Gafcon Boosts Mobility with Notebook PCs and Windows 7 Professional
1. Windows 7
Customer Solution Case Study
Construction Firm Boosts Mobility with Notebook
PCs and Feature-Rich Operating System
Overview “Windows 7 Professional has just been a revolutionary
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Construction tool for us. There’s been an amazing amount of
progress from earlier operating systems. We couldn’t
Customer Profile
Gafcon is an award-winning construction be more impressed.”
consulting firm with offices throughout
Josh Sebert, Chief Financial Officer, Gafcon
California. The company handles all types
and phases of development, With 23 years of experience and numerous awards, Gafcon is
construction, and project management.
highly regarded in its industry. This construction and
Business Situation development firm prides itself on delivering every phase of a
Gafcon sought an operating system that
would streamline daily tasks, improve
project with ease, excellence, and top-level customer service.
office efficiency, boost everyday system The sluggishness of Gafcon's computer systems, however, was
performance, and offer greater ease of
use for mobile employees.
hampering the productivity of the team of architects,
construction managers, market analysts, civil engineers, and real
Solution
Windows 7 Professional and the Dell
estate economists. Gafcon needed a computing solution to
Latitude E6400 notebook met Gafcon's match its growth and level of expertise, and that would support
computing needs with stronger mobile
accessibility, quicker startup times,
its rigorous standards of quality and customer service. The
improved search capabilities, intuitive introduction of the Windows 7 Professional operating system
desktop customization, and more.
has resulted in significant operational improvements for Gafcon.
Benefits By boosting everyday performance, mobile access, search
Faster startup saves 5 minutes per day
Applications load 10 percent faster
functionality, and security, the upgrade has enabled this
File copying is 61 percent faster construction firm to move boldly ahead.
Network connections are 75 percent
faster
Search saves 5 minutes per employee
File handling improved with 64-bit
processing
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2. “We used to have to Situation “The Dell E6400 with Windows 7
Gafcon is an award-winning construction Professional has just been a revolutionary
manually select the consulting firm located in Southern tool for us," says Josh Sebert, Chief
California. With offices in San Diego, Los Financial Officer at Gafcon. "There’s been
default printer for the Angeles, and Orange County, the company an amazing amount of progress from
current network we were has a staff of 120 employees serving 75 earlier operating systems. We couldn’t be
clients across the state. The team is focused more impressed."
using. Now the on delivering project management,
engineering, and land planning expertise to Benefits
operating system residential, government, public, and private Using the Dell Latitude E6400 with
switches it automatically. clients. Windows 7 Professional, Gafcon expects to
gain the following benefits:
It’s been a huge time Gafcon has earned a reputation for
impeccable service. In addition to receiving Getting More Done on the Road
saver.” Gold and Silver Constructech Vision One of Gafcon's primary goals with the
Ashley McElravy, Business Development Awards, the company has been recognized Windows 7 Professional operating system
Representative, Gafcon among Engineering News Record's Top 100 was to improve network accessibility and
Construction Management Firms. other mobility features for employees who
needed to do business at off-site locations
Despite well-deserved praise, Gafcon has or conduct presentations for clients.
been challenged by computing issues.
Users complained of sluggish startup times The Network Connection Wizard in
and connections, sometimes requiring up Windows 7 Professional has exceeded
to five minutes to connect to remote Gafcon’s needs with improved wireless
networks and up to eight minutes to launch detection and speedier access. “I absolutely
applications. love the Mobility Center!” says Ashley
McElravy, Business Development
Other problems included sluggish response Representative. “I dock when I get back to
times and difficulty locating files and my office, and I have it on dual view across
documents. Gafcon was in need of a new two monitors. Every time I come to a
operating system that could accommodate conference room, it’s much faster, which
its fast-paced operations and adapt to its saves me time and money.”
method of doing business.
Speedier networking saves employees
Solution roughly five minutes each time they change
With the introduction of Windows 7 wireless networks—which happens
Professional on the Dell Latitude E6400 frequently throughout the day as they
notebook,* Gafcon has found a computing move around the building—and makes off-
system that's a perfect fit for the way the site presentations more seamless and
company works. The operating system professional.
offers reliable mobility and simple
personalization features that streamline Location Aware Printing in Windows 7,
everyday computer use, while Dell PCs are which automatically updates the default
designed for improved performance, printer when users move to a different
security, and reliability—the perfect network, has also been vital in saving time
combination for a business like Gafcon. and improving efficiency. “We used to have
to manually select the default printer for
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3. “Copying files from the current network we were using,” says Easy and Intuitive Access
McElravy. “Now the operating system Gafcon employees have enjoyed the time
different network switches it automatically. It’s been a huge savings provided by the new desktop
timesaver.” personalization capabilities, which allow
locations is incredibly them to streamline access to the programs
fast with Windows 7. We Speed and Efficiency and documents they use most often.
Another big advantage of the Dell and
can drag and drop, copy Windows 7 pairing has been the Data access is also dramatically improved
improvement in computer speed and with the Windows 7 search function. This
and paste, and performance. Says McElravy, “Not only tool allows for more intuitive searching,
everything is does the Dell machine look really nice, but making it faster and easier for users to
everything is running really, really quickly. locate documents.
instantaneous—even It’s saving a ton of time. We click on an
application, and it loads instantly. No “The Windows Search function is much
with large files.” problem.” more user-friendly," says Sebert. "And I like
Josh Sebert, Chief Financial Officer, that it sort of helps you if you’re not
Gafcon Long startup times and slow-loading spelling something correctly—it’s like it
applications were among Gafcon's chief predicts what you’re thinking. It’s so
complaints with older operating systems, intuitive."
both of which have been dramatically
improved with Windows 7.
* As part of the solution deployment through the
“Copying files from different network Windows 7 SMB Evidence Program, the customer
locations is incredibly fast with Windows 7,” received complimentary notebooks and technical
adds Sebert. “We can drag and drop, copy support from Microsoft and Dell.
and paste, and everything is
instantaneous—even with large files.”
The Microsoft Office 2010 suite has
become another big timesaver for Gafcon
employees. The facility and ease of the
improved applications allows them to work
more quickly, whether they're creating
broadcast presentations with the Microsoft
PowerPoint 2010 graphics presentation
program or using Microsoft SharePoint
Server 2010 and the Microsoft OneNote
2010 note-taking program to share
information among Gafcon staff.
"It's not so much that the changes to Office
2010 are totally new, revolutionary things,"
says Sebert. "It's that it's brought it all
together in a very easy, intuitive way."
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4. For More Information Windows 7
For more information about Microsoft Works the way you want: Windows 7 will
products and services, call the Microsoft help your organization use information
Sales Information Center at (800) 426- technology to gain a competitive
9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft advantage in today’s new world of work.
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- Your people will be able to be more
2495. Customers in the United States and productive anywhere. You will be able to
Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing support your mobile workforce with better
can reach Microsoft text telephone access to shared data and collaboration
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. tools. And your IT staff will have better
Outside the 50 United States and tools and technologies for enhanced
Canada, please contact your local corporate IT security and data protection,
Microsoft subsidiary. To access and more efficient deployment and
information using the World Wide Web, management.
go to:
www.microsoft.com For more information about Windows 7, go
to:
For more information about the Dell www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7
products and services, call (800) 456-
3355 or visit the website at:
www.dell.com
For more information about Gafcon
products and services, call (800) 731-
6110 or visit the website at:
www.gafcon.com
Software and Services Hardware
Windows 7 Professional Dell Latitude E6400
Microsoft Office
− Microsoft Office 2010 Partners
Dell
This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published September 2010
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