AkzoNobel lowers costs with innovative workplace management services

AkzoNobel is among the world’s leading providers of paints and specialty chemicals. With roots extending back to the 17th century, the company today has annual revenue of €14.2 billion (approximately US$16.7 billion), more than 46,000 employees serving customers in 80 countries, and popular brands that include Dulux, Eka, Sikkens and Vivechrom.

AkzoNobel recently embarked on a double mission to not only innovate and grow, but also lower its operating costs. As part of this strategy, AkzoNobel chief information officer Aloys Kregting has set a bold plan to digitize all the company’s processes, products and services. “We have to be able to turn innovation into value in a very rapid manner,” he says. “Digitalization is a key element of that.”

AkzoNobel’s relationship with DXC Technology, in place since 2009, helps to put the company in an excellent position to meet that goal. With help from Microsoft, the two companies have created a long-term engagement for AkzoNobel’s future, known internally as Unity Services. This includes a global service desk, on-site support services and workplace management services. More recently, in 2014, DXC helped AkzoNobel create an awareness campaign to better leverage Unity Services, dubbed the Relaunch Project, that was launched and tested in Germany. And in 2016, AkzoNobel extended its contract with DXC for a full roll out of on-site support services and on-boarding all users to the global service desk.

Opening Windows 10

Another major IT project for AkzoNobel has been its recent migration from Microsoft’s Windows 7 to Windows 10. The project has two main goals: to provide a more secure platform and to support a wide range of devices and formats. DXC helped with user self-service features, additional support channels such as chat and the purchase of security software licenses at competitive rates. The results include new functionality across a wide range of touch-enabled devices, helping employees be more productive using new workstyles and mobile computing. Also, in-place upgrades, self-service and automation have helped AkzoNobel lower its overall migration and support costs.

The breadth of the Windows 10 implementation is stunning. It includes some 45,000 users at more than 1,000 locations around the world. In 2017, more than 50% of the users had already been migrated. To be sure, those users didn’t migrate to Windows 10 all at once. Instead, DXC helped AkzoNobel launch a small pilot project, equipping a small number of test users with HP 2-in-1 devices running Windows 10.

Sjaak Manschot, AkzoNobel’s global lead for service desk, on-site support and workplace says, “We put our heads together and decided Windows 10 would give our staff all the tools they need to do their job — and to be better than our competitors.”

The Workplace Management Services provided by DXC include desktop infrastructure services, image management, software packaging, and distribution and patch management, plus protection and security.

DXC also provides AkzoNobel with on-site delivery of support services in local languages and English. The majority of the service requests and incident resolutions are provided from remote locations, but the on-site support from DXC helps AkzoNobel with install, move, add and change (IMAC) tasks, such as PC refreshes and other on-site support that requires physical presence.

Global service desk

To guarantee SLAs for AkzoNobel’s users, DXC provides Service Desk services that support those users worldwide in 24 different languages and monitors end-to-end incident resolution across all AkzoNobel vendors.

Assistance is provided to employees in either their local or official language from four Service Desk locations: Dublin, Ireland; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Budapest, Hungary. This support is provided in all languages during regular business hours and in English around the clock to cover high-priority incidents through phone, chat and portal.

DXC has empowered AkzoNobel’s IT team to support the twin goals of innovation and cost reduction. Not only has the company moved to the latest PC platform, but it has also achieved significant year-over-year cost savings.

“We need to be excellent in innovation,” says CIO Kregting. “It’s our obligation and our duty.”