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AppSense helps Auto Trader make the most of infrastructure upgrade
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
- Cybersecurity & Privacy - Security Compliance
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
Applicable Industries
- Automotive
- Software
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Remote Asset Management
- Predictive Maintenance
- Regulatory Compliance Monitoring
Services
- System Integration
- Training
The Challenge
Auto Trader faced several challenges when transitioning to a purely digital business model and consolidating its offices. The IT team needed to support a major infrastructure change, simplify desktop estate management, improve user experience, and achieve PCI compliance. Responding to change requests was time-consuming, with group policy changes taking weeks to test and simple system changes taking days. The complexity of the existing environment, with nearly 1,000 group policies and 2,500 lines of logon scripts, made deployment and testing difficult. Additionally, the IT team wanted to improve logon performance and simplify desktop configuration and application settings management.
About The Customer
Auto Trader, a well-known name in the automotive industry, transitioned from a print magazine to a fully digital enterprise in 2013. The company offers a range of trade services related to buying, selling, marketing, and managing automotive stock. With over 300 in-house experts, Auto Trader plays a significant role in the UK automotive market, with 65% of used car transactions involving the company. The company consolidated its operations into two main offices in Manchester and London, with IT operations centralized in Manchester. This move provided an opportunity to redesign its end user computing infrastructure to support future business growth.
The Solution
Auto Trader deployed AppSense DesktopNow to centralize desktop configuration and simplify management. This solution allowed the IT team to manage settings and deployments quickly and efficiently, eliminating the need for complex group policies and logon scripts. With AppSense, Auto Trader reduced logon times significantly, improving user experience and security. The company also used AppSense to manage PCI compliance by blocking access to its internal billing application for users of Chrome and Firefox, ensuring that credit card information was not recorded during calls. Additionally, Auto Trader tested AppSense Performance Manager to address performance issues related to large file transfers.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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