Are You Spending Too Much Time “Trudging About?”

Nobody - well, almost nobody - becomes an IT professional so that they can trudge from PC to PC installing client software upgrades. And nobody goes into the job so they can spend two hours reconfiguring somebody's laptop while they stand around huffing: "Haven't you finished yet?" For that matter, no sensible organisation pays highly skilled IT pros to waste their talents on such humdrum, repetitive jobs.

This, in a nutshell, is why Microsoft developed System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). SCCM is a deployment solution that lets administrators deploy operating systems, applications, patches, software updates and so forth to servers, fixed clients and lap tops across the whole of their distributed network, without having to leave their desk.

If it's a routine, repeatable task, then SCCM will let you automate it. And if it's a one-off job, there’s a good chance that SCCM will let you to do it remotely and quickly, without having to get in the car for one of those exciting tours of far flung offices. The cost savings should make an investment in SCCM worthwhile, once the costs of administrator time and user downtime are factored in.

What Are The Key Benefits Of SCCM?

Apart from reducing the wear of your shoe leather and rescuing your sanity, Microsoft SCCM enables you to automate, structure and better control the routine tasks associated with IT management.

Consistency in Roll-Outs
Through allowing you to define the rules on upgrades and patches and align these to the unique access rights, security and requirements of your users, you ensure that every change is performed in a consistent manner.

Your compliance rules can be adhered to and through integration with Windows Server 2008 Network Access Protection, SCCM can also help administrators to ensure that devices connecting to or communicating with their networks have the necessary security patches, anti-virus protection, operating system version and so on.

Remote Verification
Equally valuable is SCCM's ability to remotely verify a device's current configuration and potential for upgrade. SCCM's Application Compatibility Toolkit can quickly assess whether a machine is ready for an upgrade. If it is, SCCM can save the user's documents and settings and reinstall them after performing the migration. When the user comes back, all they will notice is that their machine runs faster or they can access more features.

Managing A World Of Software
Upgrades are one thing, but do you know what's actually installed on all your organisation’s PCs, and how much of it is actually used?

SCCM can examine a PC and identify any mainstream software installed (that’s any software - not just Microsoft's) plus many specialist applications.

What is more, SCCM can tell you how often the software is actually run (if ever!), so your organisation can avoid paying for licences that it never uses - or avoid falling foul of any end user license agreements. Additionally, SCCM can root out and block blacklisted or unauthorised applications that may have been installed by the users themselves.

How Can I Start Using Microsoft SCCM?
Microsoft has built a very rich network of partners to support SCCM. Dell, for example, has produced a deployment pack for its servers. Clients need to be on Active Directory and running Windows XP, NT or Vista. You'll also need one or more SCCM server licences, depending on the number of users.

Deploying SCCM does require a degree of planning, but b2lateral have the experience and expertise to help you in this area. If you are interested in making your life easier and want to learn more about SCCM, please contact the team at b2Lateral on 0844 644 2565 or email us at info@b2lateral.net