Scottish Building Society has replaced Windows NT with Windows 2000 to ease network management and provide a wider selection of services to customers.

Using ICL, Scottish has standardised its desktop operating systems at its headquarters and five area offices. Work began at the end of January and took just 12 weeks to complete. Cost-cutting and increased efficiency were the main objectives.

"Efficiency and cost benefits are absolutely vital to what we are doing," said chief executive Rory Matheson. "It gives us a basic infrastructure we can build on. We are now part of an up-to-date network."

The new environment can now be more centrally managed, and Matheson explained that the network has given the society much-needed email and internet access.

It can now "keep up with the game" and offer customers new web-based or automated services, such as online mortgage applications. These offerings were previously limited by the infrastructure.

Matheson advised other users to ensure that time is spent discussing project details with suppliers before committing. "Whatever project you're doing, you have to know what the objectives are. Do your homework to make sure there are no surprises down the line," he said.

The fast completion of the project has been attributed to a new initiative from ICL called Windows Accelerated Deployment. It claims to halve Windows 2000 implementation time and reduce costs.

Initially, it will only be available to local government and financial services companies.