IBM Case Studies Career Education Corporation eliminates software license audit risks

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	Career Education Corporation eliminates software license audit risks IBM

Career Education Corporation eliminates software license audit risks

IBM

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries	Education
Applicable Functions	Business Operation
Services	System Integration
Challenge	Career Education Corporation (CEC) was using a fragmented endpoint management system to track thousands of endpoints at 80 campuses and 10 offices. The company needed a centralized system to manage software and hardware assets. The need for a more robust system became apparent when three software vendors requested software license reviews. The existing system was not capable of handling these requests, exposing CEC to potential noncompliance penalties of up to USD150,000 per infraction. The company also had a mixed operating system environment and a wide variation in endpoint connectivity, adding to the complexity of the situation. Read More
About Customer	Career Education Corporation (CEC) is a global provider of postsecondary education. The company offers doctoral, master’s, bachelor’s and associate degrees as well as diploma and certificate programs to more than 75,000 students across the world online, through its campuses and in a hybrid environment. CEC operates in a complex and distributed endpoint environment, with more than 20,000 endpoints across its schools, corporate offices, data centers, online recruiting centers, and remote user locations. The company's IT infrastructure includes a mixed operating system environment and a wide variation in endpoint connectivity. Read More
Solution	CEC selected the IBM BigFix solution as its software asset management tool and extended it to hardware asset management, patching, antivirus updating, and laptop encryption. The IBM BigFix solution provided a highly scalable solution for everything from hardware asset management and patching to desktop imaging. With some customization, CEC also delivered encryption software over the network to company laptops and could verify a laptop’s encryption if it were stolen. This verification was extremely important given the strict regulations for protecting student information. The solution’s unified platform fit easily into the company’s mixed Microsoft Windows-Mac OS environment and multi-device environment. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Applicable Industries

Education

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Services

System Integration

Challenge

Career Education Corporation (CEC) was using a fragmented endpoint management system to track thousands of endpoints at 80 campuses and 10 offices. The company needed a centralized system to manage software and hardware assets. The need for a more robust system became apparent when three software vendors requested software license reviews. The existing system was not capable of handling these requests, exposing CEC to potential noncompliance penalties of up to USD150,000 per infraction. The company also had a mixed operating system environment and a wide variation in endpoint connectivity, adding to the complexity of the situation.

About Customer

Career Education Corporation (CEC) is a global provider of postsecondary education. The company offers doctoral, master’s, bachelor’s and associate degrees as well as diploma and certificate programs to more than 75,000 students across the world online, through its campuses and in a hybrid environment. CEC operates in a complex and distributed endpoint environment, with more than 20,000 endpoints across its schools, corporate offices, data centers, online recruiting centers, and remote user locations. The company's IT infrastructure includes a mixed operating system environment and a wide variation in endpoint connectivity.

Solution

CEC selected the IBM BigFix solution as its software asset management tool and extended it to hardware asset management, patching, antivirus updating, and laptop encryption. The IBM BigFix solution provided a highly scalable solution for everything from hardware asset management and patching to desktop imaging. With some customization, CEC also delivered encryption software over the network to company laptops and could verify a laptop’s encryption if it were stolen. This verification was extremely important given the strict regulations for protecting student information. The solution’s unified platform fit easily into the company’s mixed Microsoft Windows-Mac OS environment and multi-device environment.

Impact #1	CEC gained a highly scalable solution for everything from hardware asset management and patching to desktop imaging.
Impact #2	The company was able to deliver encryption software over the network to company laptops and verify a laptop’s encryption if it were stolen.
Impact #3	The solution’s unified platform fit easily into the company’s mixed Microsoft Windows-Mac OS environment and multi-device environment.

Impact #1

CEC gained a highly scalable solution for everything from hardware asset management and patching to desktop imaging.

Impact #2

The company was able to deliver encryption software over the network to company laptops and verify a laptop’s encryption if it were stolen.

Impact #3

The solution’s unified platform fit easily into the company’s mixed Microsoft Windows-Mac OS environment and multi-device environment.

Benefit #1	Reduced total Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Project license expenditures by 92 percent.

Benefit #1

Reduced total Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Project license expenditures by 92 percent.

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Overview

Career Education Corporation eliminates software license audit risks

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit