Supporting thousands of employees across multiple regions, HuFriedy Group’s IT service desk is central to keeping the organization efficient, secure, and scalable. As a global leader in dental instrument manufacturing, the company relies on its IT team to maintain smooth operations across all facilities.

HuFriedy Group leveraged ScreenConnect to transform its IT support operations, successfully executed a major Windows 11 migration, and is now embracing ConnectWise PSA and ConnectWise RMM tools to automate workflows, streamline onboarding, and consolidate IT management into a single platform—all while scaling to support a global workforce.

Managing Complexity with Confidence: Inside HuFriedy Group’s Service Desk

With a global footprint and complex IT infrastructure, HuFriedy Group depends on its service desk team to ensure smooth operations across all departments. Sandy Martinez, Service Desk Lead at HuFriedy Group, oversees end user support and manages critical IT projects. Her team handles onboarding, offboarding, troubleshooting, and system upgrades—tasks that require precision, speed, and collaboration.

Overcoming Operational Hurdles with Advanced Remote Support

Prior to adopting advanced remote support tools, HuFriedy Group faced several operational hurdles:

• Limited Visibility During Troubleshooting: Phone-based support often led to miscommunication and delays. Without visual access to user screens, diagnosing issues was inefficient and time-consuming.
• Geographically Dispersed Workforce: With employees spread across multiple facilities in North America, Europe, and Latin America, on-site support was impractical for most issues, leading to longer resolution times and higher costs.
• Complex IT Projects: Initiatives such as operating system upgrades required accurate device data and coordination across multiple teams. Manual processes were slow and error-prone.
• Fragmented Toolset: The IT team relied on multiple tools for various tasks, resulting in inefficiencies and necessitating constant retraining whenever new tools were introduced.

Recognizing these challenges, Martinez introduced ScreenConnect to her manager nearly 10 years ago, a decision that revolutionized the IT department’s capabilities.

Key Features Utilized:

• Remote IT Support: Technicians could take control of user PCs, providing hands-on troubleshooting without requiring physical presence.
• Backstage: Recently adopted, Backstage, a ScreenConnect feature, allows technicians to work behind the scenes without interrupting the user’s workflow—a major productivity boost.
• Device Information Retrieval: ScreenConnect provides detailed insights into PC specifications, operating systems, and hardware details, which proved invaluable during system upgrade projects.

The integration of ScreenConnect into HuFriedy Group’s workflow was seamless. The service desk linked ScreenConnect with its ticketing system, Crow Canyon, enabling technicians to launch remote sessions directly from support tickets. Martinez prioritized training her team to explore advanced features, ensuring maximum utilization of the tool.

From Faster Fixes to Strategic Wins: ScreenConnect in Action

The adoption of ScreenConnect delivered transformative benefits:

1. Improved End-User Experience: Employees embraced remote support sessions enthusiastically. According to Martinez, when asked if technicians can remote into their PCs, users typically respond with an eager “Yes, click please!” This trust reflects the tool’s reliability and ease of use.
2. Enhanced Troubleshooting Efficiency: Backstage eliminated guesswork during support sessions by giving technicians direct, behind-the-scenes access to systems. Technicians could quickly identify issues, apply fixes, and verify results—without interrupting end users. This significantly reduced resolution times while maintaining productivity and service quality.
3. Streamlined IT Projects: Windows 11 Migration: One of the most significant projects where ScreenConnect proved invaluable was the Windows 11 migration. Initially, the team lacked visibility into the number of PCs running Windows 10 and which devices met Windows 11 hardware requirements (e.g., 7th-gen processors or higher). 

ScreenConnect provided critical insights:

• Identified PCs eligible for upgrade versus those requiring full replacement.
• Enabled accurate reporting to senior management, including metrics on upgrade progress.
• Facilitated coordination across facilities to ensure timely execution.

As Martinez explains: "ScreenConnect lets us know which PCs could be upgraded and which need replacement. That information was critical because it allowed us to define metrics and deliver accurate results to higher management." The tool also helped track migration progress by monitoring containers for Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices. Weekly updates to leadership became data-driven and precise, reducing uncertainty and accelerating decision-making.

Driving Faster Resolutions and Scaling Across Continents

Even without documented KPIs, Martinez remembers the clear transformation ScreenConnect brought compared to previous remote support methods: "Before ScreenConnect, we were using tools like Skype for remote control—tools that don’t even exist anymore. It was slow and frustrating. Now, with ScreenConnect, we can click a button and instantly see the user’s screen. That’s a game-changer." 

Martinez estimates that time-to-resolution has been cut dramatically, especially for global support: "We have 1,500 PCs worldwide. Just being able to click and connect instead of walking someone through steps over the phone saves hours every week."

HuFriedy Group has a global IT staff in Europe and Latin America. ScreenConnect enables seamless remote access across continents: "Being able to just connect and see their PC makes a huge difference. Before, we relied on phone support and email. Now, we can resolve issues quickly, and users trust us to take over and fix the problem. At the end of the day, they’re happy—and we’re their heroes. But it’s the tools that make us heroes."

Next Steps: Preparing for Growth with a Unified, Scalable IT Ecosystem and Centralized Automation

Looking ahead, the plan is to deploy ConnectWise RMM agents on all 1,500 devices, ensuring centralized management and monitoring.

Martinez also highlighted a feature that could further enhance resilience: "There’s this virtualization tool they mentioned—if someone’s PC goes down, like an executive before a big presentation, you can give them a link to a virtualized version of their PC. That’s incredible. I’m going to bring it up to my boss because that would be a lifesaver in our environment."

Building on the success of ScreenConnect, HuFriedy Group is now implementing ConnectWise PSA and ConnectWise RMM tools within the Asio platform.

These solutions promise to:

• Automate routine tasks
• Provide advanced monitoring capabilities
• Enhance ticket management and reporting
• Consolidate IT management into a single platform

Unlocking Workflow Automation with ConnectWise Platform

Martinez admits that diving into the new platform initially felt overwhelming: "I was a little nervous poking around, not knowing where the navigation is. But coming here (to IT Nation Connect™ Global) helped me feel comfortable navigating and understanding the workflow space."

Her focus is on onboarding and offboarding workflows, which involve multiple steps and coordination across teams. Martinez sees immense potential in automating these processes:

• Offboarding Simplification: For cases where a manager does not require email or file retention, the process can be as simple as disabling the account and removing the license. Martinez plans to start small by documenting these steps and gradually expanding into more sophisticated workflows.
• Onboarding Efficiency: Automating onboarding tasks reduces manual effort and ensures consistency across departments. "There are so many tasks that go into creating a user. I want to see workflows execute those tasks automatically instead of me manually sending emails and wasting time."
• Unified Platform Advantage: Martinez is also excited about the prospect of having all tools—PSA, ConnectWise RMM, ScreenConnect—within one platform: "It makes more sense to have it all in one place instead of having multiple tabs open. We’ll all have the same navigation, same tabs, and know where to go because it’s all in one place."
• Additional Benefits: Third-Party Application Management: One major win for HuFriedy Group was the ability to manage third-party application updates through ConnectWise: "My boss was sold on the fact that ConnectWise can update third-party applications like Adobe automatically. That was something we didn’t have before, and it’s a huge improvement."

ConnectWise also simplifies scripting for technicians who aren’t fluent in writing code:

"ConnectWise (platform solutions) does it for you. There’s an interface where you tell it what you want, and it executes the script. I nudged my colleague and said, 'Did you just see that?’ I can even learn the language without having to write it from scratch. You can copy it and modify it for your environment. I’m all for it."

Learning, Networking, and Guiding Others on the ConnectWise Journey

Martinez emphasized the value of networking during IT Nation Connect™ Global sessions: "I met a lot of great people here. Networking was huge for me—understanding other environments and how they use ConnectWise. Some companies are a lot bigger than us and seeing how they scale gives me confidence that if we grow, ConnectWise will grow with us."

When asked what she would say to other IT teams considering ConnectWise, Martinez responded: "There are so many benefits across different areas of the department—hardware, software, workflows. We had limitations with Microsoft Intune, where you had to know scripts and manually configure everything. ConnectWise provides an interface that automates the process for you. It’s seamless, and it’s going to save so much time."

Her advice emphasizes the value of consolidation, automation, and ease of use: “Don’t be afraid of the tools. Dive in. Embrace automation and AI because that’s where the world is going. It will advance your career and keep you competitive.”

Scaling Global IT Success with ConnectWise and the Asio Platform

HuFriedy Group’s journey illustrates how strategic technology adoption can transform IT operations. By leveraging ScreenConnect®, Martinez and her team improved troubleshooting efficiency, enhanced end user experience, and successfully executed a complex Windows 11 migration. With plans to integrate ConnectWise PSA and ConnectWise RMM tools, the company is poised to achieve even greater automation, scalability, and operational excellence.

As Martinez puts it: "I’m ready to dive in and see what else I can learn. There’s a lot more I haven’t learned yet. I’m looking forward to being a true ConnectWise admin—just another notch on my belt." HuFriedy Group’s commitment to innovation ensures that its IT department remains a strategic partner in driving business success.