AppSense helps Investa Property Group to be more agile and responsive

• Functional Applications - Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)
• Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
• Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems

• Business Operation
• Facility Management

• Asset Health Management (AHM)
• Predictive Maintenance
• Remote Asset Management
• Remote Control

• System Integration
• Training

Investa Property Group faced significant challenges with their IT infrastructure, primarily due to the wide variation in user operating environments and the limited off-site access to applications. The organization had a high number of service tickets and long resolution times due to the discrepancies in PCs and software. Deploying software remotely was nearly impossible, and asset management was problematic with obsolete resources lying dormant. The CIO initiated a review of the organization’s desktops and found significant opportunities for a more efficient, Standard Operating Environment (SOE). The systemic challenges were most apparent for the IT team but also had implications for the end-users and the way they worked. The need for a streamlined IT infrastructure became evident, and the organization sought a solution that could address these issues comprehensively.

Investa Property Group is one of Australia’s largest owners and managers of quality real estate, controlling more than AU$8.4 billion worth of assets across the commercial, industrial, and residential sectors. The company provides a full service, end-to-end offering across funds management, portfolio and asset services, property services, development, and sustainability. With over 240 end-users Australia-wide, around 155 users are headquartered at Investa’s flagship office in Sydney, while the remaining workforce is situated outside HQ in offices in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and offsite locations. The staff includes an IT team of fifteen and an IT infrastructure team of three.

Investa Property Group deployed a comprehensive suite of AppSense desktop solutions to streamline their IT infrastructure. AppSense staff were brought on-site for a week at the beginning of the project for hands-on assistance and staff training. Investa’s systems engineer also attended a dedicated, offsite AppSense training program. After designing the preliminary system, Investa conducted a pilot across 25 users, where AppSense’s capability to streamline systemic changes and make tweaks on the fly first impressed Investa. Once satisfied with the pilot, the roll-out to the wider organization was straightforward. Virtual desktops were deployed for users based outside the Sydney headquarters, connected to Citrix XenDesktop, each with a new Windows 7 operating environment and Office 2010. Physical desktops with seemingly identical operating environments were rolled out for the remaining staff headquartered in Sydney. Regardless of location, all users can now work remotely using Citrix. AppSense was chosen for its immense flexibility, allowing the organization to manage apps and users across legacy apps. The solution enabled rapid response to the changing needs of individual users and business units, adding apps or printers or mapping network drives without requiring user logon or off.

• Users now have a far superior experience as their profile follows them everywhere, irrespective of location and device. Users are experiencing far fewer problems and virtually no downtime when they do occur.
• Investa uses AppSense to manage apps across business units, deploying a suite of standard applications in a particular work group or business unit and readily tailoring those apps while managing licenses. This role-based approach means no unused applications spread across the organization for which they’re paying license fees.
• Managing exceptions to these standard app suites is easily done. Additionally, the organization now has a handle on their asset register, eliminating redundant leases and allowing staff to be more accountable for the assets in use.

• Investa controls more than AU$8.4 billion worth of assets.
• Over 240 end-users Australia-wide, with around 155 users headquartered in Sydney.
• The IT team consists of fifteen members, with an IT infrastructure team of three.