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Background: A Rapidly Expanding Business
Canalta Group, headquartered in Drumheller, Alberta, develops and operates hotels and restaurants throughout Western Canada. The company currently operates 27 hotels under the Ramada, Super 8, Best Western and Travelodge brands. Canalta has experienced tremendous growth over the past 5 years and is continuing to expand at a strong rate.
Quick Fact: ANNUAL ECO SAVINGS - based on this case study
PCs Saved: 39, Electricity Saved: 46,996.56 KWh = $1,635 saved, CO/2 Saved: 72,845 lbs. of CO2, Cars off the Road: 6 cars off the roads, Trees planted: 9 acres of trees
The Need
Today every hotel needs a business center. Surveys show that access to a hotel business center affects accommodation choice for nearly 60% of business travelers. Even while on vacation, 35% of professionals need hotel business services at least once during their stay.
For Canalta, it wasn’t a question as to whether to offer these services, it was a question of how.
Quick Fact: Total Cost of Ownership
We can help you achieve more with less. Userful Desktop saves up to 80% of the IT and administrative time usually spent on computing.
The Challenges
Canalta began their business centers using Windows and adding extra management and lock down software. It didn’t work. As Darryl Hansen, Canalta’s Director of IT, explains, “they were Windows based and while we use Windows here at head office, for public access computers, the computers were just more prone to problems. When we used these other kiosk solutions, we just had semi-locked down regular Windows installs. We found that so many people out there know just enough to make any problems that do come up worse when they try to “fix” them with a Windows-based product.”
Beyond that, there were other problems:
- Unlike Userful Desktop, rival business center installations had no effective way to centrally manage them resulting in almost as many different configurations as Canalta had installations
- High capital expenditures on hardware, software and support reduced return on investment
- Canalta needed an easy and trouble free way to charge guests for access
The Solution
After giving up a windows based solution, Canalta turned to Userful Desktop™. It offered everything they needed: lower costs, reduced headaches, less staff time and an increased return on investment.
Beginning in their Best Western Jurassic Inn, Userful Desktop quickly proved itself the ideal solution. The system proved easy to use, simple for guests, and simpler for staff. Canalta set the price per minute for desktop access and, by selling prepaid cards with a set dollar value, quickly began to generate revenue.
From an end-user point of view the system is locked down and tamper proof. When a user logs off, the station is cleared of browser histories and downloaded files. It also safeguards against viruses, adware, spyware, abusive users and unauthorized access.
The Results
With Userful Desktop’s web based control panel, managing and monitoring the computers is a snap; even from a distance. Patches and updates are automatically downloaded. No IT staff intervention is required. The results have been impressive:
- Canalta saved 1/3 on hardware costs immediately, as well as 1/3 savings on maintenance time and cost
- Userful Desktop reduced excess system management costs--staff no longer needed to babysit unsecured systems and the cost of IT support, software licensing costs, and system-wide upgrades were also reduced
- Any problems that arose were quickly fixed remotely by Userful’s support; a much easier approach than trying to talk hotel staff through changing Windows settings over the phone
- Business centers operated reliably with minimal downtime
- Networked printing services were improved, allowing consistent access to all users
- With Userful Desktop’s web-based control panel, Canalta can roll out enterprise-wide configuration changes from head office, which is an advantage when there are 20+ properties to administer
- Userful’s Pay Per Use Card Program offset the cost of the hardware, connectivity and support
Quick Fact: Userful Desktop Features
Userful Desktop includes over 40 applications in 30+ languages. Users can surf the web, catch up on work, burn CDs, or just play games. There’s even a large-print option for those with vision impairment.
With Userful Desktop staff headaches have been reduced. Canalta staff can once again focus on customer
service instead of servicing their computer workstations. With Userful Desktop there’s been virtually no down-time, and the systems are upgraded remotely for free. Prompt customer service and never having to worry about upgrades, license fees or other costs have made Userful Desktop Canalta’s premiere solution.
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