The Problem:
Last month the White House declared a National Emergency in response to the steady increase of COVID-19 cases rapidly spreading across the county. The National Emergency Declaration was quickly followed by “stay-at-home” orders which varied state by state.
At the time of the executive orders, IntelliDyne’s government client required staff to report onsite. The client had a minimal telework policy in place and was not procedurally or technically prepared for a majority of the staff to work remotely. Additionally, the client faced insufficient capacity to support an influx of end users from remote locations across the region and around the country.
In response to the client’s new telework requirement, the IntelliDyne team needed to overcome technical limitations on the network, while safely addressing physical asset limitations. The IntelliDyne team had one week to address and extend capacity limitations while maintaining all security mechanisms and meeting a strict requirement that the client would experience no disruption of service while doing so.
The Solution:
Within one week of the new teleworking requirement, IntelliDyne’s onsite team had increased the quantity of available external connections. This action required coordinating with centralized agency service groups for networking and security measures and securely integrating with existing systems – all while maintaining zero degradation to the network.
While new network requirements were addressed, there was a simultaneous effort to configure and deploy a large number of custom client devices within the same time period. Configuration of each device included: development of a compliant image for new systems; imaging and testing; and finally deployment to the end user with pertinent instructions for remote work.
In order to rapidly deploy the new devices, IntelliDyne’s staff relied on Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools previously implemented on the client site by our application developers and data scientists. The use of RPA applications allowed the client to quickly allocate specific quantities of hardware to various customer groups. End users could then request devices as required, which would create a workflow resulting in the deployment of a secured device to the end user by an IntelliDyne team member. Prior to the implementation of RPA on the client site, similar government requests of this magnitude would have taken 2-3 times as long to process.
The Impact:
With network upgrades complete, and new devices deployed, the final hurdle was to ensure a seamless helpdesk experience as users accustomed to working onsite transitioned to telework. Through cross-training, staff augmentation, and rotating onsite Tier 2 staff members, the IntelliDyne team successfully managed the surge in support requests with no impact to client SLA’s.
Our solution resulted in minimal impact to our client’s productivity and mission with zero reduction in contractually supported services. Where COVID-19 has caused significant disruption in our daily lives, the IntelliDyne team is still conducting “business as usual.” Our client is fully functional – with the only adjustment being a shorter commute to their home office.
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