F4 IT started as an internal IT department for a healthcare provider in 2013. Currently, it supports over 2,500 users from organizations that provide services to the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS). Rebranded in 2018, F4 IT has continued to expand within the healthcare sector and now supports 15 organizations in North East Lincolnshire and beyond.
As an organization with over 100 remote offices and more than 2,000 workstations, F4 IT had to manage a number of IT issues challenging the NHS.
Traditionally, IT assets were spread over many different locations and teams, which made it difficult to get a clear picture of the overall IT environment without visiting each location and performing a manual audit. IT security was another major concern, with many vulnerable and unpatched devices at risk of malware and exploits, but no clear way of knowing the overall scale of the problem or how to respond to new threats. Additionally, provisioning and configuring mobile devices was a time-consuming manual process, and remote support was nearly impossible due to the lack of a mobile device management system.
During the 2017 global WannaCry ransomware attacks, many NHS and healthcare organizations in the UK were badly affected. In some cases, this resulted in the total closure of clinical systems, and even turning away non-critical patients.
Looking for a single, cost-effective solution that would integrate all of the functions that a service desk would require, including remote support, patch management, asset management, and software deployment, F4 IT found ManageEngine Desktop Central.
Discussing the journey F4 IT took to find Desktop Central, Dean Blakeman, IT Operations Manager, said, "Desktop Central was the automatic choice due to its price, features, and integration capabilities with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus."
Before the ManageEngine solution was in place, users at F4 IT had to visit the IT service with their device to receive this support, or be talked through solutions step by step.
With Desktop Central, F4 IT found a single, cost-effective solution that would integrate all of the functions that a service desk would require, including remote support, patch management, asset management, and software deployment. Over the past few years, F4 IT has taken on numerous large contracts providing IT support for NHS healthcare providers. Using Desktop Central has enabled these transitions to take place smoothly, and actively improved the service received the new customers. In addition, Blakeman added, since the entire IT environment was already fully patched with the security updates required to protect against WannaCry in 2017, F4 IT didn’t experience a single affected workstation.
ManageEngine Desktop Central is a holistic unified endpoint management solution that helps in managing thousands of servers, desktops, and mobile devices from a central location. It automates the complete endpoint management life cycle, ranging from a simple system configuration to complex software deployment. With over 15 years of expertise in the IT management industry, ManageEngine Desktop Central has understood the needs in the market, and developed the product to defend cyber-threats. Trusted by more than 15,000 customers around the globe, Desktop Central helps businesses cut costs on IT infrastructure, achieve operational efficiency, improve productivity, and combat network vulnerabilities. For more information about Desktop Central, visit www.desktopcentral.com