Eindhoven is one of the five largest municipalities in the Netherlands, with approximately 246,443 inhabitants living on 89 km². Known as the ‘Brainport’ of the Netherlands, it hosts many leading technology companies, receiving about one-third of all Dutch R&D funding. A municipality with such great focus on the technology of the future should clearly have a plan in place for the future of work.
The municipality had already invested in hardware to support the transition, but what they really needed was a hybrid IT set-up with Microsoft 365 to maximize the use of this hardware while limiting the licensing costs for their users. In cooperation with integration partners IT Value and pan-European third-party software supplier UBM Global, Recast met these demands with a combination of Application Workspace and Release & Patch Management.
A personalized experience
Eindhoven needed to implement an environment that would enable all users to work wherever they prefer, on whatever device they prefer. They focused on flexibility, an amazing user experience, and high-level security in their search for the optimal solution and provider. The new solution would need to seamlessly integrate with their existing sizable hardware investment and portal while presenting a universal user experience and reducing software licensing costs.
The new solution comprises a combination of Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 integrated with the Application Workspace platform. Users get the ultimate user experience without having to get used to a new portal. This is because of the back-end configuration functionality of the platform’s Smart Icons. They enable the IT team to easily provide end users with a familiar one-click application and contextual service access experience that is indistinguishable from their legacy portal. The municipality will also equip all users with a new laptop set up with Microsoft Autopilot and Intune that is configured with a customized Application Workspace user interface.
Getting started
The project started with a 100-user pilot led by IT Value, UBM Global, and the municipality’s IT team, in partnership with Recast Software (formerly Liquit). Eventually, the initiative expanded to all 2,500 users. Deployment, launch, and updates of applications are fully automated, allowing users to work without technical interruptions.
Application Workspace provides a clear, recognizable look and feel for users through contextually configured icons and option menus on each device. Introducing the Release & Patch Management module of Application Workspace helps the IT team to deploy, configure, and patch the applications, which all save a considerable amount of time.
Pierre van den Heuvel, Program Manager IT at the municipality of Eindhoven, is confident the new solution is future-proof:
“As part of Recast Software, the former Liquit team has always been a very innovative partner that offers an incredibly flexible solution that is focused on the horizon. They’re always looking for other interesting parties to integrate with and that continues now that they’re Recast. This means that whenever I want to extend our IT landscape with a new solution, I don’t have to wait for them to connect to it. Most of the time, they already have an integration in place when I have only just started considering a new integration. They have given us exactly what we were looking for and continue to prepare our municipality for the future of work.”