The leading European bank was struggling to keep up with the annual cadence of Windows servicing and patching of 4,500 end-user devices. Failure to manage these updates quickly put the bank at risk of security breaches and being found non-compliant with regulatory requirements. The bank chose to work with ReadyWorks to manage the process of Windows lifecycle management and IT asset lifecycle management (ITAM), resulting in significant cost savings and reduced risk.

Windows Servicing and Patching: Continuous OS updates and security patches are critical but time-consuming tasks that pull IT teams away from other critical IT transformation programs. The process requires a clear picture of systems requiring updates or patches, application preparation and testing, communicating with and scheduling end users, and putting systems in the appropriate workflow depending on user and hardware requirements and lease cycles. The bank’s IT team was managing the process with a mountain of spreadsheets and manual processes.

Asset Lifecycle Management: communicate with end users to understand their needs, procure and ship the new machines, get users to return the old machines, and then decide whether to dispose, reuse, or retain them.

Onboarding/Offboarding: On top of this, IT needed to onboard and offboard approximately 80 employees each month. That meant participating in onboarding workshops and sending multiple emails calling users and department heads, all of which was eating into IT’s time.

• Mitigate security vulnerabilities by quickly identifying systems requiring OS updates or patches and implementing required changes.
• Reduce risk of fines for failing to meet regulatory requirements.

The bank selected ReadyWorks because it offered an automated approach to managing OS updates, and IT asset lifecycle management. ReadyWorks significantly reduced the bank’s operating expenses for these programs while also improving the end-user experience and reducing the risk of regulatory fines for potential non-compliance issues.

ReadyWorks connects to all the bank’s data sources to automate data discovery. It applies intelligent automation to clean and normalize critical program data and then automates the request for and collection of additional information from end users and stakeholders. Additionally, ReadyWorks orchestrates and automates system and people workflows including communications, scheduling, opening and closing tickets, and reporting on task and workflow status.

Leveraging ReadyWorks Windows as-a-Service module, the bank’s IT teams had access to customizable forms and tools, allowing them to automate the steps required for Windows updates and patches. For example, project coordinators could rank applications and streamline testing, allowing them to roll out updates faster with less risk.

Once all readiness criteria is met including user and technician availability, ReadyWorks adds machines into SCCM collections and report on update status. ReadyWorks also automatically opens service tickets to resolve issues and reschedules the update once the issue is resolved.