Chicago Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

One of the challenges COSM faced was excessive malware and virus infections and a lack of HIPAA compliance in a certain area.  Particularly when it came to dealing with software patches and security updates.  Prior to starting with our Essential Support Program for their desktops and notebooks, they were experiencing 1 to 2 Malware infections per week on their computers.  This would result in the computer being out of commission and Netsphere having to send a consultant onsite to remove the Malware.  Just staying on top of this portion of the HIPAA rules was becoming expensive and creating too much downtime for users.

Pain Points
  • Reduce Virus / Malware infections across the network
  • Reduce costs associated with removal and resolution of infections. 
  • Reduce downtime due to infections
  • Increase HIPAA Compliance level and streamline a process for updates, patches, and fixes across the network

Solution
Netsphere rolled out the Essential Support Program for the notebooks and desktops which is a remotely managed and monitored desktop / notebook support program.  We now manage the installation of upgrades, patches and fixes remotely and typically within a very short window from release.  There are a number of different applications we can do this for to include Windows, Microsoft Office, Java, Adobe, and Firefox.  With this short time frame from when a patch is released to when the patch is applied it significantly closes the security holes that viruses and malware use to exploit.  This means a lot of the malware or viruses are completely ineffective on these computers.  Since implementing our solution, infection rates have dropped by over 90%.  If there is an issue, we can typically resolve this remotely, saving on the cost of an on-site consultant as well.   Our Essential Support program also automatically removes software that is on our centralized blacklist preventing issues before they have a chance to show themselves.  The Essential Support program keeps their computers running smoothly, securely, and has reduced downtime with their systems.

Update
After being on our Essential Support program for just about a year, the administrator called to   explain that she had been reviewing our service history and determined that the Essential Support program had more than paid for itself with reduced service calls.  She also mentioned how pleased she was that their systems were always available and they didn’t need to shuffle staff around the office to work around an infected system anymore.  Client subsequently expanded the services she contracts with Netsphere to include Managed Backup, Server Management and Monitoring, plus Procurement.  Client recently underwent a merger with a larger practice.  The client told the new management of the merging organization that she would not be giving up her relationship with Netsphere with the merger even though the bigger organization she was merging with had a centralized IT support organization.  That shows how happy and secure the client feels with the Netsphere team supporting her business.