Olympus snaps up IT service savings

Firm centralises service delivery across Europe

Camera and binocular manufacturer Olympus has made huge IT administration cost savings by installing centralised IT service delivery technology.

The company is deploying applications from Numara Software in 22 countries across Europe, and has already dramatically reduced the number of helpdesk calls and the time it takes to install new desktop PCs to its 1,200 computer users.

Previously each of Olympus’s 41 companies would handle IT support individually, which was proving inefficient, says Giorgio Leone, project manager at Olympus Europa.

‘We wanted to find if there was a way of concentrating everything on one platform,’ he said.

The system allows the company’s 60 IT technicians to combine, track and analyse helpdesk and IT support, asset management, purchasing and inventory information.

‘We have saved a huge amount of money and we can share information, knowledge and processes across 22 countries in Europe,’ said Leone. ‘We can also see by region the software licences and warranties we have, and assess cost of IT by country.’

Staff can also use a self-service module to notify the IT department about technical problems. This has reduced support calls in Italy by 98 per cent.

‘If a technician needs to answer a phone call and write down all the information then they lose about 50 to 60 per cent of the time that they could spend fixing the solution,’ said Leone.

Helpdesk information recorded on Numara’s Track-It! database also links to Olympus’s asset management and procurement systems, and helps the IT department when replacing systems.

‘For each country I can say how many Dell, IBM or Toshiba PCs have had problems. This helps us to identify what technologies are causing us problems, which helps when it comes to purchasing again,’ said Leone.

By centralising requests for new computers and software the company can also make savings by buying in bulk.

Olympus can also fix and roll out new computers remotely, reducing the time it takes to build and deploy a new PC from four hours to 45 minutes.