Cloud Desktops Solidify Business Continuity at Wood Rodgers

Challenge:

The Technology Group at fast-growing engineering firm Wood Rodgers sought to accommodate the firm’s rapid expansion. They needed greater flexibility to onboard new people without having to incur the expense of adding IT infrastructure and resources for remote offices. The team was also forward-thinking about their need to provide remote working capabilities to their geographically dispersed engineering and field technician groups for improved workflow processes.

As they began evaluating virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions, Wood Rogers realized that the biggest challenge for providing remote workspaces for their users was their use of extremely demanding software applications, such as AutoCAD, Civil 3D, ArcGIS, Bentley FlowMaster, Bluebeam Revu, and BST Global. Imperative to success would be uncompromising application performance, regardless of where work was being conducted. The Technology Group considered an on-premises VDI solution as well as a third-party MSP approach, but high costs ruled out those options.

The firm needed to be able to support CAD  custom tools they developed in-house for increased efficiency, which provides a competitive advantage. Existing investments in Panzura file management infrastructure would also need to be supported, and Wood Rogers had a preference for Microsoft Azure. The ability to address these and more requirements, plus Workspot’s competitive business model and recognition of Workspot’s customer success commitment drove the decision to choose Workspot. Looking back, their decision to select Workspot’s turnkey cloud desktop solution turned out to be particularly prescient; soon enough they would find that cloud workstations solidify business continuity as well.

Solution:

After conducting a Proof of Concept that proved the outstanding performance they required, the Wood Rodgers and Workspot teams worked closely to roll out the production cloud workstations to engineers in six of their eight offices. This initial deployment was their original plan, but it would quickly change direction due to COVID-19.

Wood Rodgers was very happy with the responsiveness of the Workspot Customer Success Team throughout the go-live process and they consider it a close partnership. Wood Rodgers embraced the ability to convert the complex application environment from work to home. “The use of Workspot GPU cloud workstations, combined with Wood Rodgers-developed CAD custom tools and Azure-based Enterprise GIS infrastructure, gives Wood Rodgers the ability to perform above and beyond, regardless of the location or device,” explained Michael Albrecht, Director of IT at Wood Rodgers. Any reluctance soon turned into full-on enthusiasm for the platform.

It wasn’t long after Wood Rodgers completed its initial rollout that the explosion of the COVID-19 pandemic struck. In many U.S locations, shelter-in-place orders were soon implemented. Due to the foresight of the Wood Rodgers Technology Group, they found themselves in an enviable position of immediately ensuring that their employees could stay safe by working remotely. This entailed simply increasing the number of cloud workstations and cloud desktops to cover the rest of their staff – company-wide – and sending them home to work from any device. The upshot is the firm is able to continue business operations without disruption while continuing to deliver customer projects on time or sooner.

Benefits:

• Dedicated Tesla M60 GPU has increased productivity for users
• Simplified IT processes; tier 2 IT resources redeployed to more strategic projects
• Use of low-cost endpoints and BYO devices
• Fortified security, even while expanding remote work
• Flexibility to grow the business, even during the pandemic