Criston Optimises Picard Surgelés’ IT Equipment Upgrade

Securing IT starts by managing IT
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09.01.2007 | Sophia Antipolis,

With 500 new PCs to be deployed and managed in a complex applications environment, the IS division of the leading French retailer for frozen products needed to standardise its inventory and remote distribution procedures while simplifying the job for its IT team.

Picard Surgelés’ need - Optimisation In 2005, Picard Surgelés (France no. 1 frozen products retailer) launched a major project to upgrade and optimize its PC environment. The objectives were, firstly, to improve the performance of all systems, and secondly to optimise the return on investment in hardware and software, especially with regard to maintenance and management.

Split over three main sites in France (Issy-Les-Moulineaux, Nemours and Fontainebleau), the company’s 500 new PCs also needed configuring to receive the complex business applications implemented by Picard Surgelés – either third-party solutions, or software developed by Picard Surgelés’ own IT division.

However, the company had no effective solution for managing its PC equipment, turning the tasks of creating an inventory manually and identifying configurations and requirements for service and maintenance – and also, over the long term, the requirements for renewal of workstations - into a complicated and impossibly long process.

Moreover, in addition to insufficient technical information concerning the environment, there was a lack of remote distribution functions for the applications. “We used an obsolete inventory system, which no longer worked. We had no visibility on the PC environment and no remote distribution capability”, Hervé Guehl, Infrastructure Manager for Picard Surgelés’ IT division, explained. “For example, it took nearly a whole day to configure each new PC”.

The answer – an easy to use, effective technology solution After several month of investment in upgrading its PCs, Picard Surgelés’ IT division then decided, at the end of 2005, to standardise its inventory and remote software distribution processes. The Infrastructure Department, which was in charge of this project, drew up specifications for choosing a solution from those available on the market. The service provider selected had to satisfy a number of key criteria:

- Offer a clear and accurate technical view of all the PCs
- Combine remote distribution functions with the technical inventory
- Allow rapid deployment
- Reduce maintenance costs noticeably
- Not require complex IT staff training

Following its review of the market, Picard Surgelés chose Criston’s Desktop Management offering, comprising automated inventory and remote distribution functions. The reasons for the choice were two-fold: performance and simplicity. “Once installed, the solution chosen should not make our job more complicated. We came across a number of packaged software suppliers whose proposals were sophisticated and very, or even far too, complicated”, Hervé Guehl explained.