In order to learn about Microsoft’s latest operating system, ICT services provider Getronics joined the Microsoft Technology Adoption Program (TAP). This involved them in deploying the beta releases of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 in its production environment. Today Getronics has 350 users working day-to-day with Windows 8 spread over several devices such as laptops, desktops and tablets.

1. Getronics enjoys higher productivity and
increased mobility with Windows 8
In order to learn about Microsoft’s latest operating system, ICT services provider Getronics joined the Microinfo.be@getronics.com
tel. +32 2 229 91 11
soft Technology Adoption Program (TAP). This involved
them in deploying the beta releases of Windows 8 and
Windows Server 2012 in its production environment.
Today Getronics has 350 users working day-to-day with
country: Belgium
Windows 8 spread over several devices such as laptops,
sector: ICT services
desktops and tablets.
profile
Getronics is an ICT services group consisting of the
Getronics is convinced that the new technology will
Getronics and Connectis brands and is owned by
enable the company and its customers to deliver cost
the AURELIUS Group, a holding company head-
savings, improve productivity and open the way to
quartered in Munich, Germany. Getronics has ap-
adopting new trends such as Bring Your Own Device,
proximately 4,000 employees in 13 countries across
Choose Your Own Device and the New World of Work
Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America, and has a
in a secure way. The new improved features give users
complete portfolio of integrated ICT services for the
large enterprise and public sector markets.
more mobility and flexibility.
Getronics is now ready to deploy Windows 8 through-
challenge
out the company. The company is also using its first-
As a provider of ICT services and a Microsoft Gold
hand experience of Windows 8 experience to roll out
Partner, Getronics always aims to build up practical
the first projects for external customers.
experience of each technology before offering it to
its customers.
Windows 8

2. ICT services provider Getronics switched 350 of its
solution
employees’ devices to the new operating system Windows
Getronics joined the Microsoft Technology Adop-
8. The devices included laptops, desktop PCs and tablet
tion Program, which involved deploying the beta
computers, which are used across nine different countries.
releases of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 in
Now Getronics is ready for all 4,000 employees worldwide
its production environment. Some 350 laptops,
desktop PCs and tablet computers of Getronics’
employees, spread across nine different countries,
were migrated to Windows 8.
to change to Windows 8. In addition, the company can use
the technical expertise it has built up to support customers
in their switch to Windows 8.
“Windows 8 marks an exciting time for Getronics and our
benefits
customers, delivering cost savings, improving productivity
Û Optimizes the way employees work
and enabling organizations to embrace new trends such as
Û Higher efficiency and productivity
Bring Your Own Device, Choose Your Own Device and the
Û Lower costs
New World of Work in a secure way,” says Nico Sienaert,
Û Easier device management
Sr. Infrastructure Consultant at Getronics. “With our exten-
Û Work with more mobility and flexibility
sive knowledge and experience of working with Microsoft
technologies, Getronics can guide our customers on this
journey.”
software&services
Servers
Windows Server 2012
Getronics’ philosophy is to test technology in its own environment before advising its customers to deploy it. That’s
why Getronics, a Microsoft Gold Partner, first wanted to
Developer Tools
learn about Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 before
the official launch on the market. The ICT services provider
Windows
Windows 8
joined the Microsoft Technology Adoption Program, which
involved them in deploying the beta releases of Windows
8 and Windows Server 2012 in its production environment.
Desktop Applications
Business Solutions
Embracing new trends
While working with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012,
Online Services
Getronics noticed that the new Microsoft technologies
enable organizations to embrace new ICT trends more
Microsoft Services
easily.
Microsoft Technologies
“Mobile technologies will become more and more of a
commodity,” says Nico Sienaert. “It’s really about the ap-
Microsoft Security
plication, no matter where the user is located on the
globe. That’s why Getronics has intensively tested Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 features like BranchCache, BitLocker and Remote Access. With Windows 7 we
could already see that the features showed a lot of
promise for the future. Now with the improvements that
Microsoft has made, these features have become even
easier to implement, and the threshold is lower.”
Getronics, together with Microsoft, is one of the pioneers
of the New World of Work. “While many companies have
it on their radar, we have implemented this way of

3. Nico Sienaert, Sr. Infrastructure Consultant at Getronics: “Getronics believes that Windows 8 and its
features will bring many organizations a step closer to a full New World of Work environment.”
working for more than two years now,” says Nico
with mobile workers and task workers. That’s why we
Sienaert. “Besides the change in culture and mental-
started to build Windows 8 apps in-house, including
ity, technology is key to making such a project a
an Internal Social Media tool, Engineer Application
success. Getronics believes that Windows 8 and its
and Meeting Room Reservation.”
features will bring many organizations a step closer
to a full New World of Work environment.”
In addition to the improved features in Windows 8
and Windows Server 2012, Getronics also tested a
Another trend that is fast gaining ground is Bring
number of new features such as Windows To Go,
Your Own Device. “This is a complex area, for exam-
Data Deduplication and Dynamic Access Control.
ple due to network security concerns, but with Win-
Windows To Go is a new feature of Windows 8 that
dows 8 our customers will be able to better prepare
allows companies to provide an environment that
themselves,” according to Nico Sienaert. “Windows 8
will boot from a USB drive. This is useful for people
provides the opportunity for companies to offer its
such as external staff, who can then run Windows 8
employees leading devices with the operating sys-
from the USB stick on their own laptop. This means
tem that they are familiar with. Getronics recognizes
it is no longer necessary for the organisation to pro-
that customers may change their strategy from
vide them with a hardware device. New features at
Bring Your Own Device to Choose Your Own Device,
the server level include Data Deduplication and Dy-
which will have a positive impact on cost and risk.”
namic Access Control. Data Deduplication enables
organizations to save on disk space, while Dynamic
It’s not only about Windows, it’s about apps
Access Control allows a more classification-based
Getronics noticed during the Technology Adoption
approach of access rights. Refining the set-up of
Program that the new Windows 8 operating system
users’ access rights, based on their profile, makes
is very user-friendly, being very similar to Windows
security more efficient and easier to manage.
7. However, users will need to adapt to the new
Windows 8 style user interface. “The new style is de-
Device management
signed for touch screen technology, which is impor-
Getronics also provides managed services for large
tant for tablets,” explains Nico Sienaert. “We believe
organisations and so it is well aware of the com-
that there are huge opportunities for our customers
plexities of device management. “As Getronics

4. manages more than 300,000 devices in Belgium and
Luxembourg, it is important that we keep improving the
way we manage all these devices,” says Nico Sienaert. “As
part of our extensive experience with Windows Vista and
Windows 7 roll-outs, we invested in tools to make the migration to a new operating system less painful for our
customers. We are continuing this practice with
Windows 8, with tools built on Microsoft System Center
Configuration Manager and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit.
By focusing on minimizing user downtime, retaining settings and applications, and keeping risk low, we can
guarantee our customers smoother OS migration projects.”
First Windows 8 projects for external customers
In the meantime, Getronics is already carrying out the first
Windows 8 projects for external customers. For example, it
“Getronics believes that there are huge opportunities for its customers with mobile
workers and task workers. That’s why we
started to build Windows 8 apps in-house,
including an Internal Social Media tool,
Engineer Application and Meeting Room
Reservation.”
for more information
For more information about the Microsoft products
and services described, call +32 2 503 31 13 or visit
www.microsoft.be/cases for other businesses that
use similar applications.
For
more
information
about
Getronics,
+32 2 229 91 11 or visit www.getronics.com
call
is helping a large university hospital in the Netherlands to
equip the nursing staff with a Windows 8 tablet PC. This
allows users to search for, share and update information
on patients very efficiently. Ultimately, this approach
should replace the paper-based patient records.