Results-oriented IT
Since 1959, Atlific Hotels & Resorts has built a reputation
as a nationally admired and respected integrated hotel
management company. At the heart of Atlific’s success
lies their unique ability to increase top-line visibility in
the marketplace while simultaneously improving bottom
line results for owners.
Today they provide a broad range of management
services to some of the world’s great hotel brands as
well as well-known independent properties stretching
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in both
the United States and Canada.
The IT needs of Atlific’s 300 employees are handled
by a lean team of 3 experienced professionals. With
offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver
and over 30 properties to manage in Canada, Director
of IT, Robert Dodier keenly appreciates the value of
implementing fast, efficient systems that help Atlific
achieve its business goals.
Needed more flexibility
In the past, Atlific relied on standard IPSec VPNs to
connect users at different locations to a central farm
of Citrix servers that hosted most of the company’s
applications.
“However our sales and accounting people, as well as
some of our general managers also wanted to connect
to different applications from home or when traveling,”
explains Dodier. “Previously, we would set up a fixed IP
address for them but this ended up being restrictive. It
took time to set up, plus in a lot of areas it wasn’t always
easy to connect.
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Low administration essential
Dodier and his team therefore started looking for a new
solution that would make it easier for people to connect
securely from just about anywhere, without being difficult
for Atlific’s IT Department to administer.
Enter G/On
After looking at offerings from various vendors, they
saw G/On from Giritech and quickly recognized its
potential.
“G/On had a lot going for it. It provides 2-factor
authentication and end-to-end encryption without
requiring a fixed IP address,” says Robert Dodier. “Plus
it’s easy to use.”
Atlific started out cautiously. A small group were issued
with the G/On USB keys which they used to look at
Atlific’s Delphi system (sales booking & reservation
system) servers, check customer accounts and see their
email via Citrix.
Five star user-friendliness
“Our users were extremely pleased,” recalls Robert
Dodier. “The G/On USB keys were easy to use and
let them quickly connect to the applications they
needed.”
“Our technical staff were also enthusiastic. They
often use G/On to connect to VCN so they can manage
servers.”
Growing demand for G/On
Robert Dodier anticipates a growing demand for the
product among the company’s staff. “People are getting
used to G/On now and I expect an increasing demand
for the G/On keys as time goes by,” he says.
Combining secure, cost-effective connectivity with
a low administrative overhead, G/On is helping Atlific
achieve their goal of improving bottom line results
through professional efficiency.
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