download.microsoft.comdownload.microsoft.com/.../Files/4000009516/MAF_Wind…  · Web viewDubai, United Arab Emirates ... Majid Al Futtaim hotels include 2,521 rooms in nine hotels

Windows 7Customer Solution Case Study

Development Company Cuts Costs, Saves Time by Optimizing PC Environment

OverviewCountry or Region: Dubai, United Arab EmiratesIndustry: Professional services—Real estate development

Customer ProfileMajid Al Futtaim Properties primarily focuses on the development and management of shopping malls, hotels, and mixed-use communities.

Business SituationMajid Al Futtaim Properties wanted to standardize its IT infrastructure; provide its employees with the business tools they need; and make it easier to manage and safeguard its PC environment.

SolutionIn September 2010, Majid Al Futtaim Properties began an organizationwide deployment of Windows 7 Enterprise and a number of Microsoft management, productivity, collaboration, and security solutions.

Benefits Flexibility and control Streamlined IT management Enhanced information security Optimized PC environment

“With Windows 7 Enterprise, we can let our employees work where they need to, with the tools that they want, and still maintain good control over the environment.”

Natalia Orsi, Service Delivery Manager, Majid Al Futtaim Properties

Fueled by aggressive growth, Majid Al Futtaim Properties found itself managing an enterprise IT environment with a disparate mix of hardware, operating systems, applications, and vendors. The company wanted to standardize its IT infrastructure; provide its employees with the business tools they need; support its mobile workforce; and make it easier to manage, update, and safeguard its PC environment. In 2010, Majid Al Futtaim Properties began an organizationwide deployment of Windows 7 Enterprise and a number of Microsoft management, productivity, and collaboration solutions, including Windows Internet Explorer 8 and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2. Now Majid Al Futtaim Properties has optimized its PC environment, reduced IT costs, improved information security, streamlined IT management, and enhanced business flexibility while maintaining network control.

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SituationMajid Al Futtaim Properties is a leading developer of shopping malls, hotels, and mixed-use community projects across the Middle East and North Africa. An ambitious growth and marketing strategy has enabled the company to develop and manage the best shopping and leisure destinations that dominate their respective trade areas across the region. Every year, more than 135 million people visit the company’s 10 shopping malls across the region. Majid Al Futtaim hotels include 2,521 rooms in nine hotels under five international brands that accommodate more than 1.2 million guests annually.

Majid Al Futtaim Properties has grown quickly, fueled in part by mergers and acquisitions, which has created an enterprise IT environment with a disparate mix of computer hardware, operating systems, applications, and vendors. Majid Al Futtaim Holding includes several business units with a total of more than 2,000 employees, and while each unit maintains an IT staff, the 35-member IT department at Majid Al Futtaim Properties provides IT services and support for the entire organization, managing 120 servers and approximately 1,400 employee PCs.

Several years ago, the company standardized its PCs with the Windows XP operating system and Microsoft Office 2003 productivity software, but those solutions were aging. Majid Al Futtaim Properties needed to upgrade its PC environment, and it wanted to find a way to standardize its entire IT infrastructure. “All of our different business units were using different models of PCs, different

applications, and different vendors,” says Natalia Orsi, Service Delivery Manager at Majid Al Futtaim Properties. “We wanted to standardize IT across the company, and we wanted to start with an advanced operating system that would make it easier to manage and control our PC environment.”

Orsi says that it was difficult and time-consuming to deploy and update software across the organization, because IT staff had to create a separate configuration-image for each model of PC in use across the enterprise and keep each image updated. “It took many hours to deploy software or distribute updates,” says Orsi. “And my staff resources are limited, so it was challenging to keep all the configuration images refreshed.”

In order to provide engineers and other specialized workers with the flexibility to install and use specialized applications on their computers, Majid Al Futtaim Properties gave all employees administrative privileges on their PCs. But that allowed any employee to install any application or download any software from the Internet, with no monitoring or control by the IT department, and exposing the company’s IT infrastructure to security threats such as computer viruses and malicious software. Majid Al Futtaim Properties also needed a way to manage PCs for an increasingly mobile workforce. “We have architects, engineers, and project managers on construction sites and other locations where they can’t always connect to our corporate network, so we needed a better way to manage access for our mobile

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“We wanted to standardize IT across the company, and we wanted to start with an advanced operating system that would make it easier to manage and control our PC environment.”

Natalia Orsi, Service Delivery Manager, Majid Al Futtaim Properties

employees and outside consultants,” says Orsi. “Also, since these people are traveling, staying in hotels, and working in public sites with hundreds of people, we needed a way to safeguard the engineering drawings and other valuable data stored on their portable computers and mobile devices.”

According to Orsi, Majid Al Futtaim Properties was ready to standardize and optimize its PC infrastructure. The company wanted to provide its employees with the business tools they need every day while making it easier and less expensive for the enterprise to distribute, manage, and update software; deliver network access; control the company’s application environment; and safeguard information.

SolutionIn September 2010, Majid Al Futtaim Properties began a pilot deployment to test the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system on 10 PCs in the IT department. Then, from the end of September to December 2010, the company began the first phase of an organizationwide deployment, installing Windows 7 Enterprise on 500 employee PCs at Majid Al Futtaim Properties.

Majid Al Futtaim Properties signed a Microsoft Select Plus Volume Licensing agreement that helped the company deploy a host of Microsoft management, productivity, collaboration, and security solutions along with Windows 7 Enterprise. The IT department is also deploying Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, the Windows Internet Explorer 8 Internet browser, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, and other Microsoft technologies.

The ambitious scope of the deployment is providing an opportunity for Majid Al Futtaim Properties to refresh its computer hardware and eliminate or upgrade unnecessary or outdated software. So, the IT department thoroughly tested the application suite at Majid Al Futtaim Properties for compatibility with Windows 7 Enterprise. “It was a huge exercise, but our goal was to install Windows 7 Enterprise on every single PC,” says Orsi. “If an application did not work with the new operating system, we replaced it, upgraded it, or found another solution.” For example, the IT department used Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), a component of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, to virtualize a financial application that would not run with Windows 7 Enterprise and then deliver the software as a network service instead of installing it on employee PCs. To operate another application that would only run on Windows XP, Majid Al Futtaim Properties used Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) to install a virtualized image of Windows XP on computers equipped with Windows 7. Because Majid Al Futtaim Properties was using Internet Explorer 7 with Windows XP, almost all of its web applications were compatible with Internet Explorer 8, and the company had very little trouble migrating to the updated browser.

IT administrators at Majid Al Futtaim Properties used Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 to prepare a single configuration image for every PC model, and then to automate the image distribution process. “Now it takes only 20

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“Now it takes only 20 minutes to deploy a PC.... Instead of needing several staff resources to create an image and keep it updated, today, one IT staffer can deploy, manage, and update the configuration of every PC.”

Natalia Orsi, Service Delivery Manager, Majid Al Futtaim Properties

minutes to deploy a PC, and we only have one image to maintain,” says Orsi. “Instead of needing several staff resources to create an image and keep it updated, today, one IT staffer can deploy, manage, and update the configuration of every PC.”

Because Majid Al Futtaim Properties runs its server environment with the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system, it can take advantage of several features in Windows 7 Enterprise that are enabled by Windows Server 2008. For instance, with DirectAccess, mobile employees will be able to connect to the company network through an Internet connection, instead of having to rely on a virtual private network. And the IT department can use AppLocker to create a list of approved applications that can be installed on employee PCs.Majid Al Futtaim Properties anticipates deploying Windows 7 Enterprise to its remaining 900 PCs by the third quarter of 2011. In each business unit, the IT department will test applications, provide user training, and then deploy Windows 7 Enterprise to employee PCs.

BenefitsBy deploying Windows 7 Enterprise and standardizing its IT infrastructure, Majid Al Futtaim Properties optimized its PC environment, reduced IT costs, improved security, streamlined IT management, and enhanced business flexibility while maintaining network control. Flexibility and ControlNow, employees with specialized jobs have the flexibility they need to use applications that are not widely used throughout the company, while the IT department can use

AppLocker to exercise control over what applications can be introduced into the PC environment. Mobile employees can use DirectAccess to connect to company resources more easily and reliably from anywhere with an Internet connection, while Majid Al Futtaim Properties can still safeguard network access without having to manage a virtual private network.

“With Windows 7 Enterprise, we can let our employees work where they need to, with the tools that they want, and still maintain good control over the environment,” says Orsi.

Streamlined IT ManagementThe IT department at Majid Al Futtaim Properties can now spend less time on routine PC management. Tasks that used to take hours, like deploying Windows 7 Enterprise, Office 2010, and other software to new PCs, or distributing security updates throughout the company, can now be done in 20 minutes or less. Now, one IT staffer can manage a single configuration image, instead of several staffers working to keep several images updated, and Orsi estimates that the IT staff now has 20 percent more time for more important priorities.

“We can use System Center Configuration Manager to manage all the desktops and distribute updates from a single console,” says Orsi. “We can also generate reports that give us better insight into the status of the PC environment as a whole, so we can manage more proactively instead of reacting to problems.”

Enhanced Information Security

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”It was very complicated to manage the environment with a lot of different vendors.… And it cost more, too. With the Microsoft Select Plus agreement, we will spend 40 percent less per year than we did with multiple vendors.”

Natalia Orsi, Service Delivery Manager, Majid Al Futtaim Properties

With BitLocker and BitLocker To Go, two drive encryption features in Windows 7 Enterprise, Majid Al Futtaim Properties can help safeguard valuable plans, drawings, and other sensitive business data in case PC hard drives or portable storage devices are lost or stolen. Overall, the company is comfortable with the wide acceptance and good reputation of the security technologies in Windows 7 Enterprise and other Microsoft solutions.

“After talking with other IT professionals, I became confident about Microsoft security technologies,” says Orsi. “I am satisfied that I have the tools to manage access, encrypt data, and help safeguard my environment. That is a benefit that is hard to quantify, but it is incredibly critical.”

Optimized PC EnvironmentBy using a Select Plus licensing agreement to deploy Windows 7 Enterprise as part of an initiative to optimize and standardize its IT infrastructure with Microsoft solutions, Majid Al Futtaim Properties made it easier to manage its PC environment. ”It was very complicated to manage the environment with a lot of different vendors, contracts, and technologies,” says Orsi. “And it cost more, too. With the Microsoft Select Plus agreement, we will spend 40 percent less per year than we did with multiple vendors.”

Majid Al Futtaim Properties is now delivering a modern PC environment that is stable, fast, and easy to use, and that supports the applications its employees need to work and communicate effectively. IT administrators can use AppLocker, to control PC configuration and DirectAccess, to provide access to corporate information resources for employees working outside the company network. “It will be difficult to measure, but getting employees connected to DirectAccess will increase our productivity tremendously,” says Orsi.

For Orsi, another big benefit of the deployment has been the opportunity to clean the PC environment of unnecessary and outdated software that provided little business value. “When we evaluated our applications so we could deploy Windows 7 Enterprise, we found many that were no longer useful or that hadn’t been updated in more than a year,” says Orsi. “We’ve had an opportunity to look at our entire infrastructure and get it under control so that we can be proactive and provide new solutions for the company.”Windows 7Works 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

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Majid Al Futtaim Properties, visit the website at: www.majidalfuttaimproperties.com

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

Document published March 2011

Software and Services Windows 7 Enterprise Microsoft Office− Microsoft Office Professional Plus

2010 Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Windows Server 2008 R2− Microsoft System Center

Configuration Manager 2007 R2

Technologies− Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack− Windows Internet Explorer 8

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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