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RZZ Rechenzentrum AG logoRZZ Rechenzentrum AG

RZZ Rechenzentrum leverages ZENworks Configuration Management to deliver software to a global workforce while maintaining control of licensing costs

RZZ Rechenzentrum AG logo

Outcomes

  • Helps reduce software licensing costs by up to 60 percent
  • Automates the set-­up of new desktops and laptops, cutting completion time to just 45 minutes
  • Empowers employees to work flexibly from anywhere with all their specialist software
  • Provides the IT team with a unified overview of devices, enabling proactive lifecycle management

Challenge

Supporting a manufacturer, RZZ Rechenzentrum wanted to deliver specialized applications to mobile technicians efficiently while reducing software costs.

Reishauer is a leading provider of gear grinding technology. Its high-quality grinding machines and finishing tools are primarily used in the manufacture of motor vehicle transmissions in the automotive industry. The company operates sales and service branches across Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia.

With Reishauer's operations spread across the globe, managing employees' desktops and laptops poses a significant challenge for RZZ Rechenzentrum and its close partner Xetex Consulting.

Marco de Boer, Senior IT Consultant at Xetex Consulting, begins: “Reishauer employs around 600 people, and the staff rely on approximately 450 different applications in various languages. Highly specialized technicians will often travel to customer sites to install or service machinery. With many employees working remotely, we need to efficiently manage a growing number of laptops, with a wide range of software installed, in addition to traditional desktop PCs.”

Details

Solution

RZZ Rechenzentrum has relied on ZENworks Configuration Management to centrally manage its desktops and laptops for decades. With a distributed architecture across three continents, the company can easily serve its increasingly mobile workforce, and provide all the applications staff need to do their jobs.

Marco de Boer explains: “At some point, we evaluated other options, but none met all of our requirements. We've been using ZENworks Configuration Management for over 20 years, and our experience has always been excellent. The fact that we've been able to use a software solution so successfully for so long highlights the quality and continuous development of the product.”

The OpenText solution supports the extended lifecycles of desktops. Workstations that become too slow for advanced CAD tasks are repurposed to run less demanding workloads. Managing this transition with automated provisioning processes is key to maximizing the value of the investment in desktop infrastructure.

To make use of ZENworks Configuration Management's newest features, RZZ Rechenzentrum worked closely with technology partner NEXPERT to upgrade to the latest release. The company seized this opportunity to optimize its historically grown configuration and align it with current best practices. The NEXPERT team was able improve the overall performance substantially.

“Working with NEXPERT was a great experience,” says Marco de Boer. “They analyzed our implementation in detail and provided very helpful guidance to improve our environment. They went above and beyond, and we really appreciate their support.”

We've been using ZENworks Configuration Management for over 20 years, and our experience has always been excellent. Building on a software solution so successfully for so long highlights the qualities and continuous development of the product.

Marco De Boer
Senior IT Consultant
Xetex Consulting

Results

With the latest release, ZENworks Configuration Management 2017, in place, RZZ Rechenzentrum can roll out applications and software updates to all desktops and laptops more quickly and easily.

Together with NEXPERT, the company has simplified remote management and enabled key users in branch locations to better support local users. This empowers staff and enables faster, more flexible support—especially for users located in remote time zones using local language applications.

Using ZENworks Configuration Management, RZZ Rechenzentrum benefits from comprehensive automation. Marco de Boer notes: “We provision new laptops every day. Being able to set up new devices in just 45 minutes without manual intervention means we can deliver new clients flexibly as and when needed.”

In addition, RZZ Rechenzentrum takes advantage of the new release's built-in reporting features and integrated the asset inventory with third-party tools. This enables the team to evaluate which users need access to which applications, and set up a rule that automatically uninstalls software that hasn't been used for 30 days. Together with role-based deployment workflows based on primary users on each device, the company has cut licensing costs for software such as Adobe Professional by 60 percent.

RZZ Rechenzentrum also relies on the solution's reporting and integration features to monitor processes managed by other tools and key metrics including disk space and memory utilization, enabling proactive improvements to the lifecycle management of desktops and laptops across the company.

Marco de Boer concludes: “Working together with NEXPERT to upgrade to ZENworks Configuration Management 2017 was a great success. The solution has served us very well for many years, and we are confident that it will continue to do so.”

Working together with NEXPERT to upgrade to ZENworks Configuration Management 2017 was a great success. The solution has served us very well for many years, and we are confident that it will continue to do so.

Marco De Boer
Senior IT Consultant
Xetex Consulting

About RZZ Rechenzentrum AG

RZZ Rechenzentrum AG logo

RZZ Rechenzentrum AG is based in Wallisellen, Switzerland and is a subsidiary of Reishauer AG—a Swiss engineering company that produces high-precision gear grinding machines for use in the automotive, aerospace and robotics industries. RZZ Rechenzentrum is Reishauer's IT service provider, managing the group's IT applications, data center and network. RZZ Rechenzentrum also serves a number of other external clients.

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