Founded in 1924, Grant Thornton LLP is the fifth largest accounting firm in the US and is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, which operates 585 offices in 110 countries.
With the fall of Andersen in 2002, Grant Thornton LLP was presented with a unique opportunity. They were offered the chance to grow rapidly, acquire eight Andersen offices, and add skilled Andersen professionals.
The IT challenge fell to Dave Johnson, Director of Infrastructure Technology, who was faced with the daunting task of creating a standardized IT model for a quickly evolving organization. Through a combination of the right people, products and process, Johnson’s team was able to streamline the IT conversion process for the newly acquired offices to only 15 business days. They did this without any contracted help – no small accomplishment given the nature of the challenge that confronted them.
The Challenge
Johnson knew that from an IT perspective he would have to build a model that was based on standards that could easily be replicated and deployed on a global scale. The first step was to implement effective IT asset management to understand the bigger picture. Despite some commonly held misconceptions, asset management is not a piece of software that can be purchased off the shelf and deployed on a server to account for all the subtleties of a distributed network. It is a combination of tools, people and processes. It was not until they began to deploy software that the organization, and in particular the IT department, began to understand that accurately accounting for a widely distributed network of leased computers posed some specific and complex challenges. They realized that the difference between the “managed experience” and “what was actually on hand” were two different things.
To add to the challenge, the IT role was much broader with responsibility for overall security strategies, lease expenses, software license compliance and regulatory governance. On a daily basis the IT team would have to efficiently transfer computing assets between thousands of employees within the organization’s 49 locations, minimize spares and control a growing budget. Grant Thornton needed a strategy to help drive down costs, reduce loss rates and accurately calculate total cost of ownership.
Solution: ComputraceComplete from Absolute Software
Grant Thornton knew that based on an 80/20 rule if they were going to continue with their leasing strategy they would need to improve their IT asset management. To this end, Johnson strategically formed a relationship with the company’s hardware provider, who in turn made a commitment to educate Grant Thornton on best practices in building a zero defect asset tracking solution. Johnson then set to work creating a plan to recover all the organizations’ computer assets on an ongoing basis at each of its 49 sites. This meant dealing with the often disparate items of software asset management tools, contract management, compliance issues, negotiation strategies, and vendor management.
Prior to implementing Computrace®CompleteTM, Grant Thornton was able to account for most of its equipment; however, with the commitment to move to 99.7% accuracy in their asset tracking, Johnson knew he would need to manage his IT assets beyond just their physical control, particularly when it came to leased machines. Ensuring that machines were returned at the end of a lease term was a concern for two reasons; the first issue was strictly contractual – to avoid penalties the PC manufacturer required the return of machines despite their condition. Although damaged machines were covered under a no fault warranty, they nevertheless maintained residual value since spare parts can be recycled and reused. It was also necessary to ensure that machines were cleanly wiped of data prior to being retired. It soon became evident that effective asset management required more than simply reporting what was on a given PC – it was necessary to know where the asset was and who was using it. The solution also required the ability to easily audit and track remote and mobile machines. Auditing and reporting were key requirements for Grant Thornton. Up-to-date reports that indicated where a machine was located, who was using it and what software was installed on it were needed as a critical component of their lifecycle management process.
