Publiguías is Chile’s leading company in the Yellow Pages industry, with 30 years of presence in the national market. From 1974 to date, Publiguías has constituted itself as the only publishing house that publishes telephone guides in all the Chilean regions. Through agreements with EntelPhone, Manquehue, Telefónica CTC Chile, Telefónica del Sur, Telesat and VTR, Publiguías publishes and distributes its guides to practically every phone user in Chile.

The Challenge: Support Teleworkers with Application Access

In 2001, Publiguías started to implement a telework project for its sales representatives and office and regional branch supervisors. The representatives did their transactions and entered contracts using PCs at home, but they did not have access to the company’s applications, information and tools that were available in Publiguías’ headquarters.

This lack of access made information exchange more complex. Further it was difficult to maintain cohesion among all regional offices. Publiguías wanted a remote access solution that could be managed and maintained remotely with ease.

“Having a PC at every rep’s home without a centralized information system meant the company had to incur various expenses, such as technical support all over the country,” explained Riccardo Gamberini, Systems Sub-manager for Publiguías. “In addition to the costs this involved, the reps didn’t have access to the company’s online information and resources, which made the commercial transactions more difficult,” added the executive.

A Citrix Solution for Remote Office Connectivity

In order to connect teleworkers and regional offices, Publiguías deployed Citrix Presentation Server™ with Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server to provide access to different applications such as Microsoft® Office and Outlook®, Persoft’s Smarterm, and Oracle Forms. Employees connect to applications running on Citrix Presentation Server via the Internet.

The successful deployment of Citrix Presentation Server was conducted by AIS Ingeniería, a Citrix® Solution Advisor in Chile.

Higher Productivity and Superior Customer Service

Citrix Presentation Server enabled Publiguías to centralize its applications in the data center, and provide remote offices and home-based workers with access to all the company’s resources. Working in “virtual offices,” sales reps and regional supervisors can operate remotely, perform operational and consultant functions while staying in touch with headquarters and customers via e-mail. Citrix Presentation Server has enabled users in their home-based offices all over the country to operate independently, which translates into a productivity increase.

Remote application access using Citrix access infrastructure allow the sales reps, among other things, to enter their sales, to receive drafts electronically, and to request leaflets, without the need of third parties (mail or mailbag). These capabilities give the reps greater autonomy in conducting transactions by breaking the time and distance barriers that, until a short time ago, were major drawbacks in the relationships between Publiguías and its employees, and, through them, its customers.

Cost Savings in Application Administration and Support

“The Citrix deployment has allowed us to reduce costs in various items, such as IT support service and sending printed documentation in paper, mailbag, etc. Now everything is done online. This way, we’ve been able to keep the IT support group the same size, and at the same time, increase the number of workstations they administer. Today, the only requirement to open a branch office is having an Internet connection –- with Citrix, the branch has instant access to the system,” assured Gamberini.

Also, data centralization allows the company to implement and update applications in minutes, instead of months, without the costs and delays associated with visits to every desk. “Citrix allows you to simplify administration and provide the user with more effective support by taking over a session remotely. This way we can see the problem the user faces, thus optimizing support processes,” adds Gamberini.

The telework project has been growing since its start-up. Today, 160 users access their business-critical applications from anywhere and through any connection.

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