One of the largest providers of building and DIY materials to trade and private customers in the U.K, Screwfix found itself with a customer relationship management (CRM) system running on desktop PCs connected to the company's datacenter to handle its expanding customer base. Screwfix needed an upgrade in speed and efficiency to deal with customer inquiries as well as to lower the noise level and heat generated by its PCs and their cooling fans.

Following a proof of concept, 350 Sun Ray 270 Virtual Display Client terminals were deployed within Screwfix's entire contact center, resulting in a reduction in call help-desk time by 90% and power consumption by 75%.

The Sun Ray terminals are driven by 10 Sun Blade X6250 Server Modules residing in two Sun Blade 6000 Chassis. Six of the blades run Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services; the other four run Sun Ray Software 4 on top of the Solaris 10 OS. Load balancing is managed by a Cisco Ace module.

Peter Smith, Screwfix's server and storage team leader, commented, "It was essential that the deployment minimized disruption to employees and our customers, so most installation work took place overnight during one week. It was also important that employees could just switch on the new devices and get on with their jobs. We were anxious about this, but the technology is so easy to use, that for most people it was business as usual from the moment they switched on their new machine."

Besides the ease in transition, Screwfix also reaped benefits in the following ways:

• Time: In less than a minute, employees are ready to start their shift, which is up to 95% faster than before.

• Security: "Our Sun Ray clients don't have CD-ROMs, or attach to USB, or other storage devices," Smith said. "Even if a device went missing, we wouldn’t need to worry because they only display information that resides securely at the datacenter."

• Administration Ease/Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): "Overall administration is much simpler and far less time consuming. We can now update all the machines remotely without having to walk the floor and update separate PCs," Smith noted.

• Space: Employees have more room on and under their desks.

• Flexibility: Employees are able to work on another Sun Ray Virtual Display Client without worrying about whether another device will run the exact software that they need to do their job.

• Heat: Compared with a typical PC that uses about 160 W, the Sun Ray 270 Virtual Display Client terminals require only 40 W. This saves some 45 kW hours per day, which not only generates financial savings but also makes it much easier to control the temperature of the contact center without hundreds of heat-generating PCs.

• Noise: Screwfix reports conversations that were sometimes obscured by the background hum of PC cooling fans can now be heard.

"In addition to cutting our electricity bill and freeing up at least one person to work more proactively in our IT team, we’ve provided improved working conditions for employees, who now have more space and no longer have to contend with the heat generated by a PC," Smith concluded. "We've always made it clear that we value (our employees') contribution enormously, and this deployment has given us the chance to show the extent of our appreciation."

More Information

Customer Snapshot: Screwfix

Sun Ray 270 Virtual Display Client

Sun Blade X6250 Server Module

Sun Blade 6000 Chassis

Solaris 10 Operating System

Sun Ray Software 4 [...read more...]

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