CASE STUDY

Gelre Ziekenhuizen Solves Application Management Headaches with Recast’s Application Workspace

At-a-glance

Gelre Ziekenhuizen, a leading Dutch hospital group with over 3,000 employees, turned to Recast Software’s Application Workspace to overcome growing challenges in managing its complex IT environment. Working with implementation partner IT-Value, the hospital migrated more than 350 core applications in just two weeks. Application Workspace now enables Gelre’s IT team to link application access to user identities, automate patching, and streamline updates across all endpoints. As a result, application installations that once took up to three days are now completed in under eight hours, while automated patching ensures systems remain secure and up to date. The hospital has also reduced Microsoft licensing costs and freed IT resources to focus on innovation and hybrid cloud optimization. According to Patrick van Leeuwen, Manager ICT at Gelre Ziekenhuizen, “Tasks that took days now take just a few hours. Our workstations are faster and more stable, which significantly enhances job satisfaction for all employees.”

The Challenge

Gelre Ziekenhuizen is a leading Dutch hospital group with primary locations in Apeldoorn and Zutphen, as well as two regional outpatient clinics and a diagnostic center. With technology playing a fundamental role in today’s healthcare services, maintaining the smooth operation of its IT systems and applications is a top priority for the hospital group.

With over 3,000 employees, a wide range of endpoints, multiple specialized healthcare applications, and growing patient numbers, the hospital’s lean IT team found managing devices and applications had become increasingly cumbersome and time-consuming. The solution it was using to install and maintain its core applications functioned effectively, but it did not support the simultaneous patching of multiple devices. Configuring applications, devices, and user access rights tailored to meet the hospital’s complex needs was also challenging.

Gelre Ziekenhuizen solves application management headaches with Recast’s Application Workspace, enabling the IT team to manage and support frontline services more effectively.

The Solution

To streamline application management across its operations, Gelre Ziekenhuizen chose Application Workspace from Recast Software, selecting IT-Value to act as its implementation partner. Instead of managing applications on a device-by-device basis, Application Workspace enables the IT team to link application access to user identities and deploy approved tools through a catalog of thousands of curated applications. Additionally, ring-based patching and integrated diagnostic tools in Application Workspace simplify updates and security compliance activities. This supports faster onboarding, reduced support workloads, easier user access, and more reliable software.

The Results

Huge Efficiency Gains – Previously, installing one virtual application took Gelre Ziekenhuizen up to three working days. Today, with Application Workspace, the IT team can install three virtual apps in under eight hours.
Simplified Patch Management – Application Workspace supports automated, rapid, and reliable remote patching across all the hospital’s endpoints, including workstations, laptops, and servers. This significantly reduces IT workloads and helps to keep systems secure and up to date.
Time to Focus on Innovation – With more time for value-added activities, the hospital’s IT team is now prioritizing further improvements to its application landscape and optimizing its hybrid cloud strategy to unlock further efficiency gains.

Highlights

Rapid two-week migration to Application Workspace achieved with IT-Value for over 350 core applications and solutions.
Reduced Microsoft licensing costs by improving application configuration, deployment, and management.
Released more time for IT experts to spend on innovation and application improvement across back-end and front-end systems.

Tasks that took days now take just a few hours. Additionally, our workstations are faster and more stable, which significantly enhances job satisfaction for all employees. We can now also update applications automatically, giving us much more time for innovation and more challenging projects.

Patrick van Leeuwen, Manager ICT, Gelre Ziekenhuizen

Conclusion

Managing applications with Application Workspace has already delivered significant benefits for Gelre Ziekenhuizen. Automated updates and installations, application pre-configuration capabilities, and improved flexibility empower the hospital’s IT team to focus on the technical needs of users across departments. Today, employees can access their applications quickly and easily; the IT, meanwhile, can deliver tailored services to a wide range of distinct user groups, helping to ensure efficient hospital services around the clock.