SCC and Intel vPro

Cost-effective, cloud-based device management that transforms productivity, visibility and security

Challenging economic conditions are putting real pressure on IT teams, who are expected to cut costs and make savings without compromising performance, efficiency or security.

As well as avoiding expensive and damaging cyberattacks, they must also ensure that running a lower-cost IT estate doesn’t lead to increased risk of downtime. According to Business Reporter, 44% of system outages are caused by application or infrastructure issues, while IT downtime as a whole is costing the global economy $400 billion per year – that’s over $1 billion every single day.

There are efficiencies that IT teams can explore: extending device lifecycles, reducing support costs and enhancing security protection, for example. But to make that possible without damaging performance, a new approach to cost-effective device management is needed.

Striking the balance of effective device management and cost optimisation

There is no single reason why device management is so challenging in financially straitened times such as these. From our experience of working with a range of public and private-sector organisations, four key barriers are commonplace:

• Economic pressures and operational needs: IT teams are expected to do more with less to maintain operational excellence, and ensure that any new technology investment delivers the best possible return.
  
• Support and management costs: running devices for longer can lead to hidden costs such as on-site technical support and shipping expenses to get devices repaired.
  
• Security cost implications: security breaches are expensive in financial, operational, compliance and reputational terms. But protection, maintaining security posture and investing in the right security software and third-party tools can also be costly.
  
• Device lifecycle and stability issues: costs in maintaining a consistent and reliable device estate can ramp up through frequent hardware changes, staff retraining, compatibility testing and device validation/procurement.

Cloud-based remote device management with Intel vPro

Intel vPro technology, available within both laptop and desktop hardware, helps solve these challenges by embedding cloud-based management and security into user devices. Combined with full platform validation and support, and built-in endpoint hardware-enabled security, it enables cost-efficient discovery, configuration, updating, repair and refreshing without compromising performance regardless of OS state.

• Performance optimisation: AI-supported system responsiveness and reliability that speeds up task completion, cuts end-user downtime and reduces time spent on manual processes. Intel vPro-based devices use 15% less energy than comparable non-Intel vPro devices, with cost savings across cloud computing, infrastructure, task automation and software licensing.
  
• Remote management capabilities: Intel vPro devices generate fewer escalated issues among employees, cutting up to 90% of expensive endpoint-related onsite visits that IT staff typically need to make. This is enabled by hardware-level, zero-touch remote fixes that minimise on-site support visits and technical dispatch, alongside remote mass updates, standardised management tools and automated inventory management that support further cost savings.

• Enhanced security features: Intel vPro helps cut the volume of help desk support tickets by up to 40%, thanks to stronger built-in protection that reduces breach remediation and security costs. This comes alongside better security posture enabling lower insurance premiums, audit costs and third-party security tool needs.

• Platform stability: Intel vPro-based devices cut deployment times by 30% and ongoing endpoint device management time by 65%. Hardware, firmware and driver stability is guaranteed for 15 months, reducing disruption costs and extending device longevity. Further savings can also be generated in planning, training, compatibility testing, procurement, and device and configuration validation.

The best-of-breed partnership of technology and expertise

The world-leading Intel vPro platform is backed up by the experience of the SCC team in deploying the technology for organisations like yours, ensuring you get maximum performance and maximum cost efficiency thanks to:

• Long-standing partnership: SCC is a long-standing Intel Gold partner with a strong strategic partnership with Intel.
• Comprehensive support: our vastly experienced team is dedicated to integrating Intel vPro’s professional-grade, interoperable technology.
• Tailored solution: we can assess your specific requirements and cost constraints, and design an Intel vPro deployment to complement those needs perfectly.
• Cost optimisation expertise: from design to ongoing optimisation, and everything in between, we can maintain the best cost efficiency of your deployment long-term.