Utility Upgrades Software to Cut IT Work by 1,000 Hours Annually, Save Energy
Customer Solution Case Study
/ Utility Upgrades Software to Cut IT Work by 1,000 Hours Annually, Save Energy
“We will save 1,000 hours annually just in deploying client computers. That’s more time our staff has to make our systems better and help users.”
Martin Dahling, IT Manager, Eidsiva Energi
Eidsiva Energi is a Norwegian utility that wants to make its 900 employees as productive as possible and minimize computer management work. By upgrading to the Windows 7 operating system, Eidsiva Energi will cut software deployment time by 1,000 hours annually and reduce computer support work by 20 percent. It will also reduce energy consumption, enhance security, and increase user productivity by more than 200 hours a day companywide.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published July 2010
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Business Needs
Eidsiva Energi is a Norwegian electric cooperative owned by Oppland and Hedmark counties and 26 municipalities in those counties. The Hamar, Norway–based utility serves 140,000 customers, has 900 employees, and posted annual revenues of NOK 4 billion (about U.S.$697 million).
Eidsiva has 900 client computers (700 portable and 200 desktop) that the utility’s information workers, engineers, field technicians, and other employees rely on to do their jobs. Until recently, all 900 computers ran the Windows XP operating system. As employees became more dependent on computerized applications and spent more time in front of their computers, they began to complain about lengthy start-up and shut-down times. Occasional instability often led to failures, which required employees to restart their computers. Users also had trouble finding information in overflowing email inboxes, hard drives, and file shares.
The IT staff had problems of its own. “We had to manually install Windows XP, which took up to two hours for each system,” says Martin Dahling, IT Manager for Eidsiva Energi. “We deploy, or redeploy, a total of 500 computers annually. This consumed most of the time of our five or six IT staff members assigned to desktop computer management.” Also, because the staff had to install the operating system and applications manually, Eidsiva computers were not standardized, which made support difficult.
With more employees using portable computers, the IT staff was also concerned about securing data on those systems. “We wanted to deploy encryption software, but that would have been expensive,” Dahling says.
Solution
Eidsiva Energi decided to upgrade all its client computers to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system to take advantage of the enhanced performance, security, and management efficiencies. “We have deployed about 200 systems so far and are currently deploying about five computers a day,” Dahling says. “Windows 7 runs at least as fast as Windows XP, and usually better, even on three-year-old computers.”
The Eidsiva IT staff uses automated Windows 7 configuration and deploy-ment efficiencies to speed operating system deployment to new and redeployed systems. “Plus, all our client computers now look alike,” Dahling adds. “They have the same settings and consistent application configuration, which helps resolve support issues faster.” A full 95 percent of the utility’s applications worked with Windows 7 with no compatibility problems.
Employees really like the operating system, especially Federated Search, which they use to sift through thousands of documents and email messages and immediately find what they need. Their computers are also more stable and quicker to start and shut down, which eliminates unproductive delays throughout the day. “We actually haven’t had that much response to the migration, which is a good thing,” Dahling says. “We usually only hear when things are not working well.”
Dahling’s staff uses management efficiencies in Windows 7 to streamline its work and better secure the utility’s growing portable computer fleet. It uses Group Policy settings to define and enforce desktop policies and the AppLocker and BitLocker To Go features to better secure systems. “We use AppLocker to identify and gate out unauthorized programs that users install on their systems, and BitLocker To Go helps keep files private, even if a portable computer or flash drive is lost.”
Benefits
With the upgrade to Windows 7, Eidsiva Energy will reduce its desktop management and support work, trim energy costs, and improve user productivity and data safety.
Deployment Work Trimmed by 1,000 Hours Annually
IT staff members now spend five minutes deploying the operating system on each system, rather than the two hours it took before. “We will save 1,000 hours annually just in deploying client computers,” Dahling says. “That’s more time our staff has to make our systems better and help users.”
Support Work Cut by 20 Percent
The IT staff will save additional time in the support area. “We now have a consistent, automated operating system deployment methodology, so all our computers are standardized, which makes support easier,” Dahling says. “Our client computers are also more stable running Windows 7, which reduces help-desk calls. All in all, we’ll be able to reduce our support work by 20 percent using Windows 7.”
Increased User Productivity
With faster search, faster computer start-up and shut-down times, and increased stability, Dahling estimates that each user could gain 10 minutes a day in productivity efficiencies. This adds up to 150 hours of productivity gains each day companywide.
Energy Savings
Eidsiva Energi will also save money by using the power management features in Windows 7, which is important for a utility company. Dahling says, “We had disabled the power management feature in Windows XP because it caused compatibility problems with some of our applications. But with Windows 7, we can achieve more power savings without application conflicts.”
Enhanced Security for Portable Computers
By using the security enhancements in Windows 7, the IT staff can better safeguard information on portable computers without expensive investments in third-party encryption software. “Using BitLocker To Go, we can better secure sensitive information on our portable computers,” Dahling says. “We can also keep users from downloading unauthorized applications that could introduce viruses or malware onto our network.”
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published July 2010
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