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Case Study

1E Shopping gives user self-service access to applications

Shopping is the app store for the enterprise that combines the on-demand user experience of consumer devices with the control, integration, and automation needs of corporate IT. The portal enables users to get the software and services they need, when they need them, and in the way they now expect, through a simple, modern interface. At the same time, Shopping gives businesses back control of their IT infrastructure.

The large global pharmaceutical company has a workforce of 60,000. Whenever anyone wanted a new application on their desktop they had to raise a request to the IT helpdesk and it might take as long as five days for it to get the software to them. The situation was far from satisfactory and so the company sought to automate the process and selected 1E Shopping whereby users would be able to select, download and install software in just a few minutes by themselves.

The Infrastructure Service Management Lead at the organization explains: “We had two challenging areas under the old regime – the long lead times to get things packaged and the equally long lead times to get software onto desktops.”

The company customized the look and feel of the portal with familiar branding and colors, and also renamed it. “Before we launched it, we were servicing about 3,000 requests a month. One to one. Twelve months later, we’re seeing the levels of requests grown to 10,000 monthly. It’s really taken off and the efficiency of the service has meant that it’s been adopted by more and more people every day,” he continues.

Over the first year of implementing the self-service portal for users, the organization has processed 115,856 requests which represents a saving that is just shy of $5 million, and 22,000 man hours.

Shopping also plays its part in the Windows migration project that the company is conducting to move its workforce away from Windows XP and onto Windows 7 and 8. The Infrastructure Service Management Lead explains: “We are repackaging a lot of applications and people will be shopping for apps to be used in the new Operating Systems. Initially they will get the Windows image and a few core applications. Therefore what they will shop for is applications that they need over and above that.”

Shopping has been a success. From an administrative point of view the IT team runs Shopping as a Business-As-Usual project, “For me it’s been a real success story from day one” he says. “From the users’ perspective, they appreciate that it actually does what it says on the tin. You shop for an application, and it’s on your machine in five minutes.”

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