“Windows 8 is helping our employees be more productive, which means we can do more internally and save time, effort, and money by not having to hire a contractor to do the work.” Senta Boardley, Director, Operations and Executive Assistant, The Century Council As part of an ongoing effort to support its mobile workers and to keep up with the latest technologies, the Century Council deployed Windows 8 Pro to run on tablets and desktop PCs. Soon, the operating system will be deployed organizationwide, but the council is already seeing increased productivity from employees who can easily connect to office computers from tablets. Some projects have been trimmed from hours to minutes. Business Needs The Century Council is an independent National Advisory Board composed of distinguished leaders in education, medicine, government, and business who work with law enforcement, public officials, educators, parents, and students to raise awareness of the dangers of alcohol abuse. The organization relies on technology to help its small staff operate more efficiently, both internally and out in the field. The council’s mission involves outreach at numerous remote public events, especially at schools, where mobile devices and remote connectivity capabilities are essential. The council sought a simple, reliable way for employees to connect to and work from computers on its corporate network, but devices such as Apple iPad hadn’t been able to easily provide it. Employees use a variety of devices that have to be supported: Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry. “We have a young workforce, which is used to mobility and staying connected,” explains Ralph Blackman, President and Chief Executive Office of the Century Council. “We needed to support these employees and also to adopt technologies that are being used or will soon be used by our young target audience so that we can better understand how they communicate.” He adds that the Century Council continually strives to keep up with the latest technology trends and wanted to adopt an operating system that would best support his staff in outreach activities. Solution In early 2012, the Century Council began using a prerelease version of the Windows 8 Pro operating system, running it on two tablets and two desktop PCs. Technical advice and support was provided by New Signature, a Microsoft Partner Network member. “We knew the Century Council was ideally suited for Windows 8 Pro,” says Sean Feeney, IT Consultant at New Signature. “The combination of usability, performance, strong security, and the ability to access office PCs remotely through the Remote Desktop feature made it a perfect fit for their organization.” Features that were particularly appealing to the council were those that will help save time—picture passwords (signing in without typing) for quick logon, quick swiping to rapidly switch between applications, fast search for files and applications, and, most important, the quick startup time and performance of Windows 8 Pro. Additionally, Blackman says that upgrading supports his goal to reach a young demographic: “We stay on top of the kind of technology that younger people use so that we have a better sense of how to reach them in our campaigns. Since Windows 8 and tablets are only going to Customer: The Century Council Website: www.centurycouncil.org Customer Size: 18 employees Country or Region: United States Industry: Nonprofit organizations— Membership organizations Partner: New Signature Customer Profile Founded in 1991 in Arlington, Virginia, and funded by alcohol distillers, the Century Council is a national, independent, not-for-profit organization that fights against drunk driving and underage drinking. Software and Services Windows 8 Pro Microsoft Server Product Portfolio − Windows Server 2008 R2 Microsoft Office 365 Microsoft Office − Microsoft Office Professional 2010 Technologies − Microsoft SkyDrive For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies Windows 8 Customer Solution Case Study Public Service Organization Uses Operating System to Shorten Project Completion Time