\u201cIt’s always good to see that you\u00a0have\u00a0made the right technology choices, and when you need something to happen \u2013 it can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stefan\u00a0De Boer, Global IT Head\u00a0at recruitment specialist Brunel, is talking about his company\u2019s ethos to embracing new technologies\u00a0and how it helped them quickly adapt to remote working during the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were one of the first companies globally to migrate fully to the cloud with Azure, and we\u2019ve been first a few times before with new technology\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody saw COVID-19 coming, but our early investment in the cloud meant we already had a global network in place through Azure to handle the bandwidth of everyone working remotely, which really gave us a head start technology wise. Now we just needed a way to guarantee business continuity \u2013to keep on sourcing and recruiting for our clients and continue payrolling the 13,000 contractors on our books.”<\/p>\n
Based in the Netherlands,\u00a0Brunel provides recruitment\u00a0for businesses across the world with a core focus on renewable\u00a0energy\u00a0and the oil and gas industries. The organization currently employees around 1,800\u00a0people\u00a0across\u00a038 countries,\u00a0along with 13,000 contractors\u00a0managed\u00a0centrally\u00a0from\u00a0their Amsterdam head office.<\/p>\n
As a market leader in the temporary-work sector,\u00a0Brunel\u00a0has always been an early adopter of new technologies\u00a0to help improve their infrastructure.\u00a0This dates to 2011, when\u00a0the company\u00a0implemented early versions of Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft\u00a0Office suite\u00a0with help from\u00a0Microsoft\u00a0partner\u00a0SaaSplaza, and\u00a0more recently\u00a0becoming\u00a0one of the first global organizations to\u00a0migrate\u00a0every server to\u00a0the cloud\u00a0in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us\u00a0it\u00a0was more than just storing data\u00a0\u2013\u00a0we wanted to\u00a0create\u00a0a safe environment\u00a0where everyone could\u00a0securely\u00a0access their\u00a0files\u00a0and\u00a0applications\u00a0from any device,\u00a0anywhere in the world,\u201d says De Boer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u00a0discovered Windows Virtual Desktop\u00a0in October 2019, straight away we knew it was right for us\u00a0and\u00a0we\u00a0instantly started a\u00a0project\u00a0with\u00a0SaaSplaza\u00a0to\u00a0implement it.\u00a0That was the goal at least\u00a0until COVID-19\u00a0hit. Within three weeks we\u00a0had\u00a0closed all 100 of our offices\u00a0around the world, giving us no time for the roll-out we had planned.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we had this remote-working solution planned before COVID-19, we didn\u2019t have\u00a0enough devices\u00a0to make it happen overnight,\u201d\u00a0explains\u00a0De Boer, talking about the\u00a0implementation\u00a0challenges his team faced in 2020.<\/p>\n
Brunel did have\u00a0a big advantage\u00a0on the software side, however. With all their systems already\u00a0in the cloud and\u00a0platforms such as Microsoft Teams and SharePoint fully rolled out, the company was able\u00a0to\u00a0adapt quickly\u00a0and\u00a0implement Windows Virtual Desktop\u00a0with little stress or delay.<\/p>\n
Now\u00a0any\u00a0employees using\u00a0Windows Virtual Desktop on\u00a0a personal device\u00a0would be protected by the same Microsoft security features as any other Brunel laptop\u00a0\u2013 creating\u00a0a\u00a0seamless remote-working solution to keep the business moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe basics for a remote-desktop platform were there so we mainly had to tell people how to use it,\u201d he says. \u201cMost people had their own laptop and knowledge of the Microsoft 365 tools available, and we created an internal collaboration platform to help educate any employees who needed support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe\u00a0adoption\u00a0phase\u00a0went so fast\u00a0that\u00a0we were able to maintain\u00a0the\u00a0level of\u00a0business continuity\u00a0we needed,\u00a0which just goes to show\u00a0how important it is to keep up-to-date with the developments in the market\u00a0so that you can be ready for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Windows Virtual Desktop fully implemented, it wasn\u2019t long before employees across Brunel embraced their new remote-working environment, which was shown by an overwhelmingly positive response for IT and working from home on a recent employee-satisfaction survey.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, the biggest benefit is that Microsoft 365 is fully included, so it doesn’t matter anymore if someone works on a\u00a0laptop at home or a desktop in the office,\u201d says De Boer. \u201cApplications like Teams are ready to use when you need\u00a0them,\u00a0and we can also ensure the same security measures all around the world as everyone is using the same virtual platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a challenging year\u00a0coming to a close, De Boer believes that Brunel\u2019s success wouldn\u2019t have been possible without a close\u00a0working\u00a0relationship with\u00a0SaaSplaza\u00a0and\u00a0Microsoft.\u00a0An\u00a0important ecosystem between the three companies that\u00a0helps coordinate new innovations and make sure everything is implemented in the right way.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll never have all the knowledge you need internally, but by working together strategically we can bring in the\u00a0specialisms we need,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes\u00a0that\u2019s finding someone with experience moving to the cloud, other times\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0borrowing engineers to get a new system in place.\u00a0But always it\u2019s\u00a0working\u00a0together towards\u00a0a shared\u00a0goal and building\u00a0a roadmap that everyone\u2019s confident is moving in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now as Brunel look towards the future, the company\u00a0has\u00a0a number of Microsoft collaborations\u00a0planned for 2021\u00a0including adapting\u00a0their\u00a0Power Platform solution\u00a0with a robotics layer, making more use of\u00a0Azure\u00a0data services\u00a0and adding\u00a0a range\u00a0of new modules to\u00a0their\u00a0CRM platform.\u00a0A\u00a0strategic roadmap that\u00a0stays\u00a0true to their\u00a0forward-thinking\u00a0ethos\u00a0of\u00a0embracing\u00a0new technologies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are\u00a0three big programs for 2021 that will add big value to our business, and with help from Microsoft and\u00a0SaaSplaza,\u00a0we\u00a0have the\u00a0support\u00a0to ensure everything runs smoothly,\u201d\u00a0says\u00a0De Boer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re an early adopter you know that everything may not be available to you from day one, but our team\u00a0motto\u00a0is to just\u00a0go for it and\u00a0work around any issues if and when they come up.\u00a0There will always be a reason not to do it, but that shouldn\u2019t\u00a0stop you\u00a0innovating\u00a0and\u00a0always looking for new ways to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIt’s always good to see that you\u00a0have\u00a0made the right technology choices, and when you need something to happen \u2013 it can happen.\u201d Stefan\u00a0De Boer, Global IT Head\u00a0at recruitment specialist Brunel, is talking about his company\u2019s ethos to embracing new technologies\u00a0and how it helped them quickly adapt to remote working during the COVID-19 crisis. \u201cWe were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":351,"featured_media":428242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1804,1911],"class_list":["post-428239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-customer-stories-en","category-digital-transformation-en","specials-work-productivity-en","stories-digital-culture-en","stories-how-can-i-create-the-office-of-tomorrow-en","businessPriorities-applications-infrastructure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/351"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428239"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":443681,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428239\/revisions\/443681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulse.microsoft.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}