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Case Study: Butler Insurance

The Customer Challenge
Butler Insurance Service has provided insurance, risk management and claims administration for clients across the country since 2000.

As a company that uses state-of-the-art technology to guide clients through the sometimes intimidating world of insurance, Butler’s information technology infrastructure is critical in maintaining operations.

As the IT Manager, it’s up to Scott Petersen to make sure the company’s systems are operating efficiently and supporting Butler’s team of 30 employees.

Butler has been working with RK Dixon, a market leader when it comes to computer networks and IT solutions, copiers and printers, since the early 2000s. So when it came time for Butler to install a Microsoft Terminal Services Server, Petersen knew he could rely on RK Dixon to get the job done.

“One of our business partners needed to access our systems, and we needed a more robust remote access platform than the traditional ones that are out there,” said Petersen. “RK Dixon helped us install a new small business server in 2006, so I knew I could rely on them to guide us through the process of installing the terminal server as well.”

The RK Dixon Solution
RK Dixon’s IT Solutions Group routinely works with businesses to proactively manage their IT needs and make sure they stay ahead of the ever-changing world of technology.

Microsoft’s Terminal Services provide the ability for Windows applications, or even the entire desktop of the computer running terminal services, to be made accessible to a remote client machine.

When Petersen initially approached Don Godke, account executive with RK Dixon, about Terminal Services, he was under the impression that he needed to also install Citrix and Microsoft Office Suites to make the platform work. This would have resulted in a costly investment that would have likely jeopardized the project as a feasible business opportunity.

However, having worked with Terminal Services extensively in the past, Godke and his team suspected this may not be the case.

“We did extensive research on our end – both with Microsoft and the business partner that Butler was working with, and we determined that Citrix and Office Suites weren’t actually needed for the platform to run effectively,” said Godke.

Instead, Butler would be able to use Microsoft Office “viewers,” which are free, to access the files on the applications.

“RK Dixon put together an installation plan that was really top notch,” said Petersen. “They hit on every aspect of the trouble we may run into and made sure we considered how all our programs would interact and if other systems would be affected by the installation.”

The Results
In July 2010, Godke and his team installed Microsoft Terminal Services at Butler’s Davenport, Iowa location. The company is now able to provide robust remote access capabilities to its customers, opening new revenue streams.

By taking all options into consideration and doing their research upfront, RK Dixon was able to help Butler save more than $12,000 annually on what would have been costly licenses for Citrix and Office Suites.

“I would definitely recommend RK Dixon to others,” said Petersen. “We have no interest in shopping around for these services because there’s nothing we can get from someone else that we can’t get from
Don and his crew. In fact, we’re very interested in getting Don back out here to replace the small business server they installed in 2006.”

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