“This project consisted of migrating a Windows 7 workstation fleet to Windows 10,” explains Jean-Jacques Ourtau, Head of CFL's Digital Workplace unit, “a fleet of nearly 3,000 machines divided fairly evenly between desktops and laptops. This decision stemmed partly from the need to switch to a new operating system and partly from our desire to deploy Office 365 and the associated collaboration and sharing tools.”

“This migration is in fact part of CFL’s strategy to develop digitalization and mobility,” explains Frédéric Perrey, Head of IT Operations at CFL, “a strategy that aims in particular to facilitate access to information for users, wherever they are.”

Specific challenges

However, the migration project entailed a few challenges, including the wide range of sites involved - some 60 in total - and the huge diversity of user profiles: office and field workers, static and mobile users, industrial and administrative profiles. These were exacerbated by the logistical constraints arising from variable working hours and the geographical dispersion of the sites.

“We also needed to be able to count on a partner capable of mastering the complexity of our application park, which comprises 600 different applications,” stresses Frédéric Perrey. "This partner also had to manage the feat of finalizing the deployment of our new environment within six months, while causing as little disruption as possible to users and maintaining the smooth running of the services,” notes Jean-Jacques Ourtau.

Optimal balance between cost, competence and consideration of needs

“Following a public call for tenders, Telindus submitted one of the most competitive financial offers. The approach proposed by Telindus to carry out the migration also proved to be the best one, offering just the right balance between cost, competence and consideration of the needs of the CFL Group,” explains Jean-Jacques Ourtau.

“Faced with the large number of applications involved, Telindus' architects set out to establish a common framework for all users,” adds Frédéric Perrey. “To this common core, they added a series of tailor-made projects, sometimes involving very advanced parameters.”

Telindus provided the CFL Group with not only a technical team - project manager, technical coordinator and technicians - but also a planning manager whose role was crucial in ensuring coordination between all the parties involved in a highly complex environment.

In doing so, the Telindus team was able to meet the deadlines by maintaining a deployment speed of around 20 machines per day throughout the project. Working closely with CFL's Digital Workplace team, Telindus provided a turnkey service, from making an appointment with the user to installing the machine at the user's workplace and setting up back-up solutions.

“When it came time for the migration, each user received a new computer with a performance level at least equal to the one they had,” notes Jean-Jacques Ourtau. “Some users received new equipment, while others were given a machine from the existing fleet and reconditioned by Telindus technicians. To help us manage the change brought about by the switch to Windows 1,” he continues “Telindus set up training and coaching sessions for the 3,000 users involved in the migration.”

A reinforced digitalization strategy

Today, the migration of the CFL workstations to Windows 10 has enabled the company to implement the Digital Workplace concept. The company now has a more modern, high-performance environment, and its digitalization strategy has been strengthened as a result.

The benefits of the new environment - the collaboration tools and the ability for users to access information through different types of platforms - have also enabled each CFL division to cope with the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic

CFL Success Story CFL: https://www.telindus.lu/en/business-cases/cfl-0