Altiris/Symantec delivers cost-saving IT service

Sydney-based software development team at service provider, Altiris - recently acquired by security vendor Symantec - has created an ITIL management database for the global market that aims to lower support costs and provide better IT services to end users.

“IT is such an integral part of our association that we felt we were giving away some control by outsourcing out IT services,” said Paul Broderick, SRO Victoria CEO and commissioner, of ITIL.

"We used to spend $11 million a year on IT services – now we spend only a little over $9 million. Our concerns were; can we reduce our costs? Is the culture of an outsourced IT services company aligned with our own?," he said.

Altiris’s new solution aligns business and IT, according to Altiris product specialist, Chris Bowden.

“We’ve taken IT solutions and the Help Desk out of the decision loop and the service delivery loop because they shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” he said.

There are 7,561 IT incidents handled monthly by the average help desk, according to a Help Desk Institute Practices Survey conducted in 2004. Of these incidents, 35.4 per cent are caused by faulty applications.

According to Bowden, Altiris’s new service can save the average IT services company $17,483 per year.

Symantec and Altiris merging earlier this year was a logical step for both companies, as they shared the same vision, said Bowden.

“Symantec’s vision is of a secure end point, and Altiris is a specialist in securing the end point. It’s a good fit and we’ve opened up new markets for each other.

"Before, customers weren’t talking to Symantec about IT Infrastrucutre Library (ITIL), but now they are. We have very little crossover of products, but security is rapidly becoming a part of our devices,” he said.

“It was a very good move on the part of Symantec and it’s working well for us.”