SNR Denton makes a case for world-class client service with Citrix Receiver

The challenge: simple, secure consistent access to information from any device

Exceptional client service is a critical part of SNR Denton’s mission. The company wanted to make it easier for attorneys, who travel frequently and may be asked for information at any time of the day or night, to respond to clients with speed and confidentiality. However, the existing system caused delays. According to Michael Barnas, director, global client technologies, “Time is money.  Attorneys and staff need access to financial, budget and client-specific information at their fingertips. But when they were away from the office, they had to contact their secretary or wait till they could use a connected laptop or desktop.”

He added, “We don’t want to be restrictive in the type of technology our attorneys use to get to their information. We don’t want them to have to think about what they need to do to access their information.”

To achieve this goal, SNR Denton decided to leverage the strong trend toward consumerization of IT and enable attorneys to use the latest mobile devices, such as Apple® iPhone® and iPad® devices, to connect to its private cloud.

Implementing Citrix Receiver for access from any attorney-owned device

SNR Denton chose to enhance its Citrix® XenDesktop® and Citrix® XenApp™ environment by implementing Citrix Receiver™, a universal client technology that provides secure access, self-service and provisioning of data, apps and desktops to any device.  Using Receiver and any device of their choice, attorneys and staff can access business data and applications, including the document management system and the corporate intranet, from anywhere.  

“Our attorneys can purchase a personal device that have a core set of security features and requirements, bring it in and we will  configure the Receiver installation as well as their Microsoft Outlook information. Then they are set with easy and secure access to all the information they need,” Barnas explained.

Improved client service

The ability to access corporate resources from a familiar device using Citrix Receiver is providing important benefits.  Attorneys no longer experience frustrating delays in responding to requests for information. In one case, an attorney riding a commuter train got a call from the company chairman, connected using Receiver on his iPhone and was able to address the issue immediately. Another attorney was contacted by a client while he was watching his child’s soccer practice. Again, Receiver enabled him to access a document and provide the required information in a few minutes.

“Being able to provide immediate service to clients using Receiver is an important competitive differentiator for the firm,” said Barnas.

Citrix Receiver is also improving efficiency by avoiding the need to switch from one device to another. “They don’t have to stop what they’re doing and log onto another machine to get their documents or to launch Microsoft Office. They can do it all from a single device. That’s a huge factor, and we do hear about that often. It all goes back to our goal to shield attorneys from having to even think about what device they’re connecting with. We just want to give them that access, and Receiver lets us do that.”

Still another business benefit is the ease of traveling with a small, lightweight device instead of a laptop.

As personal devices proliferate, Barnas is confident that Receiver will support these innovations. “Receiver is proven in the different device scenarios that we’ve seen so far. We expect Citrix will quickly provide this technology on new devices so we can continue to meet the needs of our users.”