The Challenge
Since Walsh Brothers has offices in different locations, most corporate endpoints are remote from their IT department. Initially, the IT team relied on a manual approach to manage patches on their endpoints. However, this approach proved ineffective for two main reasons. First, it was too resource-intensive. Second, it was error-prone and did not provide the IT team with a way to verify that updates were done properly, or if end-users had installed updates and rebooted their devices, as requested.
The company realized they needed to find a solution to automate patch management that could improve security and save costs. This need became even more critical after the company suffered a ransomware attack.
“We were able to contain and neutralize it immediately, so it didn’t cause significant damage to our company. However, the incident prompted us to re-evaluate our security strategy and make some necessary changes,” explains Brendan Murphy, Director of IT at Walsh Brothers.
The Action1 Solution
Brendan evaluated several vendors and ultimately chose Action1. He appreciated the unlimited 100-free endpoints offering, which allowed him to try the solution comfortably. In contrast, other vendors only provided a maximum 30-day trial. Furthermore, he found the Action1 support team to be very responsive and helpful with customized work.
The Benefits
Improved security. The Action1 platform provides the Walsh Brothers IT team with complete control over the update deployment process and visibility into the patching status of their endpoints. They used Action1’s intelligent policies to establish patch deployment workflows that meet the organization’s and users’ needs. “With Action1, we can provide users with a convenient timeframe to decide when they would like to restart, which ensures that all security updates are installed and makes us more secure. Moreover, end-users no longer have to waste their time waiting for updates to install,” explains Brendan. “As a result, our environment is more secure from threats like ransomware.”
Action1 helps us improve security and become more protected from the risk of ransomware infections, while saving us up to 10 hours a week on patching.
Significant cost savings. Action1’s automated capabilities and comprehensive feature set helped the Walsh Brothers IT team save costs and increase IT productivity. “Action1 saves us up to 10 manhours a week on patching alone, while providing us with valuable extras such as remote desktop, scripting, and others,” says Brendan.
Increased IT efficiency. Action1 enables the Walsh Brothers IT team to streamline routine tasks without impacting end-users. For example, they can now run scripts and automatically install and remove software behind the scenes. “We’re currently using Action1 to roll out Bluebeam software to more employees,” explains Brendan. “I appreciate that Action1 can perform many tasks without affecting end-users, which is very convenient for everyone involved.”
