The World’s Oldest National Land Register Embraces the Future of Work with Citrix Technology.
Registers of Scotland, the government agency responsible for 18 public registers relating to land, property and other legal documents, has deployed Citrix solutions to transform its workplace environment, giving employees the freedom to collaborate and work where they want, embracing the future of work.
Why stay with the same old thing?
With the lease about to expire on their existing offices, and the organisation already focused on the UK government’s Digital First policy, the IT team at Registers of Scotland saw an opportunity to use technology to implement a smart working environment and offer employees new ways to work. The team worked with Citrix Consulting to deploy Citrix XenDesktop – giving every person dedicated computing resources – while Citrix XenApp delivers critical legacy applications. Now, everyone can access their apps and information securely wherever they are.
An environment to empower everyone and every task
The new office is designed to facilitate different work styles. There are phonebox-sized rooms for private conference calls, restaurant-booth areas for small meetings and larger spaces for team gatherings. The lighting is designed to support different thought processes or working preferences. Microsoft Skype for Business, delivered through Citrix, has replaced the old PBX and is used for video conferencing, desktop sharing, and any other communication and collaboration.
The results? They speak for themselves.
- With a desk-to-people ratio of 7:10 and the elimination of the in-house data centre, the new office occupies just one floor instead of seven.
- A private cloud and iGel thin-client terminals have dramatically reduced power usage
- Removing 70-75% of their hardware and replacing it with new, virtualised equipment, is saving hundreds of IT man-hours per month in handling desk-moves
As Jeff Miller, Head of IT Services at Registers of Scotland explains: “In an organisation with over 1,200 staff, every day, every week, every month people are moving around. We have tens or hundreds of user-moves and every time we had to move their phone and their PC. That’s not sustainable. We were not adding value by doing that. With the move to new office premises, we saw an opportunity to take a new approach, but it wouldn’t have been the transformation it is without the Citrix technology. There are no servers on the premises. We have fully embraced smart working practices so that people are not tied to their desks. The business is 400 years old and Citrix is helping us embrace the future of work. The environment changes, the market changes, citizens’ expectations change, and when technology changes it can be an enabler of change.”
Ultimately, the future of work is collaborative and flexible, encouraging employees to work in a way that suits them. By centralising and securing data and applications, Registers of Scotland is giving workers the tools to work more smartly wherever they may be whilst significantly reducing costs, and increasing productivity.
You can hear more about Registers of Scotland’s Citrix journey at Synergy Unplugged UK, taking place in London on Tuesday, July 4th. You can find more details and register here.
