Customer Solution Case Study
/ HealthcareCompany Empowers Staff,Contractors with Highly Secure,Modern Mobile Platform
“We had a great experience working with Microsoft on our Windows 8pilot. The initial feedback from users has been very positive. We are excited by the prospect of deployingWindows 8.1 more broadlyso that our end users experience major benefits.”
Rob James, Group Chief Information Officer, Novartis
Novartis, a global healthcare company, is piloting Windows 8 to more than 1,200 users to empower associates and contractors in diverse work environments. Windows 8 touch-enabled devices support new use cases—from the lab, to office workers, to mobile sellers—to boost productivity.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published December 2013
Business Needs
Novartis is committed to improving global health, to enable better patient outcomes and expand access to medicines. The company has a vision to discover, develop, and successfully market innovative products to prevent and cure diseases, to ease suffering, and to enhance the quality of life.
Today, Novartis runs Windows 7 mostly onits PCs and laptops. The company wants its associates to use touch computing to benefit from increased mobility. Office workers and mobile users were burdened with bulky laptops, mobile phones, and pen and paper—so they wasted time re-entering data.
“Our workforce demands fast, intuitive, touch-enabled devices capable of performing well in different scenarios,” says Michael Binder, Senior IT Architect within Global IT Infrastructure Services at Novartis. “Scientists in the lab, mobile users, and our associates in the offices—everyone expects the same strong performance from their computers at work as they do from their devices at home.”
Abel Archundia, Global Chief Information Officer at Sandoz division of Novartis, says,“Our mobile users can’t spare time waiting for laptops to start up or to flip through a stack of product sheets. Tohelp our associates to become even more productive and freeup their time, it has become even more of a priority to provide them with fast and easy-to-usetouch devices, which can securely connect to our internal business applications.”
“A big challenge for us is finding the right IT solution for every department,” says Sébastien Harnist, Senior IT Architect within Global IT Infrastructure Services at Novartis. “We are always looking for a platform that adapts well to multiple use-case scenarios, so people have the flexibility to work more productively, no matter where they are.”
Novartis also wanted to reduce the cost of providing its contractors who work for the company with traditional laptops for use during their tenure.
Solution
To help meet these challenges, Novartis has run a large scale pilot forthe Windows 8 operating system since 2012. First user groups are migrating to Windows 8.1 Enterprise so they can benefit from the operating system’s performance, reliability, and adaptability to many device form factors.“We are piloting Windows 8.1 to scientists who need a more powerful 64-bit computing environment, and to some of our mobile sales reps in our generics division who benefit from touch interface and the fast startup mode,” says Binder. “We use a broad variety of devices,from a light tablet, to laptops and ultrabooks from Lenovo, as well as desktop PCs. People can use a touch screen, a stylus, a regular keyboard, and/or a mouse.”
Pilot users have eagerly adopted their Windows 8 devices. “People are engaged with the Surface Pro, passing it around, pinching to zoom in, and swiping the screen to switch between apps—unencumbered by a mouse or keyboard,” says Harnist. “It fosters brainstorming and innovation.”
For approximately 300 contractors, application owners, and developers, Novartis is piloting Windows To Go, an enterprise feature of Windows 8 that enables the creation of a Windows To Go workspace that can be booted from a USB-connected external drive on PCs and laptops. Novartis can provision access to the Windows 8 operating system and line-of-business applications on the USB drive for contractors to use on their own supplied devices.
The Windows 8 deployment has been seamless because Windows 8 interoperates with the company’s directory service, Active Directory Domain Services. Novartis uses Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2013 to configure the Windows 8.1 devices, then connects them to System Center Configuration Manager 2007 for software distribution, inventory, and security updates.
Microsoft Services Consulting expertise was pivotal to ensure a successfulpilotof Windows 8 for Novartis.“Microsoft Services helped us a lot in configuring and customizing MDT, complemented by the regular calls with the experts at Microsoft headquarters,” says Harnist.
Benefits
Novartis is in the process of finalizing its large-scale pilot of Windows 8.1 Enterprise to provide the latest in desktop computing to associates in diverse work environments. With this pilot,Novartis has an operating system that delivers an equally reliable and fluid computing experience on different devices in different scenarios. “Looking forward with Windows 8.1, associates can be working more productively with the same computing experience that they are used to at home—fast, touch-enabled, and mobile,” says Binder. “Windows 8.1 supports the old world and the new world.”
If Novartis decides to deploy Windows To Go to all its contractors, the company would expect toreduce capital expenditures. “Instead of investing in a higher cost laptop for each contractor, we can provide them with a USB stick,” says Binder.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published December 2013