through our project methodology in a 2-5 day project accelerator workshop. We take you through every phase of the project and ensure that you have a road map in place to complete your project successfully. In some cases, we can even complete the project while we are onsite. Do-It-Yourself Implementation Use this Best Practice Blueprint to help you complete your project. The slides in this Blueprint will walk you step-by-step through every phase of your project with supporting tools and templates ready for you to use. Project Accelerator Workshop You can also use this Best Practice Blueprint to facilitate your own project accelerator workshop within your organization using the workshop slides and facilitation instructions provided in the Appendix. Book your workshop now by emailing: WorkshopBooking@InfoTech.com WorkshopBooking@InfoTech.com Best Practice Blueprint Free Guided ImplementationOnsiteWorkshops * Gold and Silver level subscribers only Or calling: 1-888-670-8889 Ext. 3001 There are multiple ways you can use this Info-Tech Best Practice Blueprint in your organization. Choose the option that best fits your needs:

6. Info-Tech Research Group6 Book a free guided implementation today! Info-Tech is just a phone call away and can assist you with your project. Our expert Analysts can guide you to successful project completion. For most members, this service is available at no additional cost.* Here’s how it works: 1. Enroll in a Guided Implementation for your project Send an email to GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com Or call 1-888-670-8889 and ask for the Guided Implementation CoordinatorGuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com 2. Book your analyst meetings Once you are enrolled in a Guided Implementation, our analysts will reach out to book a series of milestone-related telephone meetings with you and your team. 3. Get advice from a subject matter expert At each Guided Implementation point, our Consulting Analyst will review your completed deliverables with you, answer any of your questions, and work with you to plan out your next phase. * Gold and Silver level subscribers only This symbol signifies when you’ve reached a Guided Implementation point in your project.

7. Info-Tech Research Group7 When we introduce new Blueprints, we offer workshops to our members at no charge for a short beta testing period. Please check the Workshop section of our website for a list of free beta workshops. Book a workshop today! An Info-Tech project accelerator workshop will help you to engage your stakeholders, gather important data, make key decisions, and generate a customized project road map. Here’s how it works: 1. Enroll in a 2-5 day workshop for your project Send an email to WorkshopBooking@InfoTech.com or call 1-888-670-8889 Ext. 3001. Your account manager will contact you and quote you the cost of a workshop.WorkshopBooking@InfoTech.com 2. Book your workshop A Workshop Coordinator will contact you to book a workshop planning call with one of our Facilitators and arrange dates for your workshop. We can hold the workshop in Info-Tech’s world-class facility in Toronto or at your location. 3. Plan your workshop A Workshop Facilitator will contact you to go over the workshop outline and choose the contents that are appropriate to your situation. 4. Participate in your workshop Our experienced Workshop Facilitators will take your project team through your tailored slides and exercises and will summarize all the workshop outputs into a final report. Free Beta Workshops

8. Info-Tech Research Group8 Guided Implementation points in the Desktop Management project Section 1: Interpret and act on desktop management challenges Identify where to focus your resources. Assess the present state; review challenges faced by the organization; review the potential ROI of optimization; strategize next steps toward solving desktop management challenges. Section 2: Streamline standard images and application packages Simplify deployment by simplifying the desktop. Revise your core desktop images; create an application package library for core user groups; develop an image and lifecycle management policy. Section 3: Simplify your approach to desktop maintenance Develop policies to maintain secure desktops. Develop a patch management policy; create an emergency response workflow; document policies around remote desktop administration; review software solutions that can simplify management. Section 4: Build a roadmap to optimal desktop management Identify and prioritize your core initiatives; create and document an implementation timeline. To enroll, send an email to GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com or call 1-888-670-8889 and ask for the Guided Implementation Coordinator.GuidedImplementations@InfoTech.com This symbol signifies when you’ve reached a Guided Implementation point in your project. Book a Guided Implementation Today: Info-Tech is just a phone call away and can assist you with your project. Our expert Analysts can guide you to successful project completion. Here are the suggested Guided Implementation points in the Desktop Management project:

9. Info-Tech Research Group9 What’s in this Section:Sections: Identify and Eliminate Endpoint Management Headaches Take a Lean Approach to Simplify Desktop Deployment Build a Plan for Maintaining Optimal Endpoints Create a Roadmap to Desktop Management Success Understand the advantages of optimized desktop management. Build the case for desktop management optimization. Identify and diagnose challenge areas. Learn the three key factors in optimized desktop management.

10. Info-Tech Research Group10 Build the case for optimizing desktop management Investing in planning, automation, and procedures can help eliminate management headaches—and it makes long-term financial sense. Who can benefit from optimization? Understaffed IT departments Overworked IT support teams will find that they are able to do more with less. Taking advantage of automation and remote administration will allow technicians to help more users and provide services faster than in an unmanaged environment. Large organizations with complex environments Heterogeneous environments can be difficult to manage. Having clearly documented policies and procedures can help IT keep a handle on complexity. Organizations that are reluctant to virtualize, or have systems that cannot be virtualized. Simplifying management is often cited as a key benefit of virtual desktop initiatives. However, few organizations are 100% virtualized. Good desktop management can provide some of the benefits of virtualization without significantly altering the existing infrastructure. … simplify your technicians’ lives. Creating and following standards for desktop images and application packages means that your technicians will know what to expect on a user’s computer, and have an easier time diagnosing and repairing issues that may arise. … make your environment more secure. By simplifying patch deployment, administrators can be more confident that the latest security fixes have been applied across the system. … improve end-user satisfaction. Structured desktop management enables your support technicians to become more responsive to user needs. They will be able to work more efficiently, reducing downtime and improving worker productivity. … save money and recover lost time. Research indicates that optimized desktop management can save organizations up to 30% in ongoing management costs. Moreover, the time you save can be reinvested into strategic projects that help drive your business forward. Optimizing desktop management can…

11. Info-Tech Research Group11 Two mid-sized companies have very different approaches to desktop management. One invests in technology, the other in technicians. Mid-sized legal firm, with one main office and branch offices across the country comprising 822 managed desktops. Windows 7 is deployed across the environment Uses Symantec’s Altiris to inventory applications and hardware, deploy updates, patches, and to perform remote desktop management functions. Has standardized versions of their software across the environment Uses one core desktop image that can be tailored post-install based on location or user profile. Requires only one individual who is in charge of desktop administration across multiple offices. Now capable of completing a complete system re- image in under 15 minutes, including the OS, core applications, and personalization. Comparative Case Study: A managed versus an unmanaged approach “It makes our lives so much easier, being able to manage everything from one web console.” “Really, it’s a very low-tech approach, but it seems to work for us.” Mid-sized agricultural supply firm, with approximately 800 managed desktops. Most desktops run XP, but they are in the middle of a Windows 7 roll-out. Running an aging system, with an average desktop age of 6-8 years. Uses Windows Update Manager to deploy patches; feels the cost for additional desktop management software is not justifiable given a tight budget. Has managed over 20 different desktop images, but found these insufficient for their various hardware profiles. Requires six permanent and two temporary full-time- equivalent employees to perform desktop management tasks. Anticipates it will take a year to roll out a Windows 7 implementation for 600 of their 800 desktops.

12. Info-Tech Research Group12 Info-Tech Research Group Helps IT Professionals To: Sign up for free trial membership to get practical solutions for your IT challenges www.infotech.com Quickly get up to speed with new technologies Make the right technology purchasing decisions – fast Deliver critical IT projects, on time and within budget Manage business expectations Justify IT spending and prove the value of IT Train IT staff and effectively manage an IT department “Info-Tech helps me to be proactive instead of reactive – a cardinal rule in a stable and leading edge IT environment. - ARCS Commercial Mortgage Co., LP Toll Free: 1-888-670-8889