Increase security and lower TCO by 42% with flexible desktop lockdown

Gartner¹ states that “a locked and well-managed desktop PC can be 42% less expensive to keep than an unmanaged one”. Most of our customers have already implemented significant management controls and procedures, but are now looking to take systems to the next level of management. Gartner has produced a classification for corporate desktops, which is defined as follows:

"Wide open"

Users can install applications and change settings, with little to no management tools being used.

"Somewhat managed"

There are some management tools, but it's light on processes and policies.

"Moderately managed"

There are tools and good processes and policies, but users can install software and change at least some settings.

"Locked and well managed"

There are tools, processes and policies, but users cannot install software or change critical settings.

The key difference between a moderately managed desktop and a locked and well managed desktop is that users cannot install software or change critical settings. However, this locked down state, can be too restrictive in many environments and impede users from performing their day-to-day activities.

Privilege Guard provides an enterprise solution for removing admin rights and implementing least privilege on the desktop, by enabling these elevated rights to be assigned to individual applications and tasks, based on policy settings. In a locked and well managed state, Privilege Guard can enable a user with a standard user account to perform authorized configuration tasks and install authorized software, which would usually require the user to be logged on with an admin account.

Removing admin rights makes financial sense, because if you can move just one desktop from a moderately managed state to a locked and well managed state, a typical corporate can save over $1,200 per annum. Scale this saving up for hundreds or thousands of desktops and the total savings become substantial.

¹ Gartner Desktop Total Cost of Ownership: 2008 Update, dated 24th January 2008. Michael A. Silver, Federica Troni and Mark A Margevicius www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?id=588719