Identity Management | IT Consulting Case Studies

Our consultants and partners bring extensive experience to your business projects and opportunities. The following case studies represent just a few samples of our work. Please contact us to discuss the specific ways in which we can help your IT and business projects.

Case 1

A large international financial services firm was aggressively expanding and had recently acquired several new companies. User management, system security, and IT auditing had become unwieldy. Records were stored in multiple types, in multiple systems, with disparate data schemas. Each new subsidiary had its own directory service, in addition to the user and account data maintained by each individual department within the company. The client needed to consolidate customer, partner, and user records into a secure, and centrally managed system that could grow itself to match the dynamic nature of the company. Additionally, Identity and Access Management (IAM) had to develop as a system, to meet the growing needs of the business.

Links Business Group response:

Perform a Directory Services Analysis and Design. After the initial design, the client wanted to add compliance measures such as secure record storage, single sign on, web authentication, and provisioning. The project split into a second phase, and became an Identity Management Analysis project.

How our client's business was improved

• Corporate directory services reduced from 7 to 1, substantially reducing support costs and increasing efficiency.
• Existing directory data was migrated to the new system, with no loss to records or identity information
• New global, enterprise-level directory service created, greatly facilitating growth, integration, and communication with business partners.
• Helpdesk support calls reduced by 50%. (Account and password reset issues.)
• Authentication, authorization, and auditing capabilities added to all web-enabled applications and customer portal.
• System consolidation allowed for a 30% reduction in IT operating expenses.
• Web portal development time reduced 25%.

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Case 2

A large property management company needed to evaluate a mainframe accounting package that integrated with diverse data formats. The company's system vendor was pushing hard for them to purchase a costly system and software upgrade. The client needed a full third-party project analysis performed, to determine if the proposed package was right for them and to explore possible alternatives that would align better with business requirements.

Links Business Group response:

Deliver the Project Analysis Service. Examine all aspects of the vendor's proposal, competing proposals, other alternatives, and the client's business objectives. Determine if project was viable and worth the money.

How our client's business was improved

• The Project Analysis Report provided hard case data with which to negotiate with software and equipment vendors
• Vendor software and deployment costs reduced by 30%
• Client saved $250,000 by reallocating and upgrading existing components
• The Project Analysis Report was used as a fiscal budgeting tool for planning similar initiatives.
• Client gained critical Business Intelligence that it applied to subsequent processes and proposal evaluations.

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Case 3

A large international foods distribution company had to move its aging NT 4.0 infrastructure to Windows 2003 and Active Directory. The company possessed several hundred NT 4.0-based servers, with thousands of desktop clients authenticating to dozens of individual account domains. Special challenges of the project included the large number of disparate domains, the highly-distributed nature of the environment (dozens of plans and administrative facilities spread throughout the world,) slow links between many sites, and dozens of highly custom applications which required extensive testing and certification to function in the new environment.

The project goal was to collapse all existing resource and account domains and consolidate the organization in to a single Active Directory Forest. The forest would provide centralized authentication services for end-users, and applications such as Microsoft Exchange 2000.

Links Business Group response:

Windows Migration Services (WMS) and Resource Automation and Consolidation Services (RACS). WMS is a service, a project methodology, and a tool set. Using industry best practices and our WMS tools, the infrastructure was migrated to a central domain, backup domain controllers were decommissioned and re-allocated, DNS was recreated, and centralized AAA services were made available.

How our client's business was improved

• Server environment and management overhead decreased by 50%.
• Enterprise backup tools in production decreased from 4 to 1, providing an aggregate person-hour savings of over 50 person hours per month.
• New, automated patch strategies were deployed, reducing patch enterprise patch deployment time from 2 weeks to less than 1 hour.
• Complete Windows 2003 Server build process reduced from over 4 hours to 20 minutes.
• Centralized domain architecture reduced monthly management overhead by 120+ hours.
• WMS saved the client an additional $30,000 - $40,000 in tool, licensing, and vendor fees.

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Case 4

The alumni and donor services department within a major university requested a complete audit of their data network, server systems, support systems, directory services, security systems.

Links Business Group response:

Complete a Business Technology and Strategy Report and deliver results to key decision makers. Results from the report were used by management to decide what project initiatives were necessary, and which were not. Armed with critical business information, budget were approved and several major IT projects initiated.

How our client's business was improved

• System management tasks consolidated, significantly reducing system administration costs and time expenditures
• Security incidents reduced by 50%
• Server uptime increased by 20%
• New server and desktop system deployment time reduced by 50%
• Helpdesk calls lowered by 40%
• New directory services deployed, easing administration, auditing, and workflow
• Database application administration time reduced over 50%

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Case 5

A large real-estate investment company was experiencing several serious IT-related business problems and requested consulting assistance. Helpdesk calls were increasing, IT employee attrition was running over 35% a year, system and network outages were frequent, viruses were rampant, end-user support costs were high. The CFO requested a full evaluation of the company's IT infrastructure, operations, and management.

Links Business Group response:

Conduct a Business Technology and Strategy Report (BTSR.) Taking a holistic approach, we analyzed every aspect of company operations and submitted a detailed BTSR to the CFO. Using the business intelligence delivered in the report, management was able to critically asses its current operations and employ many of the recommendations and system designs disseminated in our report. Each problem was assigned a priority value, a statement of cause, and a list of detailed recommendations which included alternate strategies for every proposed solution.

How our client's business was improved

• A new helpdesk tracking and management system was developed and deployed, allowing for immediate incident response and increased client satisfaction
• Helpdesk ticket load reduced 30%
• Virus outbreaks halted
• IT-related attrition reduced from 25% annually to 5%
• Application support costs reduced 40%
• 25% reduction in client-side TCO

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