BIOGRAPHY
Corey Dolan, Network & Systems Administrator
ABOUT TEKSIDE.IO
Tekside.iO is an application development and operations partner located in Canada’s Tech Triangle. A spin-off venture from Canada’s leading email marketing agency, Inbox Marketer, Tekside.iO combines a deep specialization in email with veteran DevOps knowledge to help companies successfully manage their marketing ecosystems.
CHALLENGE
Tekside.iO is a relatively new company that spun off from an email marketing agency, Inbox Marketer. During the split, we ended up having to manage two separate IT systems, which was interesting and definitely added some complexity. We also inherited almost the entire technology infrastructure so we needed a way to manage almost 250 Linux and Windows endpoints. More importantly, Tekside.iO is really focused on agility and forward-thinking solutions. Frankly, manual solutions just can’t keep up. For example, when we used WSUS for patches, it was essentially my entire job. I spent all my time going laptop to laptop, server to server, manually checking things and running updates. Once we needed to push an agent and it took an employee six hours to do seven laptops. That just won’t fly anymore. The speed of business is too fast to risk that kind of productivity for IT staff and our end users.
SOLUTION
We were lucky enough to inherit Automox alongside the tech infrastructure from Inbox Marketer. It’s made a huge difference in how we run IT. The split itself was surprisingly easy, technology-wise. For a while we were running both companies on one system, and it was not a huge undertaking at all to have multiple organizations under our belt with Automox. Automox made it simple to manage and confirm and verify that everything was done up to the specs of the new management. At one point, Inbox Marketer’s new IT group asked me to push their remote connection software. It wasn’t an issue at all; I added it to Automox, clicked the button, and handed over the report showing all the systems and updates.
Now that the transition is complete, Automox gives us a tremendous amount of agility. The agents that took an hour per laptop when we were pushing them manually now take five minutes. It’s a push of a button. Same idea with big patches, like the BlueKeep vulnerability that happened recently. From the moment the notification from Automox hit my inbox, to the point of security with everything patched on 25 machines, it took maybe two hours - including sitting down with the team and monitoring to make sure nothing broke.
RESULTS & BENEFITS
The biggest impact of Automox, of course, is security. I have 110% security confidence with Automox. When we used WSUS, that was closer to zero. It’s hard to be confident with essentially no visibility beyond my own laptop. It doesn’t matter what your business is, if it’s development or email marketing or whatever - when it comes to security, if something is connected to the network or can come in contact with a foreign device, it can be exploited. Known exploits get patched and Automox ensures that those patches happen in the most efficient and reliable way.
The productivity impact is huge too. With Automox, I have so much more time. I have everything set up and I rarely have to go into the system. I have the dashboard open in Chrome, I check it maybe twice a day, and unless there’s something special going on, that’s it. Instead of spending all my time on patches and updates, I spend about one hour per week managing 200+ devices. That means I can get more done and I have more time to learn - and in this space, there is always a lot to learn.
It makes a difference for our users as well. In the old days, someone would create a ticket and I’d have to borrow their laptop for who knows how long. Now, the ticket comes in through Automox, I push a button, they get their software, license and everything. I don’t have to leave my desk and they don’t have to hand over their machine.
The overall impact of Automox has been overwhelmingly positive. Before Automox, we had a lot of employees stuck in the past. Upgrades and updates were failing. People couldn’t do the work they needed to do. Automox helped us find and resolve the issues, run the scripts, clean up the files and registries, and run the right upgrade. We brought 80% of our people up to speed. In my book, that was a huge win.
KEY BENEFITS
98% FASTER software updates [6 hours -> 5 minutes]
110% security confidence achieved
1 HOUR/WEEK required to manage 200+ devices
2 HOURS to completely install a mission-critical security patch
