Notting Hill Housing Group
Improving user confidence during an office move project
Notting Hill Housing Group (NHHG) was founded in 1963 and has gone on to become one of the largest providers of affordable housing in the UK. NHHG employs approximately 750 staff, managing 19,000 homes and housing nearly 50,000 people across London and the surrounding areas.
NHHG engaged Plan-Net to provide project management and project support services during their Head Office relocation from their offices in Hammersmith Grove to a leased site in nearby Butterwick which they would inhabit for a five year period while the Hammersmith Grove site underwent a large-scale redevelopment.
Plan-Net's team were tasked with mapping and auditing NHHG's environment prior to the move, then providing a highly mobile and visible support operation for deployment in the initial period after the move, making sure Notting Hill Housing's staff were well serviced at all times.
A particular passion of the Board at NHHG, and something that is in evidence throughout the company, is the encouragement of a ‘love where you work' ethos. NHHG's internal IT department worked hard to ensure that the company ethos was never compromised by a lack of technical support, as explained by Rachel Bhageerutty, Communication Manager and part of the NHHG userbase;
"I've always thought our IT team were the most customer focused I'd ever come across during my career. They can ‘walk in the shoes' of their internal customers and never descend into techno-speak. They listen to what you need and find the IT solutions to fit."
With this in mind, it was paramount that the positive attitude to work amongst the staff was not compromised by the move and as Lead Consultant Will Rodbard explains, Plan-Net were left under no illusions as to the importance of this consideration;
"In real terms this meant a type of project which many clients would see as an inconvenience would not only have to be painless, but would need to be conducted in such a manner as to positively affect the way staff viewed IT, and their place of work in general. We have a history of adding value to office move projects, and were able to translate this experience into a customer service-led exercise for Notting Hill Housing Group."
With customer service being paramount, Plan-Net implemented a strategy that not only removed the pain from the process, but also worked as a springboard towards improving the perception of IT within the business still further.
Crucial to this was ensuring support enjoyed maximum visibility, reducing the chance of confusion amongst users as to who to turn to for help. The teams responsible for the different aspects of office support wore coloured t-shirts. This simple practice meant users could clearly see who to request help from regarding each problem, lessening downtime and frustration and encouraging the perception that, whatever the nature of the problem there were experienced, skilled personnel close by to provide assistance.
According to Rachel Bhageerutty this was a great success;
"The major role for Plan-Net was to be highly visible, available and accessible throughout the project so when staff did need help with something a friendly IT expert was on hand. Often staff didn't even have to ask. Plan-Net's staff were very proactive and would actively seek out puzzled looking people!"
A prolonged period of clean-up checks after the event, and having assistance so easily available made the move, and the ensuing weeks painless for the users. It also stopped a lot of IT calls before they were made, reducing pressure of NHHG's internal IT personnel and improving perception still further with the users.
Plan-Net had achieved its deliverables according to Annie Nugent, ICT Resource Manager at NHHG;
"Plan-Net delivered exactly what was asked of them. They provided skilled, presentable and personable Analysts, involving us fully in the selection process. Getting the team right was vital to the success of the project and Plan-Net were able to adapt and deliver throughout."
While the move itself was an undoubted success with staff able to switch on their computer and get on with their work within minutes of arriving at their new office, of equal importance was the feedback from NHHG users around the project. The ‘office move' project is often seen as an unavoidable inconvenience, with the initial disturbance and ongoing issues left in its wake having a detrimental effect on the way IT is viewed by users. Not so for NHHG - their move was very much a positive event says Rachel Bhageerutty;
"The move process definitely enhanced the already good reputation our IT department has with the users. The IT team took a very pragmatic and customer focused view. They knew it would be hard to engage colleagues in the process and they worked on that. They made everything very easy and straightforward and always explained why they were asking people to do things. Plan-Net staff totally fitted in. To a person they were absolutely ‘one of us'. Everyone thought they were part of Notting Hill and we were gutted when they left!"
With the move completed, and Notting Hill Housing Group securely ensconced in their new home there is time for reflection on a successful project, with the opinion of the internal customers summed up perfectly by Bhageerutty;
"The staff consultation throughout the move process really helped to create a sense of ownership and involvement from everybody. We feel valued, which is great for morale. The move was done ‘with' us rather than ‘to' us - I believe this kind of approach makes all the difference. Having such a good working environment feels like such a positive endorsement for all the staff."
NHHG relies heavily on IT to support its operations, so once the Head Office office relocation had been successfully completed, the IT team were keen to take the opportunity to improve the resources available to staff. Much of the desktop equipment was coming to the end of its life, or was well past it, and its new head office had less space available for IT, storage and maintenance.
In addition, with an unusual mix of charity, private company and Government funding, the NHHG has a wide variety of stringent targets to meet. Not least of these is eco-friendliness and management of its carbon footprint meaning environmental responsibilities were an important consideration.
With Plan-Net's consultation NHHG realised that implementing a virtual environment could not only improve services to its users, but also make considerable improvements to the organisation's eco-friendliness. NHHG already had some virtualisation in place in the form of VMWare servers and datacentres which had beein implemented around 18 months prior to the office move and had already saved NHHG in excess of £100,000. As they were well aware of the potential financial and environmental benefits from virtualisation, the decision was not a hard one to make.
Virtual desktop solutions deliver enterprise-class control and manageability with a familiar user experience. The chosen solution was VMWare VDI, to provide a complete, unmodified virtual desktop that behaves just like a normal PC; along with Leostream, a Desktop Connection Broker and WYSE thin client terminals to handle direct access to the hosted desktops. Using a virtual desktop doesn't involve any change to applications or desktop environment and does not require application sharing or retraining. Administrators can allow users to install applications, customise their desktop environment and use local printers and USB devices. And users also get better support because Help Desk technicians can perform tasks remotely that would normally require an in-person visit.
Plan-Net supported the implementation of VMWare virtual desktops for 100 of Notting Hill Housing's 550 seats, leaving NHHG with the ability to roll out the rest with minimal effort. With a set-up time for both new and upgraded users as low as 5 minutes, the solution has proved time and cost effective. It has also meant minimal disruption to staff, living up to NHHG's ‘love where you work' standards.
"Although the initial cost for setting up each user was around £50 more than a traditional PC, we are estimating the savings over the next five years at £500 per head. And with the advanced power management solutions, we will also hit our eco-friendly targets," said Andy Paynton, Head of ICT at NHHG. "Of course these benefits are important to NHHG, but perhaps even more important are the improvements for users. For example, a log-on time of around 25 seconds, compared to more than five minutes previously has already led to a dramatic improvement in productivity. Add to this the ease with which support staff can provide upgrades, fix issues and improve usability and the operational benefits are clear."
With the office move success and the roll out of virtual desktops, the NHHG has made significant cost savings, improvements to eco-friendliness and usability.
Much of the success of these major projects comes down to Notting Hill Housing's willingness to embrace change with the support of Plan-Net's technical expertise. Rather than present serious customer service issues for the IT department, virtualisation at Notting Hill has saved money and made a positive contribution to the work environment.
