the country, they don’t have the time,
nor,with the advent of virtual desktops,
should they have the need to travel to
use technology,”he said.
“Weworkedwithour IT partner,
OpenReality, to establish the best
virtual environment for us and itwas,
andhas long since proven to be, a
solution basedonCitrixXenDesktop
andXenApp.”
TheCitrixXenDesktop environment
emulates Places for People’s desktop
and applications, includingMSOffice
(inc.Outlook),Masterpiece financial
management,Northgate housing
management and a document
management solution.This gives all
employees a consistent IT experience,
whether they are sitting at a desk in
anoffice or accessing the system via a
mobile access devicewhilst travelling
around the country.
Thomson added:“OpenReality
has provideduswith the best tools
to support amobileworkforce.As a
direct result,we have seen customer
service satisfaction levels increase
significantly,while our operational
costs and carbon footprint have been
dramatically reduced, in total saving us
over £731,000.”
Avirtual environment
Places for People,OpenReality and
its virtual solutions armBrightcloud
drewup a proof of concept.Once
a pilot had proved feasibility, they
designed a full CitrixXenDesktop and
XenApp infrastructure basedonCitrix
XenDesktop4.0, subsequentlyupgraded
toXenDesktop5.6, now incorporating
XenApp6.5.
The new environment ismade up
of 3,000 seats.The physical estate
of 1,200 PCs has been replacedwith
1,200ThinClients,with70%of staff
accessing aVirtual Desktop.
CitrixXenDesktop allows the IT
Team tomanage the desktop provision
to employees in a very controlled,
quick and efficientmanner,whileCitrix
XenApp6.5 enables it to provision
additional virtual desktops and virtual
applications for employees quickly,
flexibly and securely across the
organisation’s 200 sites. In addition,
Citrix Receiver enables employees to
realise the benefits of BYOD.
Cost savings
The naturalmigration from PCs to thin
clients and virtual desktops delivered
an immediate capital cost saving of
£552,565, plus the promise of significant
annual savingsmoving forward.
The annual reduction in power and
cooling costs is already over £123,600
and thiswill increase as energy prices
continue to rise.Annual support costs
have been slashed by nearly £55,000 a
year to£5,600.There is also likely to be
significant tax relief basedon an annual
carbon reductionof 370 tonnes.
Customer serviceexcellence
TheCitrixXenDesktop solution
provides enhanced IT capabilities
to each Place for People employee,
enabling them to bemore efficient and
productive and deliver the best possible
service to tenants and customers.
Onemajor change is the ability
of operations and service staff to
log issueswhilst on themove,which
increases the number of visits they can
make and the speed atwhich follow-
up actions can bemade. Skilled labour
teams can focus onmaintenance and
repairs, accessing Places for People
servers through a netbook device to log
enquiries andhours.
“The initial CitrixXenDesktop
pilot delivered a clear business case
for Places for People to implement
a virtual desktop strategy. It
demonstrated the benefits thatmobile
technology can deliver to customer-
facing employees,”explainedThomson.
“The feedback from the field also
made it clear that technologywas now
aiding, andnot hindering, their day-
to-day functionality. In the two years
since introducing the initial virtual IT
infrastructure, customer satisfaction
levels have never beenhigher.”
ImplementingCitrixXenDesktop
technologies has also improved
business continuity and disaster
recovery capabilities. In the event of an
outage, the IT team canquickly redirect
virtualmachines to a back-up, ensuring
almost seamless disaster recovery.
Regulatory compliance
The new IT infrastructure is appropriate
for a company like Places for People
that operates in a very tightly regulated
industry andhas a strong corporate
responsibility (CSR) policy, forwhich it
has earnedBITC Platinum status.
Mobile devices used by the
operational teams carry highly
confidential information relating to
each tenant,whichneeds to be kept
secure under the stipulations of the
Data ProtectionAct. CitrixXenDesktop
technology ensures that all data
remains securewhenon the access
device andwhen being transferred from
device to server.
CSR requirements are satisfied
by a dramatic reduction in Places for
People’s energy consumption and its
overall carbon footprint of nearly 400
tonnes per year.
In conclusion,Thomson said:“The
CitrixVirtual Desktop environment has
dramatically reduced the amount of
energy needed tohost,manage and
maintainour IT infrastructure.The time
andmoney saved cannow be ploughed
back into the development of the
serviceswe deliver and the quality of
service that supports these.TheCitrix
VDI platformhas beenwell received by
the organisation and the entire project
has been anoutstanding success.”
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...continued
Citrix Environment
n
CitrixXenDesktop5.6
n
CitrixXenApp6.5
n
Citrix Receiver
CoreApplicationsDeliveredviaVirtual
Desktop
n
FullMSOffice Suite includingOutlook
n
Masterpiece – FinanceApp
n
Northgate –HousingManagementApp
n
DocumentManagementApp
KeyBenefits
n
Enablesmobilework styles
n
Achieves physical infrastructure cost savings
n
Reduces energy hardware, and administrative
costs
n
Increases employee productivity
n
Improves customer service to tenants
Total Savings
Energy costs –£123,664 p.a.
CO2 tonnage –396 tonnes
Support costs –£54,800 p.a.
Capital costs –£552,565
ATAGLANCE
Annual support
costs have
been slashed
by nearly
£55,000a year
to £5,600. There
is also likely to
be significant
tax relief
basedonan
annual carbon
reductionof 370
tonnes.
“
