Every time a worker boots up their PC or mobile device, they interact with an operating system. Users may view technology solely in terms of hardware or everyday applications. But the operating system plays a very significant role in the quality and usefulness of their computing experience. It supports the software solutions, runs the devices, provides the security, and ensures that workers are able to function the way they need to in order to be successful in their jobs. Simply put, it's the lifeblood of the computing platform.
Deciding when to upgrade, therefore, is an important consideration for any organization. This is especially true for governments and other public sector agencies, which on the one hand must be mindful of tighter operating budgets, and on the other meet the increasingly sophisticated demands of today's citizens, while balancing security and privacy needs. The right OS can help Canada's public sector organizations meet these challenges and give them the freedom and flexibility to work in a most effective and strategic way.
Before they can determine whether or not their existing OS meets their business needs, organizations must have all the facts. They need to carefully measure the actual cost of supporting their current infrastructure and compare that to the potential savings or performance improvements made possible through an upgrade. This will help them determine short- and long-term total cost of ownership (TCO), and how, or if, the current OS can support the current and future needs of workers.
Coming up with a plan
The Societe des alcools du Quebec (SAQ), a Quebec government-owned corporation responsible for the trade of alcoholic beverages, recently undertook a business value study of its operating system to see if it was still providing maximum value to the organization, and to help the IT department decide if a migration to Windows Vista was worthwhile.
Nearly 80 per cent of SAQ PC users are what's known as "structured task workers" - meaning that many of them share PCs throughout the day logging in or out as needed. Each has different operational roles, application requirements and security privileges.
Before upgrading, application issues at SAQ had to be dealt with at the desktop's location, as the organization's client OS did not easily enable the IT department to centrally manage user desktops. Whenever SAQ end users needed to change PC settings or access something for which they did not have appropriate permissions, they called the service desk. With a total of 2,800 desktop and notebook PCs at SAQ's 400 retail locations, this resulted in a large number of support calls.
Based on their current IT infrastructure and employee needs, SAQ staff concluded that by migrating to Windows Vista they could reduce operating system TCO by seven per cent, or $271 per PC, per year, which would result in a nine-month payback period. Ultimately this would help the organization achieve a 310 per cent return on its initial investment.
The SAQ experience, which is outlined in more detail below, provides a model for public sector agencies looking to drive more value from their desktop platform.
Deployment choices
Organizations have a choice whether to manage their desktops very tightly and configure every detail for the users, or to leave management decentralized with more options for user customization. SAQ needed to manage user desktops closely to ensure compliance with internal regulations, but lacked a simple and effective way to manage this process.
SAQ reviewed its IT infrastructure and found that a migration to Windows Vista would help it take advantage of the advanced set of group policy controls within the new operating system, enabling IT to set a vast array of settings on shared PCs. Group Policy improvements in Windows Vista would enable SAQ to take advantage of greater coverage of policy settings and extensions, better network awareness and reliability, and easier administration. This helps reduce the load on the help desk, and ensures workers spend more time being productive.
Support costs
Public sector agencies face a number of budget constraints which may encourage them to be more focused on the upfront acquisition cost than on total lifecycle cost or long-term business value. Often the existing systems appear on the surface to work well, and there may be a reluctance to revisit processes that have generated success in the past.
However, software acquisition is only three to five per cent of the total cost of ownership, and organizations are working hard to reduce the remaining 95 to 97 per cent of the TCO represented by management costs.
For SAQ, much of these management costs were being incurred through the help desk, which was spending much of its time responding to desktop issues. Organizations should review their current ability to automatically configure and deploy desktop images, which greatly reduces the time IT departments must dedicate to end user support. As well, new and improved security features and higher levels of reliability will help ensure workers are even more productive.
By analyzing its ongoing support costs, SAQ determined it could save $140 per PC, per year in IT labour costs by migrating to Windows Vista - a 13 per cent reduction from its existing PC environment.
User downtime
SAQ is a publicly accountable organization, and it cannot afford unexpected service outages. Using an aging OS puts the organization at a higher risk of downtime due to security breaches or other forms of system failure.
By analyzing its help desk activity and history of user requests for support, SAQ estimates it can reduce end user costs by five per cent through a Windows Vista upgrade. Migrating will also enable staff to take advantage of advanced security and "self-healing" features that will address problems before they need to be escalated to the help desk. SAQ concluded these features, plus the new user interface, and access to new search and collaboration features, would boost user productivity - an improvement valued at $34 per user.
Other questions organizations should ask themselves when it comes time to migrate or upgrade their operating system include:
- Is the platform supported by trained developers and professionals, and will finding people with these skills be a challenge?
- Does it offer my organization a predictable, detailed product roadmap with a well-defined update strategy?
- Does it support the many technology standards required by the organization?
- Will it enable my staff to work seamlessly with internal and external stakeholders?
- Does the platform support a mobile workforce?
The results of the SAQ business value study made a very clear case for migrating to Windows Vista, based on its individual needs. Other organizations will have their own, unique circumstances and should undertake a detailed review of their own requirements and objectives.
(Elliot Katz is senior product manager for Windows Client at Microsoft Canada. Contact him at elliotk@microsoft.com )
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