Oxford consolidates three service desks with Ivanti

Consisting of 38 self-governing colleges, 100+ departments, 350 central IT staff, 300 distributed IT staff, and 30,000 end users, the University of Oxford has a large, federated IT support function and end user base. As such, it represents a significant challenge in terms of IT operations, with the service desk playing a crucial role in providing essential services.

Industry: Education

Employees: 13000

Website: http://www.ox.ac.uk/

Products

Service Manager

This solution, deployed in the cloud or on-premise, helps IT departments modernise the service desk and deliver more value to the business. Organisations can: 1) reduce service desk call volume by up to 80%, maximising operational efficiencies; 2) reduce downtime due to unplanned or unapproved changes by up to 75%, cutting IT costs; and 3) reduce the number of status calls received by up to 80%, improving service quality and compliance.

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[product summary]

A potential user base of 250,000

Until recently, Oxford had three independent IT teams, each with its own service desk. With multiple systems to manage, the university found it increasingly difficult to provide IT-based services and metrics. Oxford also required a flexible cloud solution that could bring these central IT groups together, while supporting a potential user base of 250,000 IT users—students, staff, alumni, and visitors—from a single point of contact.

Benefits to University of Oxford

Depth of features

After an 11-month selection process, Oxford selected Ivanti over other leading vendors due to the strength and depth of its features.

Maintaining independence, ensuring compatibility

Each of Oxford’s 38 self-governing colleges has a small, autonomous IT team and service desk. Each college now has the option to adopt the cloud-based Ivanti solution as needed.

Solving complex IT issues surrounding multiple IT user identities

The Ivanti solution proved it could manage access rights for multiple IT user identities and segment this data logically—no easy task.

Improving and streamlining

The out-of-the-box processes in Ivanti Service Manager configure easily to map with Oxford’s project goals. The solution provides visibility across Oxford’s entire IT support operations.

Service Desk in the Cloud

Being able to access everything from any web browser was important for Oxford, given the spectrum of devices, IT processes, and applications supported.

Supporting students

IMaking sure students have the best digital experience possible is essential. Ivanti provides visibility across Oxford’s entire IT support operations.

Helping Oxford meet some complex challenges

The University of Oxford project and the implementation of the Ivanti solution is a testament to its capabilities in helping the university meet some specific, complex challenges, while demonstrating IT service management best practise at all times. Future plans for the Ivanti deployment include adding capabilities to manage more services, rolling out the platform to other colleges, and using Ivanti Service Manager for case and endpoint management.

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