Customer Solution Case Study
/ Samsung Electronics Standardizes Operating System, Boosts Efficiency and Cost Savings
Overview
Country or Region: Korea
Industry: Consumer electronics
Customer Profile
Based in South Korea, Samsung is a global leader in high-tech electronics manufacturing and digital media that employs 150,000 people. It reported 2009 revenues of more than U.S.$117 billion.
Business Situation
Samsung managed multiple operating system images, which was both time-consuming and costly. The company wanted to standardize its image in an effort to make desktop management more efficient.
Solution
The company upgraded to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system and the Windows Internet Explorer 8 browser across the entire enterprise.
Benefits
· Enhanced IT security
· Simplified IT management
· Reduced power consumption
· Improved employee productivity / “All told, we reduced PC management costs by 20 percent as a result of standardizing our environment on Windows 7.”
Su Mi Lee, Manager of Corporate IT Strategy, Samsung Electronics
The IT department at electronics manufacturer Samsung Electronics managed an increasing number of corporate operating system images, which resulted in complex help-desk issues that took considerable time to troubleshoot. In an effort to reduce the amount of time spent managing multiple images and optimize its client computing environment, the company decided to standardize its operating system. In 2010, with help from Microsoft Services, Samsung upgraded to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system and the Windows Internet Explorer 8 browser. As a result, Samsung enhanced IT security; simplified IT maintenance, which resulted in a 20 percent cost savings; and improved employee productivity. Also, by using the operating system with an LED monitor and a high-efficiency DDR3 memory chip manufactured by Samsung, the company reduced power consumption 34 percent.
Works the way you want
Situation
Samsung Electronics, the flagship company of the Samsung Group, is a global leader in the high-tech electronics manufacturing, communications, semiconductor, and digital media industries. In 2009, the company achieved more than U.S.$117 billion in revenues, positioning itself as one of the “Top 3 Companies in Global Electronics Industry.” The company has more than 127 offices in 52 countries.
The 150,000 employees at the company, including those in the computer systems division that represent one of the top-10 PC manufacturers in the world, used the Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) operating system for more than eight years. Over time, as the company grew, hired new employees, and introduced new computing hardware, the environment grew to one with multiple operating system images. In addition, employees could also further customize settings on top of the image. Therefore, the IT department not only managed multiple corporate images, but also had countless variables to consider, based on modifications employees may have made to their systems. As a result, tickets submitted to the IT department help desk were complex and time-consuming to resolve and negatively impacted employee productivity. Samsung wanted to standardize its operating system environment as a way to simplify PC management and increase IT help-desk efficiency.
In addition to improving its PC management and efficiency, Samsung also wanted to enhance its IT security and better safeguard critical data —particularly on mobile computers and removable storage devices. As a leader in the technology industry, protecting its confidential information and intellectual property is of primary concern to Samsung.
Knowing that it wanted to upgrade, the company also sought the opportunity to improve employee productivity with a new operating system. With its previous operating system, employees at Samsung did not search for business data from their PC because of limited functionality and speed. With an updated operating system, the company wanted to improve search results across its network and help employees to expediently complete tasks.
The IT department at Samsung also found that it was spending considerable time and energy supporting OEM software and device drivers for Windows XP as it refreshed its PC hardware. Though the company knew that Microsoft would continue to support Windows XP, it also recognized that the operating system would fall out of the mainstream. As a leader in the consumer electronics industry with a reputation for leading-edge innovation, Samsung wanted a modern operating system.
Solution
In May 2009, Samsung Electronics, with the help of Microsoft Services, started a pilot deployment of Windows 7 Enterprise and the Windows Internet Explorer 8 browser to 1,000 employees in its computer systems division. As part of a project designed to enable the company to optimize its desktop, Samsung developed a single, standard operating system image that includes the operating system, Internet browser, and core business applications used companywide, including Microsoft Office Professional 2007.
As part of an early adopter program for Windows 7, a Microsoft Services team assisted Samsung with its application compatibility testing phase in May 2009, where it tested both the compatibility of the operating system and the Internet browser. Collaboratively, they investigated all business-critical and line-of-business applications, in addition to corporate web portals. They tested a total of 63 applications initially, but later expanded the compatibility testing to hundreds of in-house and third-party applications. Though they found compatibility issues, the joint effort of Samsung and Microsoft Services resolved the issues so that Samsung could continue with its additional deployment in May 2010.
Samsung also tested Windows 7 on its existing desktop hardware, including a stress-test with operating system–specific device drivers. The company found that a majority of its hardware was compatible with the operating system and, in the cases where processor upgrades were necessary, the hardware was already scheduled for refresh. Plus, Samsung wanted to take advantage of its own innovations to optimize PC performance, so it refreshed all computers companywide with its newly-manufactured PC that included the Samsung LED Panel and DDR3 SDRAM memory chip—a high-performance, energy-efficient memory chip.
The company uses security enhancements in Internet Explorer 8 to help protect users and its corporate network. For instance, Samsung takes advantage of the SmartScreen Filter, which alerts employees about websites they are trying to open that have previously been reported as unsafe. As another example, the company uses the Cross Site Scripting Filter in Internet Explorer, which detects malicious code running on compromised websites.
Samsung also implemented several features of Windows 7 to help enhance security. For example, the company is planning to implement BitLocker for full-volume drive encryption on its portable computers, helping to safeguard confidential business data in the event of a lost or stolen computer. Samsung is also evaluating BitLocker To Go for enhanced security on its removable storage devices. To further enhance security, Samsung is also planning to implement AppLocker, an application control feature that prevents employees from installing unwanted applications on the corporate network.
Employees at Samsung use Windows Troubleshooting, a feature in Windows 7 that diagnoses and resolves common operating system issues if and when they arise. This enables employees to handle issues themselves without contacting the IT help desk at Samsung. Employees also take advantage of Libraries and Windows Search in Windows 7 to organize and quickly find relevant files on their computers or other systems on the corporate network.
The company implemented Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), which is part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack. Samsung plans to use App-V to help remediate any potential application compatibility issues in the future. For instance, the company is considering upgrading from Microsoft Office 2007 to Office 2010 and plans to use App-V to stream the 2007 version of the productivity software to employees during the upgrade process, in an effort to alleviate any issues that might impact productivity.
By October 2010, Samsung deployed Windows 7 to its employees who work in its offices in Korea and expects to deploy the operating system to its offices abroad by July 2011.
Benefits
As a result of deploying Windows 7 Enterprise as its standard operating system, Samsung Electronics has a reliable operating system environment that not only demonstrates the company’s commitment to innovation, but that also helps the company enhance its IT security to help protect its own innovative intellectual property. In addition, Samsung simplified IT management, which helps to reduce costs and improve employee productivity. By using the operating system combined with the LED panel and DDR3 SDRAM memory chip that it manufactures, Samsung also reduced its energy consumption.
Enhanced IT Security
Samsung takes advantage of the built-in security enhancements in Windows 7 to help safeguard its confidential information and intellectual property without relying on third-party encryption tools. The company uses BitLocker for full-volume hard disk encryption and, with BitLocker To Go, can encrypt its removable storage devices, such as USB thumb drives. Samsung Electronics found that security enhancements in Windows 7 are its built-in safeguard against loss or theft of any device. In addition, Samsung is evaluating AppLocker, which, if implemented, will enable the company to prevent unknown or unwanted applications from being installed on client computers, helping to protect the corporate network from potential malware threats.
The company also employs security enhancements in Internet Explorer 8 to help protect the network environment from malicious software and other harmful activity on the Internet.
Simplified IT Management
Instead of managing countless corporate images, Samsung standardized its operating system and browser with one image. As a result, the company simplified IT management and reduced the average help-desk ticket-resolution time. Help-desk employees are more efficient and can accomplish an average of 50 percent more work—now they can resolve an average of nine tickets each day. At the same time, by using Windows Troubleshooting, employees can resolve common issues on their own, helping to reduce calls to the help desk. “All told, we reduced PC management costs by 20 percent as a result of standardizing our environment on Windows 7,” explains Su Mi Lee, a Manager in the Corporate IT Strategy department at Samsung Electronics.
Reduced Power Consumption
The power management technologies built into Windows 7, such as performance optimization and idle-resource utilization, help Samsung to improve its energy efficiency and reduce power consumption associated with running client computers. “Coupled with the high-performance Samsung LED panel and DDR3 SDRAM memory chip that we manufacture and use in our own computers, we have reduced our PC power consumption by 34 percent,” says Lee.
Improved Employee Productivity
Employees at Samsung are more productive as a result of using indexing capabilities and features that enable fast, relevant search results. For example, employees use the improved file system in Windows 7 to search the corporate file shares for critical information and see results more quickly. In addition, they can create and use Libraries in Windows 7 to make it easier to find and retrieve documents and data from the desktop. “By using Windows 7, our employees are more productive, which helps us improve the speed at which we do business,” says Lee.
Windows 7
Works the way you want: Windows 7 will help your organization use information technology to gain a competitive advantage in today’s new world of work. Your people will be able to be more productive anywhere. You will be able to support your mobile workforce with better access to shared data and collaboration tools. And your IT staff will have better tools and technologies for enhanced corporate IT security and data protection, and more efficient deployment and management.
For more information about Windows 7, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7
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