David Ulvær, IT Manager, Crayon

“Since deploying Windows 7, we’ve seen a 30 percent reduction in the number of internal IT support issues.”

David Ulvær, IT Manager, Crayon

Crayon is an IT consultancy based in Oslo, Norway, with 230 employees. With a tradition of adopting technology early so that it can deliver comprehensive technology solutions to its customers, Crayon upgraded to the Windows® 7 operating system. With Windows 7, Crayon now benefits from faster operating system deployment times, enhanced IT security, reduced internal support calls, and improved employee productivity.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published July 2009

Business Needs

Crayon has three core business offerings: it is a software licensing reseller, a certified Microsoft® learning center, and an IT services provider. Through these offerings, Crayon is able to provide its customers with comprehensive support through the life cycle of an IT solution—from helping them choose the right technology to meet their business needs and implementation support, to training and operational support. The company is based in Oslo, Norway, and has offices in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Germany.

Crayon has 230 employees, 100 of whom are IT consultants. To support its operations, the consultancy has 250 portable computers running the Windows Vista® operating system and Microsoft Office Enterprise
2007. Its core server platform is the Windows Server® 2008 operating system.

As a company that promotes, sells, and implements technology to and for customers—many of whom are early adopters of technology—Crayon is diligent about also adopting technology early. “It is critical for us to use the latest technologies as early as possible so that we can gain first-hand knowledge of the technologies our customers are implementing,” says Anders Johansen, Director of Consulting Services at Crayon. The consultancy has seen tremendous interest from customers who want to implement the Windows® 7 operating system and is already running early-adopter programs for four customers. To offer customers impeccable service, Crayon needed to upgrade to Windows 7.

In addition to preparing for customer deployments, Crayon wanted to take advantage of security enhancements in Windows 7 to help safeguard critical company data. “You can’t put a price on how valuable information is, so we always need to ensure we’re doing everything we can to protect it,” says David Ulvær, IT Manager at Crayon. Crayon also anticipates that its employees will be more productive as a result of using the new features available in Windows 7, such as its search capability.

Solution

Crayon began its upgrade to Windows 7 Release Candidate and the Windows Internet Explorer® 8 Internet browser in May 2009 with a pilot deployment. Starting with its main office in Norway, it upgraded 160 computers. The company then quickly deployed the operating system to 30 users in its Sweden office. It plans to upgrade its remaining 60 computers by the end of August 2009.

Crayon ran high-level application compatibility testing and did not find any issues, due, in part, to the high compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7. Crayon also did not replace any of its hardware. The company upgraded much of its computer fleet when it implemented Windows Vista, but even its older hardware can run Windows 7 without performance issues. “We had some computers that were nearing the end of their life cycle, but we found that after upgrading to Windows 7, those computers performed well—and we were able to prolong the life of laptops,” says Johansen.

Instead of relying on users to back up all their data, Crayon used Windows User State Migration Tool 4.0 for fast, easy migration of user settings. It used the guidance and tools in the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta 2 to help with its deployment process, and it used Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) technology to deploy the operating system over the network. When Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 is officially supported with Windows 7, the company will use the technology for its continued deployment—a solution it already uses for application deployment and updates.

For enhanced security, Crayon will use BitLocker™ drive encryption and BitLocker To Go™. In addition, it will implement DirectAccess, after it upgrades to Windows Server 2008 R2 in the fall, to give remote employees access to the corporate network over any Internet connection. With Federated Search, employees will be able to search information on Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007.

Benefits

As a result of using Windows 7, Crayon has benefited from faster deployment times, enhanced IT security, reduced internal support calls, and increased employee productivity.

n  Faster deployment. By using User State Migration Tool 4.0, Crayon was able to easily preserve user settings and deploy Windows 7 more quickly. At first, the company planned to have users back up their own data prior to deployment. In the past, however, users would either forget to back up settings or would miss critical data—resulting in prolonged deployment time for the IT department. “With the safe migration tool, we have greater control over migrating settings and can deploy faster. We are saving 30 minutes per computer over previous operating system installations,” says Johansen.

n  Enhanced security. Safeguarding its confidential information and intellectual property is of primary concern to Crayon. It can use BitLocker for full-volume drive encryption to help protect its data in the event of a lost or stolen computer. Using BitLocker To Go, Crayon can extend encryption to its removable storage devices, such as USB thumb drives.

n  Reduced help-desk calls. Crayon has realized an immediate reduction in the number of calls to its internal IT support team since implementing Windows 7, as a result of improved system performance and enhancements with the user interface. “Since deploying Windows 7, we’ve seen a 30 percent reduction in the number of internal IT support issues,” explains Ulvær.

n  Increased employee productivity. Employees at Crayon are more productive as a result of using indexing capabilities and features that enable fast, relevant search results. With the improved file system in Windows 7, employees will be able to search the corporate file shares for critical information and see relevant results more quickly. Using Federated Search, employees can extend their desktop search to document libraries on the company intranet. “With the search enhancements in Windows 7, we anticipate a five-minute savings per employee each day. That’s worth U.S.$270,000 annually,” says Johansen.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published July 2009