Case Study - Trussbilt
Company: Trussbilt
Location: Minnesota, USA
Industry: Manufacturing
Number of employees: 185
Products in use: GFI WebMonitor™, GFI MailEssentials™, GFI MailSecurity™
Quick Read
Trussbilt is an American company that supplies security installations at most US detention facilities. They are also suppliers to foreign countries and have a commercial line that provides protection from security threats. When the company changed owners they immediately saw the need to implement an email and internet access plan as well as provide the required infrastructure to protect data that was confidential and critical to company operations. Trussbilt therefore installed GFI WebMonitor™ for comprehensive control over use of the internet, GFI MailEssentials™ to filter inbound email of spam and GFI MailSecurity™ to protect their email system from viruses and malicious threats, respectively.
Challenges
Trussbilt are a supplier of security installations for detention centers and penitentiaries, and therefore know all about the importance of security. When the ownership of the company changed hands the new owners saw the “need to implement an email and internet access plan. Within a few weeks of doing so we realized that we also needed to implement some software to help protect the information flowing through our company”, said Mark Harvey, Trussbilt’s IT Manager.
By investing in their IT system Trussbilt had better control over their email and internet access. They installed a monitoring system and applied anti-spam and anti-virus measures to secure their network and workstations, thus providing the company with a secure technological infrastructure that would protect their network from threats.
Being a medium-sized company, Trussbilt wanted a product that would offer them a complete solution that would be easy to install, configure and administer and one that was suitable for a company of its size and infrastructure.
“We selected the GFI products based on the reviews and advice from forums like MSExchange.org and ISAServer.org,” said Mr. Harvey. “We also did some trials on other products that were on the market at that time, but they were either too cumbersome to install and maintain or were aimed at much larger companies than ours.”
Trussbilt decided to purchase GFI products because they are designed with the SMB in mind and the features offered an excellent fit for the company. With GFI software installed, the company was able to ensure that email received was free of spam and viruses while giving IT administrators full control over the use of the internet within the organization; thereby cutting down on unnecessary, non work-related internet browsing and greatly reducing the risk that inappropriate content could be viewed on company machines. The growing threat from infected websites and malicious downloads was also a concern, especially for an organization working in the security business.
Implementation
Being able to install and configure the software without any hassles was an important feature for Trussbilt. Mr. Harvey explained: “Implementation was very easy. Instructions were thorough and easy to follow whilst the upgrading of GFI products is among the easiest I have dealt with.”
Following the successful installation of GFI MailEssentials, the company saw an immediate decrease in spam volumes “within a day or two”.
“With regard to the other GFI products (GFI WebMonitor & GFI MailEssentials) the results were made evident even faster than that! The ability to easily blacklist sites made the web monitoring extremely easy and allowed us to retain control over web browsing activities”, said Mr. Harvey.
“After the initial setup we were able to realize a dramatic drop in the amount of inappropriate sites that users had been previously browsing. There was some strong reaction by a minority of employees, mostly the ones that are now being blocked.”
Benefits
The positive reviews, ease of installation and functionality offered by GFI products were all encouraging factors that led Trussbilt to choose GFI.
“A major benefit was the ability to block certain file types from being downloaded. I believe this has helped us being virus free since the original installation” said Mr. Harvey.
Furthermore there were financial benefits that also swayed Trussbilt in favor of GFI.
“Compared to similar products on the market, the GFI product initial cost and maintenance fees are very competitive.”
“By allowing IT personnel to focus on other tasks instead of doing daily monitoring of the web and email systems” the company could invest more time and effort in more important fields resulting in further gains in terms of finance and expertise.
Target Reached
“Working with GFI has been a pleasure. The products work effectively and are hassle-free to administer. Tech support is fast and very knowledgeable and the sales department has always answered any questions I have.”
Links
For more information about GFI WebMonitor, GFI MailEssentials and GFI MailSecurity visit: http://www.gfi.cz/webmon/, http://www.gfi.cz/mes/ and http://www.gfi.cz/mailsecurity/ respectively.