Challenge

Complex IT Stacks and Manual Roadblocks

The supply chain industry is a multifaceted network characterized by intricate interdependencies and a myriad of challenges. The increasing demand for device security and visibility requires sophisticated technologies for efficient data and endpoint management. With 250 endpoints to manage across the country, our customer understands just how important reliable and efficient endpoint management tools are.

Jack Smith leads a team comprised of thirteen IT professionals at a supply chain organization. Being accountable for nationwide endpoint management, Smith is challenged with updating, patching and maintaining the overall health of all endpoints across the country. “When most of our organization was in the office, we used WSUS to patch and update software on our endpoints,” said Smith. “It’s difficult to use and it’s not very reliable when it comes to patching.”

With the organization’s former IT solution, troubleshooting and additional software updates was a manual and time-consuming process. The team had to schedule meeting times with team members to assess issues. “Once I did get in touch with the device, I never knew how long it would take to fix,” said Smith. “It could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours. That wasn’t just my productivity being lost, but also that employee’s productivity.”

Furthermore, the supply chain organization utilized a patchwork of disparate management tools. “I used one tool for ticketing, another for inventory and another for security and patching,” said Smith. “Managing our endpoints with so many different tools that only worked when devices were connected to our network meant some devices just didn’t get updated. We had salespeople rarely connecting to our network and people out of the office, leaving no way to ensure their devices were up to date and compliant.” With such manual processes, accurate reporting on vulnerabilities and compliance was virtually impossible.

Confronted with a complex IT stack, endless hours of manual labor, compliance deficiencies and the challenge of efficiently managing remote endpoints, Smith sought a solution that would unify everything into a single-view platform, automate manual tasks and ensure endpoints remained compliant

NinjaOne automation removed the need for three additional technicians

Solution

Simplicity Matters:

“After seeing the NinjaOne demo, I knew it could do everything we needed it to,” said Smith. With support from the Customer Success team, “It took less than a week to deploy NinjaOne to our endpoints. Plus, the change management was easy and simple,” said Smith.

Simplicity has been a theme throughout the supply chain organization’s experience with NinjaOne. “The cool thing about NinjaOne is everything is in a single pane of glass, so I can easily manage all our endpoints myself,” said Smith. “Before, I had two or three different places that held endpoint information. Now, everything is in one place, which is a huge time saver

Automations Unlocked:

Moving to a single tool that can automate manual tasks was a game changer. “Prior to NinjaOne, I spent up to 20 hours per week remediating issues with employee devices,” said Smith. “With NinjaOne, I set up rules so updates can happen automatically in the background, which eliminated those hours of manual work, giving me and our employees valuable time back.”

With the time Smith saves with automation, he’s able to accomplish critical business projects. “NinjaOne has freed me up to work on lots of other things,” said Smith. “Right now, I’m working on a time-sensitive project, moving on-premises data to the cloud before the end of the year. Since NinjaOne automates the manual tasks that used to take up so much of my day, I’ve been able to set a more aggressive timeline.”

Efficiency and savings didn’t stop there. “We’ve pared down the IT operation staff from four to one,” said Smith. “Since onboarding NinjaOne, three technicians on our team took other positions. When it came to replacing them, we realized we just didn’t need to.” said Smith.

Smith isn’t the only one seeing the NinjaOne difference at the organization. “Because I’m able to create exact reporting on our IT operations, our executive leadership team has noticed the increased percentage of endpoint compliance,” said Smith. “Before NinjaOne, I could only provide general reporting on vulnerabilities.”

Conclusion

Understanding that NinjaOne can seamlessly automate patching, software updates and general maintenance has revolutionized Smith’s work life. “I can go on PTO for a week and be confident that all my endpoints are still receiving those critical updates and being managed,” said Smith. “NinjaOne truly changed my life.”