News
Thiriet unfreezes mobility thanks to AirWatch
September 2013 by Marc Jacob
The Challenge
The food-processing organisation Groupe Thiriet distributes frozen products through its stores and home delivery distribution centers. The company provides to some executives and regional representatives mobile phones. After trialed various types of devices, users went for iPhones©. However the IT Department lacked a centralized management console and had to manually configured the phones in the presence of the user in order to connect to the corporate information system or to add new accesses (VPN, Wifi). This process was long and subject to the employee’s availability. In addition, security could be threatened unintentionally by user. Therefore the company decided to opt for an enterprise mobility management (EMM) provider, which would provide with both security and time saving.
The client
In 1966, Claude Thiriet took over the paternal bakery located in the Vosges, already famous for its ice cream. In 1973, Thiriet specialized in ice cream, expanded its range and offered sales to individuals. In 1985, the range of frozen pastries was created and the company opened its own stores. In 2000, the company invested heavily in home delivery processes and built new logistics platforms. Today, Groupe Thiriet employs 3,200 employees in 87 at home distribution centres, 166 stores in metropolitan France and overseas and manages more than one million customers monthly.
In order to select the best EMM supplier, Olivier Burgard, Chief Security Officer at Groupe Thiriet, first conducted a preset thanks to comparative evaluation on the internet including the Gartner report. Then he ensured that these providers could integrate with existing systems. Finally, he tested the products: "AirWatch quickly offered me a trial to test functionalities, unlike other providers. I was very satisfied by customer relationship and the ease with which I was able to access the tools I needed. »
The Solution
Groupe Thiriet has chosen an on-premise AirWatch solution hosted on a virtual server. The installation was performed by an Airwatch team remotely controlled by Mr Burgard. He takes advantage from AirWatch professional services: " I use the ASK portal which has a well provided documentary base. At the moment I didn’t need to contact the support but I know that it exists for any problem I may have». Console setting and Smartphones profiles configuration were completed in only ten days. Two operation technicians can now connect to the AirWatch console with enrolment credentials to add a new device.
User groups have been created according to the company’s organizational chart. Each group has, according to their needs, access to email, calendar, Wifi and VPN. AirWatch integrates with current systems such as Exchange mail©, the Active Directory©, the Juniper VPN© and SSO by certificate which enable a user to log in once and gain access to Wifi and VPN without being prompted to log in again. The company also uses AirWatch to push mandatory applications on devices or offer optional apps in the AirWatch App catalog. Business applications developed in-house will be soon available depending on the group to which the user belongs. Mr Burgard summarizes his experience: "I am entirely satisfied with the solution. Easy deployment and security objectives have been achieved. All other features are bonus on which capitalizing in the future. "Thus, the company plans to deploy more devices, probably tablets, in order to facilitate access to secure professional documents (Secure Content Locker ™).
