The Invisible Admin

The law firm was willing to consider updating its entire technology system, including servers, desktops, firewalls, switches, routers and applications. As a first step, the 42-person solution provider recommended upgrading all of the hardware to the newest offerings available, since the law firm's PCs were all three to five years old. Williams Schifino had been hoping to wait on technology upgrades until it moved into its new offices later in the year, but API urged it to reconsider.

"Often, moving a law firm in a new technology direction can be like turning an aircraft carrier into the wind with a canoe paddle--it takes time," Pierce says. "They were getting a lot of complaints that things were slowing down; they were having to reboot and dealing with system errors. Angry people were sending e-mails all over the place. We sat down and had a conversation about it. We wanted them to realize that they would have to pay in pain or time or money. They realized they needed to upgrade."

The solution provider also recommended Persystent Technologies' Persystent Enterprise to allow the firm's half-time IT person, hired as a contractor from API, to concentrate on critical projects rather than picayune support tasks.

"We started to look at Persystent because the law firm was up to more than 70 workstations. They didn't want to pay the support costs associated with hiring someone internally, and they didn't want to pay to have someone from a partner on-site," Pierce says. "Instead of imaging desktops, we could add images on the fly. There was no longer a need to focus on level-one support calls."

The software automatically repairs a desktop's operating system, registry, applications and settings based on policy, in order to reduce or eliminate the need for human intervention. Persystent allows applications to be "self healing," says Pierce, so that changes are made automatically when a computer is booted.

"As a lawyer, the last thing I want to have to deal with is a problem on the computer system that prevents me from doing something I need to do, especially on the weekend," Williams says. "The Persystent technology solved all of those problems."

"With Persystent, if you forget something, the software allows you to make changes and just reboot," Pierce says. "By removing hours spent making little changes manually, we made the engagement more successful and more profitable."

More For Less
The project, although comprehensive, went without a hitch. In fact, in the middle of the project, Williams Schifino asked the solution provider to move more quickly to get it done before Williams left for a trip to China. "They implemented sooner than they were supposed to by working overtime to get it done," Williams says. "We would have expected bugs and problems, but we had very few. Things are working smoothly."

By automating repair and support, Williams Schifino saves considerable time. Normally, API would need to put in a full-time person to support 60 users, Pierce says, adding that the VAR has handled 85 percent of the law firm's IT demands for more than a year now and, in the past 14 months, hasn't had to answer a single call that was outside the scope of its half-time IT contract.

"API told us that we would save money in the long run, and I think that we have," Williams says. "We still have our half-time person, and we think we can do that for another five years--and maybe longer."

In addition, Persystent's technology continues to allow the API IT person to make the most of the 20 hours a week he spends at Williams Schifino.

"Persystent does the little stuff and frees up really good resources to work on the server side of things. Now [the IT staffer] can work on the projects we want to get done," Pierce says. "We can leverage his talent to keep the system up and running, make sure SQL Server is running the way it should be or focus on intrusion protection. If you're able to devote attention to the right places, you have more uptime."

Today, API continues to be an invisible presence at Williams Schifino, making sure that the company avoids bumps on the technology road.