CASE STUDY
According to Swanepoel , the legacy applications posed the greatest difficulty to virtualise . “ The intention was to abstract our application estate from the hardware , including our legacy applications , but this represented a big challenge .
“ Additionally , we needed to tighten our endpoint and data security , as well as modernise our IT support model , which was not in line with global standards .”
Swanepoel said this included simplifying and optimising the endpoint management ( including software patching and software distribution ) and replacing and virtualising 10,000 aging endpoint devices . This in turn , allowed us to reduce our engineering requirements , facilitating a larger ratio of users to engineering FTEs .
Asokan Moodley , Executive Head of End User and Communication Experience , Nedbank , said : “ The landscape has changed , and we are now leveraging predominantly cloud-based applications across our operations . As a result , we have seen a drastic increase in bandwidth requirements , and have more latencysensitive applications that require more resilience , stability and quality than ever .”
With Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops , Nedbank can serve up simple , unified access to the systems , information and tools its 18,000 plus employees need to engage and be productive and dynamically apply security policies so they can work when , where and how they want with the confidence that their applications , information and devices are safe . In addition , it can also support more than 2,000 Indiabased developers who access its data using a BYOD model and trust that they too are protected .
Alex Russell , Head of Enterprise Sales , South Africa , Citrix , said : “ Our relationship with Nedbank extends over 10 years , and naturally , the use cases have matured over that time . The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented demand for desktop and application virtualisation and accelerating the transition to cloud and permanent hybrid work has been the obvious next step .”
From a project implementation perspective , Russell said the whole Citrix team has been involved , combining sales , technical , product , systems engineering and value engineering , to give Nedbank a single joined-up approach . “ Demos and proof of concepts were conducted as well as a two-day in-depth virtual briefing with key stakeholders from Infrastructure and Operations as well as InfoSec , to understand Nedbank ’ s business and technology strategies . This helped to cement our position as a strategic partner within the bank ,” he said .
Following the implementation of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops , Nedbank can operate in the post-pandemic world with confidence .
“ After the implementation of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops , the bank has successfully decoupled applications and data from hardware and devices , meaning employees can work anywhere , from any device , in a secure manner .
“ Nedbank is now able to face whatever challenge the world throws at them , with the ability to pivot in a manner that doesn ’ t require a radical change of technology . Ultimately , our partnership has enabled Nedbank to position itself very competitively amongst other banks in the sector ,” Russell said . p
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