Tax firm improves productivity by 30 percent with Citrix-based managed services

Founded in 2013, Treuhandzentrum Zürich is a Swiss financial services firm specializing in fiduciary and tax services for small-to-medium enterprises and affluent private individuals. The company also offers cloud-based tax software that customers can securely access at any time from a wide range of devices.

The Challenge: Establishing secure, flexible IT infrastructure from day one

When Treuhandzentrum launched just a couple years ago, the company’s leadership was intent on establishing a solid IT foundation from day one. “We didn’t want to spend months building up an infrastructure,” says Jan Vogt, chairman of the board and partner at Treuhandzentrum. “This was especially important to us because we wanted to make online services a core part of our offering.”

Vogt had found that some IT solutions lack the flexibility and security that are particularly important to workers in the financial services industry. “We’re in the business of tax services, so privacy and discretion are sacrosanct,” he says. “At the same time, our employees are often on the road, so they need the flexibility to work in the office, on-site with clients and from their homes. That’s why we began looking for an IT services provider who could help us deliver secure, anytime access to confidential tax data for employees and customers alike.” 

The Solution: Deploying full suite of managed cloud services built on Citrix technology

To find the right solution at the right price, the company turned to Dinotronic, a Zürich-based Citrix Solution Advisor and Citrix Service Provider. After meeting to discuss the requirements of Treuhandzentrum, Dinotronic suggested the deployment of a broad range of cloud-based managed services, all delivered using Citrix technology. 

At the core is Citrix CloudPortal Services Manager, a unified and highly available cloud management solution that the Dinotronic team uses to provide their managed service. This fully managed cloud service includes hosted Microsoft Exchange, hosted Microsoft SharePoint, shared SQL databases and shared file servers, all protected with advanced two-factor authentication. Rather than rely on individual devices, customer data is centrally stored in a highly secure datacenter, helping ensure the integrity of even the most sensitive customer information.

Dinotronic also delivers virtual desktops as a managed service using Citrix XenApp, giving employees easy access to specialized fiduciary and tax applications such as Topal and Vertec. Meanwhile, Citrix NetScaler App Delivery Controller offers advanced load-balancing features to help ensure the best possible access to these applications.

All of these managed services are backed by a service level agreement (SLA) guaranteeing that Dinotronic will deliver the kind of uptime that Treuhandzentrum and its customers require. “We understand that Citrix technology is the backbone of our cloud-based infrastructure, but most of that is invisible to us,” says Vogt. “As users, we’re mainly exposed to Citrix Receiver, which gives us simplified access to our virtualized desktops, applications and data from anywhere, at any time and on whatever device we happen to be using.”

Key Benefits

Minimizing capital expenditures with cloud-based service managed by IT experts

When setting up a new company, a great deal of money and energy can be spent building up an IT infrastructure from scratch. But with help from Citrix-based managed services from Dinotronic, the team at Treuhandzentrum could get right to work. “It was especially important for us to minimize capital expenditures,” says Vogt. “That’s why we went with IT as a managed service on a pay-as-you-go basis. It enabled us to have a new infrastructure in a matter of weeks instead of spending six months building it ourselves. Meanwhile, we were able to focus our resources and energies on our core business, not on managing processes and technologies related to IT.” 

Improving productivity by 30 percent with anytime, anywhere access to business applications

With a Citrix-based IT infrastructure in place, Treuhandzentrum has realized major productivity gains. Citrix technology enables employees to work from home or on the road, whether they’re using thin clients, smartphones or tablets. Additionally, the company’s cloud-based tax services enable customers to enter and manage much of their personal data, removing a great deal of administrative burden from the company’s employees. “We see a huge benefit in enabling our team to work from where they want and when they want,” says Vogt. “Compared to previous organizations I’ve worked with, that level of flexibility has increased productivity by as much as 30 percent.”  

Managing enterprise-grade IT services at a reasonable cost with help from Citrix partner

For the team at Treuhandzentrum, Dinotronic combines the innovation of a global player with the power of a local presence. “With Dinotronic we now have an IT partner who understands our needs and was able to deliver exactly what we required,” says Vogt. “In many areas, they’ve even exceeded our expectations. When you add in the peace of mind we get from the SLA, not to mention the service and support we receive from the Dinotronic help desk, it’s clear that we have the benefit of enterprise-grade IT services that we simply could not afford to manage here in our office.”

Looking Ahead

Going forward, Dinotronic plans to add a few Citrix solutions to its managed services portfolio. Citrix ShareFile will make it easier for workers to share large business files, while Citrix XenMobile will simplify the secure management of proprietary data on mobile devices. Both solutions will serve to make the IT infrastructure at Treuhandzentrum more flexible, secure and intuitive, helping the company continue on its path to success.