9/10. Vision Australia VDI Case Study. The Dashboard. Overview. Key Findings. Recommendations. Company Information: Name: Vision Australia

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1 1 Vision Australia VDI Case Study By Trevor Clarke, Lead Analyst Asia Pacific The Dashboard Company Information: Name: Vision Australia Size: 750+ Overview This Tech Research Asia end user case study analyses the results of the adoption of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) by Vision Australia as part of an end user computing strategy project. It investigates the reasons why Vision Australia adopted the technology, the goals it was striving to achieve, and the outcomes it has realised. This case study also provides advice to technology leaders considering their own workplace strategy. Key Findings Adopting VDI has provided Vision Australia with the dual benefits of improving employee productivity via faster log in times, while avoiding a capital outlay on refreshing end user devices. Although not all employees want BYOD or the latest tablet devices, for those that do, the use of VDI enables the IT department to retain control over data and management while allowing employees to engage clients in new ways. Recommendations For Technology and Service Buyers: Define your vision for your ideal environment and culture with the input of a broad cross-section of stakeholders in the organisation. Drivers and desires will differ by role and business unit. As part of this evaluate technologies that can provide adaptability through dynamic provisioning of services for your future needs. Focus on the outcomes, not the technology. A greater level of success is evident with organisations that take a holistic view of the workplace. So make sure your workplace strategy harmonises and optimises the physical spaces you use, the processes and practices in place, the supporting technology, and the broader culture of the organisation. Industry: Non-profit services (blindness and low vision services) Countries: Australia Project snapshot: Adoption of a VDI to support an end user computing environment Results: 9/10 Vision Australia rated its adoption of Citrix-based VDI as 9 out of 10 in their contribution to improved productivity for employees. It also rated the technology an 8 out of 10 for helping with cost management. Future: Vision Australia is now undertaking a project to improve its business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) approach while implementing an app store front for users and trialling Microsoft Lync over VDI.

2 2 The When, Where, Who and What Vision Australia provides services for people who are blind or have low vision across Australia. It has 820 full time employees in 28 sites with a large presence in the states of Queensland, Victoria and NSW with a smaller footprint in Western Australia and South Australia. For its more than 30,000 clients Vision Australia provides orientation and mobility services, physiotherapists, speech pathologists, occupational and health therapists, Seeing Eye dogs, library services, education, and assistive technology. It also undertakes advocacy on behalf of people who are blind or have low vision and conducts clinics and recreational groups. In late 2012, the organisation undertook a project to implement virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) based on Citrix technology. The Why The organisation had three main objectives for adopting VDI. These were: 1) To improve mobility for staff. This was particularly the case for staff moving between Vision Australia s own offices around the country. 2) To improve the performance of end user computers and thus staff productivity. The organisation had a fleet of old desktops that hadn t been updated for several years. As a result, log in times for some staff especially when visiting other offices could be up to one hour in worst case scenarios. 3) To reduce costs. As a non-profit organisation reducing expenditure is a perennial focus for Vision Australia. VDI and the re-purposing of existing devices was adopted to help avoid having to replace the old fleet of devices. The Vision Australia IT department, in consultation with the General Manager, decided to implement Citrix as it was a fit for its business objectives and more importantly could be implemented within the budget it had available at the time. The How Vision Australia made the decision to use Citrix XenApp 6.5 after a comparison with competing solutions. It also engaged Southern Cross Computer Systems to help with implementation. As the organisation has a wide distribution of offices across Australia and the IT department wasn t always able to make regular visits to all sites, a decision was made to implement VDI office-byoffice one at a time. A project team was created with four core personnel. Other personnel were utilised on the project. But the project was implemented with limited human resources. The implementation process was as follows: Each site was given a date for implementation and one or more super users (depending on the size of the office) was nominated to help with trialling VDI and with change management. Two or three sites were implemented in each phase. During the three or four week period prior to deployment, the IT department runs through a pre-implementation check list which includes helping users to spring clean, or in other words clean up hard drives and make sure documents are stored in the right places. This clean-up stage also helps the IT department understand the technology needs for each user. Depending on their role, each user receives either a repurposed thick client with a Windows 7 OS and relevant applications, or a thin client with apps delivered over the network.

3 3 On the implementation date, the IT department remotely reimages end user machines and over the weekend test that the system is working and troubleshoot any issues. On the Monday, IT staff are on hand for technical assistance and to help users with any issues. They remain on site for two days but increase remote support for the next two weeks. Then the next site phase starts. Vision Australia also supports bring your own device (BYOD) but it is not considered a major driver and not really desired by the majority of staff. Indeed, only a vocal minority often those working with children or the assistive technology group have requested BYO support. At present, Vision Australia hasn t been able to implement VDI for its internal IT customers that are vision impaired (17% or 18% of the total), as the VDI solution is not fully compatible with assistive technology, although they have provided an alternative with screen readers on laptops to improve performance and be mobile when needed. The Outcomes The results in chart 1 show the level of contribution Vision Australia believes the adoption of VDI has made to a common set of business goals. Vision Australia IT department representatives were asked to provide a rating on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is an outstanding contribution, and 1 is a very low contribution). Each business goal is listed below along with the score and reasoning where provided by Vision Australia. Growth = 5. The adoption of VDI is perceived to have removed a technology hindrance from staff efforts and is allowing them to focus on providing higher levels of service to clients. It is also giving them more options in terms of type of device they can use with customers. Cost management = 8. Vision Australia claims the project has saved the organisation hundreds of thousands of dollars by allowing them to avoid a capital outlay on new devices while at the same time boosting productivity. Chart 1 Vision Australia s estimated outcomes from VDI Risk = 5. On balance the organisation believes it is able to manage its risk better with VDI due to centrally managing and storing data. Talent = 5. For the IT department, projects like the VDI rollout help to retain staff as they are engaging strategies that can produce tangible results for clients. However, for the broader organisation there has been no significant effect experienced. Client Engagement = 7. For many of Vision Australia s employees they can now interact with clients using technology (e.g. via tablets) and this has been considered a strong Productivity Innovation CSR Growth Client Engagement Cost Risk Talent Source: Tech Research Asia, 2014

4 4 positive. However, tempering this is that for many therapists the use of technology is not central to providing services (indeed, it can be considered a distraction). CSR = 5. Accessibility is still a challenge with users that are blind or have low vision and are unable to use the VDI delivered applications at this stage. However, the organisation has extended the life of end user devices which is considered an environmental plus. Users who are blind or low vision were provided with new, high-end laptops with Win 7 OS to enable them to meet the objectives of mobility and improved performance. Productivity = 9. Vision Australia says it has done some performance testing that shows the post-vdi experience for users is a significant improvement. Users are now able to log in faster than in the past and can also work from home. Innovation = 7. Employees are now using tablets with applications and information delivered by VDI to try new approaches and consider new research with clients. The Next Steps for Vision Australia Vision Australia also runs remote and mobile educational clinics where traditionally many applications couldn t be used. The IT department is now in the process of further deploying the Citrix VDI solution and pairing it with 4G hotspot devices so they can deliver applications to the mobile clinics. This will be a central focus area in future. Further, the organisation is now working on a business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plan to help remove a single point of failure challenge with its existing data centres. Other projects include trialling Microsoft Lync over VDI and rolling out an app store front for employees. Recommendations For Technology and Service Buyers looking to adopt a flexible working strategy: Take stock and assess your current culture and performance trajectory: Conduct a utilisation and work style study and undertake stakeholder interviews or surveys including front line employees. Ensure this is done independently to ensure data captured is valid and provides reliable insights. Define your vision for your ideal environment and culture through multi-party collaboration: Input from both front-line workers and the executive branch will help ensure the vision is representative. Tour current high performance workplaces to understand what is possible. Focus on the value you expect to gain from making a change like deploying VDI although as the Vision Australia experience shows, cost reductions are possible. Evaluate enabling technologies: The process of piloting VDI will create an opportunity to understand your environment in great detail. Use this to generate ongoing business and IT metrics. Tech Research Asia believes any big change to the end user computing environment should be used to create long-term data capture around the interplay between employees, technologies and efforts to achieve goals. This will alleviate some of the guess work around employee needs/best practice and reduce time used in proof of concepts for any future end user computing projects.

5 5 Additional Resources We encourage you to read extensively to better inform your decisions and maintain an open knowledge policy to support this recommendation. To receive any of the below research please contact Tech Research Asia. Intelligent Foundations: Containerised Data Centres in the Asia Pacific. By Trevor Clarke The Australian Data Centre and Cloud Computing Strategy Summit Report, By Trevor Clarke 2014 Allianz Infrastructure Optimisation Case Study, Tim Dillon The activity based working checklist for CxOs and IT leaders. By Trevor Clarke How to build a business case for flexible working and your ABW office. By Trevor Clarke innovative ideas for your flexible working office. By Trevor Clarke Activity Based Working: The New World of Work. By TRA Activity Based Working: The Future of Work in Australia. By Trevor Clarke Work 3.0: Strategies for a High Performance Workplace. By TRA Work 3.0: High Performance Customer Engagement. By TRA BlueWork: The American Express Workplace Strategy. By Trevor Clarke The Corrs Chambers Westgarth Workplace and Technology Strategy. Trevor Clarke The New Zealand Smart Home Opportunity, Trevor Clarke The Smarter Connected NZ Town, Trevor Clarke 2014 Co-working New Zealand. Trevor Clarke Japan: The ANA Workplace and Technology Strategy, Trevor Clarke 2014 (forthcoming) ASB North Wharf Activity Based Working Case Study. By Trevor Clarke Japan: One of Them Activity Based Working Case Study. By Trevor Clarke Making the most of the flexible work movement. By TRA Bankwest Activity Based Working Case Study. By Trevor Clarke Aon Australia Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Case Study. By Trevor Clarke Fortescue Metals Group Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Case Study. By Trevor Clarke LINZ end user computing case study. By Trevor Clarke Case Study: A Day in the Life of John Holland. By Trevor Clarke Fulton Hogan case study. By Trevor Clarke The Australian Future of Work CxO, IT and Sales Survey. By Trevor Clarke Mobility in 2015: Australia. By Trevor Clarke The Australian Government Mobility Survey. By Trevor Clarke and Tim Dillon The Impact of Activity Based Working on Office Printing and Future Opportunities, By Trevor Clarke The Australian Office Print Services Market and the Channel, , By Trevor Clarke. Published March Australian Federal Government Agencies and MPS: Market Analysis By Trevor Clarke. Published May COPYRIGHT AND QUOTATION POLICY: The Tech Research Asia name and published materials are subject to trademark and copyright protection, regardless of source. Use of this research and content for an organisation s internal purposes is acceptable given appropriate attribution to Tech Research Asia. For further information on acquiring rights to use Tech Research Asia research and content please contact us via our website or directly. DISCLAIMER: You accept all risks and responsibility for losses, damages, costs and other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from using this research document and any information or material available from it. To the maximum permitted by law, Tech Research Asia excludes all liability to any person arising directly or indirectly from using this research and content and any information or material available from it. This report is provided for information purposes only. It is not a complete analysis of every material fact respecting any technology, company, industry, security or investment. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. Statements of fact have been obtained from sources considered reliable but no representation is made by Tech Research Asia or any of its affiliates as to their completeness or accuracy.