Riksja Travel puts together flexible workplace with PQR building blocks
Riksja Travel, the online tour operator, is always moving with the times on all fronts, which is why it replaced its office automation. Flexibility and ease of management were the guiding principles. PQR made a proposal based on its own building blocks and Rickshaw used this to put together a customized workplace.
About Riksja Travel
Riksja online started in 2000. The Internet had definitely broken through, but an online tour operator was still a novelty. Riskja was looking for a company name under which the new country sites could fall. It became Riksja Online, after the simple, exotic means of transport and its hard-working riders. Riksja now has a team of many enthusiastic people at work putting together tailor-made trips. Every year, thousands of travellers use Riksja building blocks for their trip to one of the travel destinations scattered around the world. Since 2010, the name has been Riskja Travel, so it is clear from the name what they do.
IT-Galaxy convinces
In October 2014, Service Manager Jeroen van Diesen attended IT-Galaxy, PQR’s annual knowledge conference. Van Diesen: “We wanted to modernise our workplace infrastructure and started looking for ways in which and parties with which to do so. A visit to IT-Galaxy was part of our search and painted a promising picture of possibilities. It also positioned PQR as a reliable partner in terms of knowledge, advice and implementation. PQR initially invited us to its PQR Experience Centre, where we could experience what is possible in terms of the flexible workplace. We discussed our ideas with our host and tried out a number of possible scenarios. This precipitated our decision-making in terms of IT strategy. After this, we started a design process with PQR that led to the technical design of the new workplace infrastructure.”
Fixed building blocks
PQR has extensive experience in carrying out these kinds of projects and works according to a set methodology that guarantees costs and project duration, as well as scope and quality. A project organisation in accordance with PRINCE2 will be set up for the duration of the project. In the project organisation, PQR consultants work closely with Ricksja Travel staff. To implement the project in a structured way, it is divided into phases.
Case study
“Riksja Travel’s wish was to realise a workplace infrastructure that would be available anywhere, anytime and provide optimal support for the work carried out by Riksja Travel’s employees in the coming years,” Jeroen said. The preparatory phase starts with a kick-off during which any questions regarding the offer are answered and expectations towards each other are made clear. The result is a project plan describing who does what and where responsibilities are invested, including interdependencies. Furthermore, the PQR project manager and Ricksja Travel’s assignment manager draw up an integrated schedule for the entire project, which includes the work and resources of Ricksja Travel and PQR staff.
Following this, PQR and Rickshaw Travel are organising workshops to share knowledge of the products deployed in the new IT infrastructure. The first outcome of this was a programme of requirements, setting out the Ricksja Travel organisation’s requirements and wishes for the new IT infrastructure. This is then translated into functional solutions in a functional design. This serves as the basis for the technical design, the outline of the new IT infrastructure to be built.
Customized solution
Riksja Travel ultimately chose a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) scenario with thin clients, tablets and Microsoft Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) licenses running Windows 8.1. The VDI solution being deployed is VMware View. Riksja Travel was already working with the VMware vSphere hypervisor and was satisfied with the quality. “We looked at different products and solutions with PQR,” Van Diesen said. “VMware’s Horizon Workspace appealed to us the most. This solution provides us with a workplace portal for end users that allows device- and location-independent work with (web) applications, desktops and tablets. It gives our IT department the tools to provide an application catalog and follow-me data to employees. From the VMware Horizon Workspace portal, they can effectively manage the virtual environment in a fully centralized manner. Combined with RES Automation and Workspace Manager software, we also save time in our management activities and users have anytime, anywhere access to the information and applications needed to perform their jobs. Exactly what we were looking for!”
Puzzle pieces together
The new workplace infrastructure is centralized, scalable and flexible in the data center and can be used “any place, any device, anytime” by Ricksja Travel employees. “With PQR, we put the pieces of the puzzle together and created the ideal flexible workplace for us. PQR’s approach to projects is similar to the way we provide travel for our clients. In both cases, there are standard building blocks available that combine to create a customized solution. This is true for travel, but also for an IT infrastructure. Our 110 employees have been working in their new workspace for several weeks now and are very satisfied.”
Chosen technique
- Microsoft VDA licenses with Windows 8.1
- RES Automation and Workspace Manager software
- VMware Horizon Workspace
- VMware View with thin clients
- VMware vSphere hypervisor