eLux^® drives savings of €3.2 Million & 680 Tons of CO₂

ZDFin und Unicon: Partnership with Confidence.

For approximately 20 years, Unicon has been supplying ZDFin with modern IT workstations for its financial administration employees, ensuring uninterrupted workflow in all business processes. ZDFin benefits from eLux, a lightweight, hardware-agnostic, Linux-based operating system that operates on devices such as thin clients and laptops. This solution is ideal for a financial authority that handles highly sensitive data on a daily basis, as it is less susceptible to cyber-attacks compared to Windows. In addition, ZDFin utilizes Unicon‘s Scout Management Solution to centrally and efficiently manage and update all its devices. With the Scout Cloud Gateway, remote devices of the teleworkstations can be connected and uniformly managed without the need for a separate VPN connection.

Challenge: Covid-19 as a Catalyst for Digitalization

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, followed by subsequent lockdowns, posed unprecedented challenges for ZDFin‘s experienced IT experts. They were confronted with new obstacles that demanded swift decision-making and courageous actions. The team had to collaborate and harness their collective efforts to reassess and implement strategies that were previously deemed unimaginable, all in order to maintain full functionality in financial management and uphold the highest security standards

Providing Remote Workspaces

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, only around 10% of the authority‘s employees worked remotely. However, within a short timeframe, it became necessary for the majority of the approximately 7,000 tax authority employees to be able to work from home.

Device Security

There was no room for compromise when it came to safety. The financial administration had to ensure the continuous protection of highly sensitive data, regardless of the employees‘ location or the devices they were using.

Monitor and Equipment Shortage

The pandemic had a serious impact on the availability of hardware. Displays, essential for a fully equipped workplace, virtually disappeared from the market.

Unified Communications & Collaborations

The employees of the financial administration needed to maintain connectivity and effective communication despite the physical distance. Additionally, it was crucial to ensure the uninterrupted operations of the College of Finance (Hochschule für Finanzen und Landesfinanzschule), enabling junior tax officials to continue their training through distance learning.

Efficient Device Management

The management and updating of the entire IT infrastructure remained crucial, even for devices located outside the company network. It was necessary to promptly and efficiently install required updates to keep the entire environment up to date and compliant with strict security guidelines.

Solution: Scale, Manage, Secure with Confidence.

Unicon’s software solutions played a decisive role in helping ZDFin successfully meet the challenges the pandemic has presented.

Scaling and Repurposing

Due to the scarcity of monitors and thin clients, eLux was installed on obsolete laptops as an alternative. These laptops were transformed into mobile thin clients and put back into operation. ZDFin supervised this process, which took place on-site in some tax offices, ensuring the devices could be quickly and efficiently handed over to employees. Additionally, most new thin clients from candidate or training workstations were updated and issued to staff. ZDFin successfully repurposed 2,600 unused fat clients, previously running on the Windows operating system, by migrating them to eLux. This avoided the need to invest in new hardware running Windows OS. The repurposing initiative resulted in substantial cost savings of €2,470,000 compared to purchasing new fat clients with Windows. Furthermore, ZDFin saved an additional €234,000 on licenses by utilizing the Unicon solution instead of Microsoft‘s offering. As a result, the ZDFin team swiftly provided 2,600 fully functional remote workspaces to employees, enabling them to work from home.

Managing Securing

One of the major challenges faced by ZDFin was effectively managing the distributed devices now operating from remote locations. Ensuring client software updates for these remote workspaces was crucial from both a security and functionality perspective. To address this, the Scout Cloud Gateway (SCG) was introduced as a solution to securely connect endpoints in home offices and on the Internet to the existing Scout server. The system automatically detects whether (mobile) thin clients are connected to the Internet or the internal network. This significantly simplified device management for ZDFin, regardless of whether they were in a home office, on the move, or physically on the premises. It also facilitated the efficient distribution of up-to-date software versions on a regular basis. The consistent, secure, and efficient deployment and management of all endpoints led to cost savings of an additional €499,000 over the three-year period.

Creating New Communication Opportunities

Only a few weeks into the pandemic, ZDFin initiated the ‚Video Conferencing Systems and Digital Learning‘ project. The objective was to facilitate communication among employees and counterparts in other German states through video conferencing technology. Unicon provided guidance to ZDFin on the implementation of the Zoom video conferencing solution, a package fully supported by Unicon, enabling its customers to benefit from its optimized usage.

The Rhineland-Palatinate financial administration successfully ensured constant and highly productive business processes while adhering to strict security guidelines, even in home offices. The introduction of modern video conferencing technology was made possible with maximum security. The utilization of Unicon technologies, including eLux, Scout, and Scout Cloud Gateway, played a pivotal role in achieving uninterrupted operations during the pandemic and resulted in significant cost savings in various areas. Over the span of three years, the following cost savings were achieved:

Results

■ Hardware investments: €2,470,000

■ Optimized deployment: €199,333

■ Software savings: €234,000

■ Optimized endpoint management: €300,000

In total, the accumulated savings after three years amounted to €3,203,333. These cost savings demonstrate the financial benefits of utilizing Unicon technologies and the efficient management of repurposed laptops within secure eLux workspaces.