How Goverlan increased the IT staff efficiency of the largest Social Security advocate in the USA.
Company: Binder & Binder
Industry: Legal
Location: USA
Lean IT Team supporting 1,100 users spread across 50 U.S. states & territories
$38,500 start-up costs (Kaseya + Radmin)
$11,000 per year on-going costs (Kaseya)
Time-consuming setup (required defining entire topology)
Complex scripting required calls to Kaseya’s tech support
Migrating to Citrix environment and neither Kaseya or Radmin supports RDP/Citrix shadowing
$4,200 start-up cost vs. $31,000 Kaseya + $7,500 Radmin
$1,200 per year on-going cost vs. $11,000 year Kaseya
No need for dedicated SQL server
No need to define the enterprise topology
No need to supplement VNC (Goverlan includes a powerful troubleshooting solution)
Configuring actions can be done via a simple GUI (Goverlan doesn’t require scripting)
Remote control feature includes RDP/Citrix shadowing
By replacing Kaseya, each IT team member saved 2 hours per week, total savings of $80,000 per year
Binder & Binder is a law firm specializing in Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income needs in all 50 states and all U.S. territories.
“Binder and Binder is the nation’s largest Social Security disability advocate by far.” - Wall Street Journal
Learn more at binderandbinder.com
Binder & Binder is the largest Social Security advocate in the United States. Their lean IT department of six technicians supports 1,100 users (continuously expanding) in 34 sites spanning across the 50 U.S. states and its territories. Relative to the number of users and machines they support, the six technicians are stretched very thin.
The IT Support team was using Kaseya 6.3 systems management solution which was costly for the initial purchase and setup: $26,000 for 950 nodes + $7,000 for a dedicated SQL server & license. Plus, there were on-going server maintenance costs of $500 per month.
Additionally, they had to supplement Kaseya with Radmin for remote control &remote access. Richard Martes, the IT Director at Binder & Binder, stated:
"One of the big drawbacks of Kaseya is that it comes with VNC which has frequent delays and bad resolution. That required us to use Radmin. At $1,500 per 50 nodes, it’s very expensive. And we tend to go up in nodes, not down."
Besides Kaseya’s high costs, executing configuration actions with Kaseya was complex and time-consuming. Martes stated, “I had to configure every office and define my topology in Kaseya. All this was very time consuming. There was also scripting involved to perform actions and install packages. Because it wasn’t self-explanatory, I often had to contact Kaseya’s tech support call center and then wait for them to get back to me.” Note: Kaseya’s tech support was costing Binder & Binder approximately $5,000 a year.
A consultant working with Binder & Binder on a major AD migration project recommended Goverlan over Kaseya. The consultant advised, “Goverlan would be a great tool for you. You can put as many domains as you want and it’s not licensed per node but per administrator and it’s very easy to use.”
Binder & Binder will be migrating to a Citrix environment. Martes stated, “One of the main reasons for choosing Goverlan was because its remote control feature includes RDP/Citrix shadowing which is not supported in VNC or Radmin.”
Comparing the Goverlan and Kaseya implementation, Martes noted, “Kaseya 6.3 took me about a week just it get it running. There was a lot of prep work and I had to contact them for assistance. With Goverlan there is no such thing as an implementation phase.” As for learning Goverlan, “Kaseya was very clunky. Goverlan’s user interface makes it very easy to learn. I have a small IT staff, time is very limited. I don’t have a lot of time to learn something, I really want to get to the nitty gritty. And Goverlan helped me do this.”
Martes was also pleased with Goverlan’s pre-sale support. “Before I even purchased it, the people at Goverlan were very helpful, especially Raul Ortiz. I spoke to Raul several times before buying.”
Since Goverlan doesn’t require a dedicated server and its licensing schema is per technician (not per node). Martes concluded, “There were tremendous savings in hardware and licensing for Binder & Binder.”
Goverlan proved to be a success for Binder & Binder’s migration project. “After the machines were joined to the new domain, we saw all the machines under the new migrated forest in Goverlan. I used Goverlan Scope Actions to configure my workstations. We performed several configuration management tasks such as applying a specific KB update from Microsoft, pushed an IP Release/Renew command for a new DHCP server cutover, configured the local admin account and pushed antivirus software. Goverlan simplified the process [of AD migration] tremendously. It cut the time by half, almost two thirds. With Kaseya, I would have had to call their tech support for help because this would have been too complex to script.” elaborated Martes.
Goverlan’s Scope Action feature allowed Martes and his team to deploy software instantaneously and with greater ease. Martes commented, “In Kaseya, patches just took a lot longer to do. I would have to create a package, upload them and assign it to a particular site. With Goverlan, I didn’t have to do any of that. When it involved multiple actions, I had to contact Kaseya’s tech support call center because scripting was required which wasn’t self-explanatory. With Goverlan, I use the wizard to perform a set of actions from its current location and Goverlan pushes it through right away.
When Binder & Binder wanted to install Vipre, an anti-virus software solution, Martes encountered an issue: “I have a fully meshed network with different subnets where every office communicates with each other. Vipre searches the entire domain. It doesn’t have an option to filter searches by OU, subnet, or IP range”, explained Martes. So Martes used Goverlan to perform a customized search and then execute set of actions. “With Goverlan, I created an action to deploy a MSI package to all workstations that would target by OU. It worked beautifully.”
For daily helpdesk support and troubleshooting, Binder & Binder used Radmin. Martes commented “You can’t record or take snapshots from Radmin. Goverlan’s snapshot feature is great because we can take a picture of the screen with the error and then research the error ourselves. Radmin doesn’t have the task manager feature and the chat feature is much better in Goverlan.”
Martes stated that he would like to see better integration with third party vendor applications. “One thing that I did like about Kaseya was the software integration in their modules. For example, they have a module for backup and recovery that integrates with AppAssure and a module for security.”
Goverlan V7 has relieved Binder & Binder from significant IT expenditures and time-consuming domain setup and scripting work. They no longer need a dedicated SQL server or Radmin for remote control support (included in Goverlan).
Martes concluded, “Goverlan’s interface is great and menu selections are awesome. Again, it’s very easy to use. Goverlan didn’t require any special training or boot camp courses like Kaseya.” By switching to Goverlan, the IT team will save $80,000 per year.
