Hull City Council increases service desk efficiency with help from Certero
09 March 2010
Hull City Council has invested in IT asset management specialist, Certero, as it looks to increase its service desk efficiency and improve technical support for its PC users. With Certero’s AssetStudio™ and Software Metering for Decision Makers™, the Council, which has over 5000 desktop PCs spread across 100 sites, now has complete visibility of its entire network.
Software Metering for Decision Makers™ helps the Council discover unused or underutilised software and provides the information needed to remove or redeploy IT assets, such as software applications, that do not deliver value. AssetStudio™ using its discovery and inventory system cuts down the exploratory work of finding specific information, that was previously incredibly time consuming for the Council.
Steve Moffat, Principal Strategic Infrastructure Officer at Hull City Council, explains, “We can’t afford to waste time searching for information on the system. For example, if a PC user reports a service request, an incident or requires an application update on their computer, we need to deal with it immediately. Certero’s tools give us the information we need, and the web interface feature means we can pull up the details we need in a matter of minutes to make informed decisions.”
Moffat adds, “Software Metering for Decision Makers™ integrates seamlessly into our service desk and tells us everything we need to know about our software usage. For example, if a PC has an application that is not being utilised we can remove it and reallocate it. This saves us investing in additional software licenses that we do not need.
“AssetStudio™’s software deployment has improved our PC update process. We can identify where updates need to be made and deploy them directly from the service desk, without disrupting staff. The tool also allows us to be specific, so if one particular site needs a new work application or assistance with a computer, we can do this centrally.
“We’re happy with Certero’s solution as it provides us with reliable and accurate information for resolving network issues and providing support for Council staff, so they can concentrate on their core duties. AssetStudio™ and Software Metering for Decision Makers™ both require low maintenance overheads and sit in the background, running smoothly,” concludes Moffat.
John Lunt, managing director and co-founder of Certero, adds, “We’re delighted to be able to help Hull City Council become more efficient in its operations. As IT budgets are increasingly being stretched, we’ve specifically designed our solutions to help identify existing assets that can be reused and reduce wasted spend.”