Keeping jobs in the US by deploying desktop virtualization

Cloud 10 Corporation utilizes at-home professionals (AHPs) coupled with leading edge technology and one of the industry's most experienced management teams to provide market leading call ¬center solutions. Headquartered in Centennial, CO, the company is a stand-alone subsidiary of Transcom Worldwide, which owns and manages call centers throughout Europe, Asia¬-Pacific and North America. Cloud 10 supports Fortune 100 companies, Fortune 500 and smaller companies, servicing all industries and verticals including banking/financial, technology and telecom.

“vDesk, on Intel-based PCs, has delivered a 7-to-1 cost savings compared to thin-client based solutions.”
-Marc Robinson, Vice President of IT, Cloud 10 Corporation

Business Challenge

The company had deployed a thin-­terminal solution to keep agents as virtual and as thin as possible, but according to Marc Robinson, Vice President of Information Technology at Cloud 10, the company had begun to experience constraints due to the high cost of deploying multiple solutions and still meet industry requirements such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).

Cloud 10's at-home agents utilize software packages that reflect client needs and run the gamut from Microsoft Office to advanced software for tier-3 technical support. Cloud 10 utilizes three data centers, one in the Denver area and two located in Canada. The company also utilizes VolP softphones from Avaya, Citrix Terminal Servers and Cisco VPN services. In addition to VoIP, Cloud 10 utilizes other rich media application like streaming video and Flash content in order to keep its distributed workforce continuously updated and trained.

"We were using many well-known software solutions, but found they were too performance demanding and we had to host solutions outside of the environment with additional hardware which increased costs," says Robinson. "We needed segregated environments without dumb terminals and the PCI requirement limited some of what we could do in a typical at-home computing environment. We needed a solution that was developed With PCI standards in mind while offering a toolset that we could deploy to at­-home agents."

Solution

Prior to selecting a virtual desktop solution, Cloud 10 looked at many available solutions and selected RingCube vDesk. "Using the vDesk solution, our at-home professionals log onto the Cloud 10 network and interface with tools delivered within the vDesk workspace," says Robinson. "This new infrastructure makes us thinner, more robust and eliminates the need to deploy any hardware to agents while giving us centralized control. Any changes or updates that need to be made can be done at the central administration server in the data center and pushed out to the agents with no interaction on their behalf, other than logging in."

Robinson says overall cost and security features of vDesk were impressive and led to their final selection of vDesk. "Cost was a big factor in our decision to go with vDesk along with ease of deployment and the security measures integrated in the vDesk tools," says Robinson. "We are also impressed with vDesk's performance, stability and portability, and how it asserts PCI compliance. The end point security benefits available with vDesk have advantages over other solutions we evaluated and provided the tipping point for our decision."

Business Results

The ability to lockdown and secure the desktop environment for at-home workers has been one of the key benefits of the vDesk deployment.

"vDesk has allowed us to secure our agent's environments and ensure desktop security measures are in place," says Robinson. "We do not want to have our agents installing multiple applications or tools on their host system in order to be able to operate. The agent's computer hardware is their own physical asset that is not owned by Cloud 10, but once they become employed by us and we deploy the tools required for them to support our client's customers, we need their environment to be certified, segregated from the host applications, and securely locked down. vDesk has become a part of that certification process by establishing that secure container that allows us to preconfigure the tools and applications needed to support the customers."

According to Robinson, vDesk is helping Cloud 10 with its corporate mandate of providing a domestic and cost effective solution for our clients. "vDesk, on Intel-based PCs, has delivered a 7-to-1 cost savings compared to thin-client based solutions. As a result of keeping our overhead costs down, we are able to hire the best talent and pass the savings onto our customers and compete effectively with offshore call centers."

"There is value in what Cloud 10 offers with the vDesk solution and its security enablement. Companies that historically have not been accepting of the at-home virtual agent model are now accepting it when the right virtualization technologies are applied."