Datacentrix has completed the rollout of more than 1 000 AMD PRO-based Hewlett-Packard notebooks, to South Africa’s fifth largest accounting, audit, advisory and forensics firm: SizweNtsalubaGobodo (SNG), helping the company to realise R- million in savings through the use of these cost-effective, yet high-performance processors.
With over 90% of SNG’s workforce being highly remote, spending their days visiting clients across the country, the organisation’s brief to Datacentrix was to deploy an end-user computing solution that enhanced the levels of mobility, convenience and collaboration.
Elmari Keyser, Datacentrix’ end user computing specialist for commercial, explains that the rapid evolution of the AMD PRO chipset has meant that powerful computing solutions are available, at scale, and at a very reasonable cost.
“From a fundamental capex perspective, the solution has generated huge annual savings for SNG,” she reports. “But layered over this is a value-based discussion, harder to quantify, but incredibly valuable: SNG’s data is strongly protected, staff are more empowered with better tools, and collaboration levels are on the rise.”
Keyser says that the new notebooks feature advanced encryption and other embedded security, as well as biometric access on sign-in. So, SNG staff is able to access highly sensitive client information, stored in secure data warehouses, from wherever they may be.
Kelvin Mjema, SNG’s chief technology officer, adds that the fast-growing firm cannot take any chances with sensitive client data: “Our technology must be as secure as possible in the event the computer is no longer in the hands of our employees. The new notebooks come with a range of security features — such as the integrated fingerprint reader or the AMD PRO Secure processor, with SSB as another layer of security,” he continues. “The hard drive encryption locks the machine in the event of loss or theft; and we can remotely track where it was last used.”
Mjema says that overall, the rollout was flawlessly executed: “I’ve never had such a successful rollout in my career. It’s been smooth sailing.”
He adds that there’s been a noticeable spike in the use of SNG’s collaboration tools (in comparison with previous-generation solutions). The notebooks rolled out support superior voice and video conferencing with Bang & Olufsen audio equipment and specialised noise reduction software.
Long battery life means that SNG staff don’t have to continually look for power points at client boardrooms and other locations while ‘on the road’, taking them to new heights in terms of productivity and uptime.
Keyser adds that the successful programme has helped to solidify the partnership between SNG and Datacentrix, giving the team an opportunity to showcase their skills and give the client a hassle-free experience from beginning to end.
