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ACU achieves faster time-to-productivity and quicker ROI with CentriNet

Associated Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in the United States, is a full-service financial institution offering a wide variety of products and services to its members worldwide. ACU is ranked in the top 15- credit unions in the U.S., has 23 branch locations in metropolitan Atlanta, and is connected to a nationwide network of Credit Union Service Centers.
 

Challenge

Associated Credit Union needed to provide its branch office employees with improved access to business-critical applications and technical support to allow them to more easily access the tools and data they need to better serve customers. ACU also sought a faster more cost-effective way to deliver applications than running them locally in each branch location. In addition, they wanted to eliminate the requirement for servers housed at branch locations.

Solution

Working with CentriNet, ACU implemented Citrix MetaFrame and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server with Terminal Services software on eight loadbalanced servers in the head-quarters location. ACU now provides branch office employees, including tellers, loan officers and administrative staff, with quick access to over a dozen applications via MetaFrame and Terminal Services, including mission-critical banking applications such as Liberty FiTECH Systems' Manager Gold and Imaging as well as office automation, productivity and e-mail software. MetaFrame's Load Balancing Services ensure employees enjoy optimal data availability and maximum uptime.

Benefits

Associated Credit Union employees now enjoy quicker access to key applications, enabling them to serve customers more efficiently. The bank has also enjoyed substantial cost-savings thanks to their Citrix Solution. According to Karl Mann, IS Director as ACU, "because Citrix software supports virtually any device or platform, we experienced significant savings by leveraging our older equipment to deliver the latest Windows-based applications. The reduced bandwidth requirements also lowered our WAN costs."

But Mann had found these are a relatively small segment of their total costs savings. "The real savings are in our reduced IT personnel requirements. As a result of CentriNet's centralized solution, we were able to reduce our IT staff by 20%. Our IT staff-to-personnel ratio is now 30:1, compared to a recent analysis of our competitors at anywhere from 15 to 20:1."

Mann is also extremely happy with the centralized management capabilities of the new system. "Before Citrix MetaFrame and Microsoft Terminal Server, deploying a new application of software upgrade meant driving to each branch location. Now, we only deploy it once, on the central servers at headquarters. This gives us faster time-to-productivity on new applications and a quicker ROI on our technology investments."

Future Plans

As ACU adds staff and new locations, MetaFrame and Windows Terminal Server solutions will accommodate and minimize the cost of future growth. The credit union is also considering deploying inexpensive Wyse Winterm Windows-based terminals in several branch locations for additional costsavings.

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