Halfords revamps IT environment

LANDesk Software says that Halfords is now using LANDesk Management Suite 9.5 and LANDesk Patch Manager to manage its IT Support Centre environment, which includes over 720 devices across two offices. As the UK’s largest retailer of car maintenance, cycling and touring products, Halfords requires a powerful IT environment to keep all systems updated and running at all times.

Prior to LANDesk, Halfords had been using a competitor’s older management system which made it difficult to configure new machines or install new software on existing devices. All changes required a complete takeover of the employee’s device, and programme and bespoke installation packages were extremely time-consuming to implement. On top of this, the system was out of support warranty, so Halfords was on its own to solve these challenges.

“Our department was wasting time on software installations and device configurations that we knew could be managed more efficiently,” said Phil Bullock, senior technical analyst at Halfords. “We needed an intuitive one-console solution that could perform tasks quickly so that we could keep employees productive and focus our efforts on larger IT business needs.”

When looking for a new management solution, Halfords wanted one vendor to do it all, but found that many companies offered several products with different functions. With LANDesk, they were able to combine all processes into one single touch point, increasing their control and eliminating the hassle of working across multiple software systems.

Since the solutions were installed in August 2012, Halfords has seen a significant improvement in time and cost savings across the business. With the new management software, they can easily install software upgrades and deploy patches as employees work remotely or even if a device is off, avoiding any disruptions to workflow, which is critical in a fast-paced retail environment. The solutions also allow Halfords to build configurations for new devices on Windows 7, which they weren’t able to do before. By using LANDesk Compliance Manager, they now have a better view of their inventory and can produce reports on any device at any time, ensuring that all software is completely up to date.

“Working with the LANDesk team on this upgrade has been a really seamless process and they’ve provided a high level of support and guidance,” said Bullock. “We’ve gone from manual tracking to a virtual database, and we’ve been able to increase efficiency with LANDesk’s solutions like remote support through the cloud, which enables our employees to work anywhere without compromising IT service levels.”

In the coming months, Halfords will begin another project with LANDesk to replace 300 desktops and laptops across the organisation in an effort to refresh PCs that are over five years old.

“We’re really looking forward to growing this partnership with Halfords, and we’re pleased that our management solutions have already provided them with substantial business benefits,” said Nigel Seddon, Sales Director at LANDesk. “It’s critical that IT departments have a complete view of their systems so they can address issues and provide insight and value to the business. Halfords has really taken this concept onboard, and we’re confident they’ll continue to see a significant return on investment.”