Elanco improves efficiency, security, and support for global operations with Windows 365

Elanco, a developer, manufacturer, and marketer of health products for farm and companion animals, has operations in 90 countries and a diverse portfolio of more than 200 brands. Founded in 1954, the company credits its steady expansion to a companywide passion for the wellbeing of both animals and customers. “The focus on animal health, animal welfare, and our customers is the theme that runs through every conversation at Elanco,” says Jo Hutchins-Joss, Technical Service Owner, Workplace Services, Elanco. “Our culture is what makes Elanco unique. Our people really care about animal health and welfare, and that passion is reflected throughout the whole value chain.”  

The company’s value chain extends from research and development through product marketing and includes vaccines, pet therapeutics, nutritional health, and more. That depth and breadth is part of what differentiates Elanco, and the company needs technology that can support its innovative and diverse global operations.

To serve customers worldwide, Elanco manages a remote workforce of approximately 600 employees including helpdesk and network support staff from its Greenfield, Indiana headquarters. Employees were using virtual desktops hosted on servers at the Elanco datacenter. While the solution provided access to company software and data, Elanco wanted a solution that would simplify management and improve the user experience.

“From an IT perspective, our mission is to enable our business to be successful in improving the wellbeing of animals and by extension the health of the planet,” explains Mike Chilvers, Lead Architect for Client Services, TechOps, and Global IT at Elanco. “Our goal is to support a healthy business model. To achieve that goal, we need to ensure that our employees can use technology easily and efficiently to do their job and fulfill Elanco’s purpose.”

The company wanted to deliver a better user experience, especially for hourly workers who signed in and out of shifts. Because the legacy virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) did not support persistent states, employees had to set up their virtual workspace whenever they signed in. “It’s like starting over with a blank canvas,” says Hutchins-Joss. “They would have to restore their settings before they could start work, and it was painful. And when you think about the amount of time multiplied by that many people, it adds up to many hours of productivity lost every month.”

Management and security were additional concerns. Elanco used a mobile device management (MDM) solution based on Microsoft Intune for physical devices but had to use different tools and processes for the VDI environment. Employee devices were connected to on-premises Active Directory and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager for management and security updates. In addition, an external team spent considerable time each month updating the VDI system. The continuous VDI updates resulted in frequent downtime, which disrupted productivity. The interruptions, manual processes, failed installations, and limited visibility into the health and update status of virtual desktops were causing headaches for the IT team and employees alike.

Transforms shift work and cuts costs with Windows 365

To deliver a better user experience with simpler management and enhanced security, Elanco decided to replace its unwieldy VDI solution with Windows 365, and deployed Windows 365 Frontline to hourly workers. “We had three primary drivers for that transition,” says Chilvers. “Windows 365 is more cost-effective because it significantly reduces the need to manage complex infrastructure. We’re more efficient because we can consolidate processes and manage all our endpoints, including Cloud PCs, with our existing operational team and tools. Finally, we gained a performance boost and employees love the experience.”

Elanco is saving both time and money with benefits that include reducing on-premises infrastructure and streamlining management with Intune. Hutchins-Joss adds, “Windows 365 immediately saved us 30 percent in deployment and management costs in our virtual environment.”

Simplifies onboarding and delivers more flexibility

Windows 365 Frontline offers the company multiple advantages. Purposefully designed for the essential workforce, the solution delivers a complete, personalized Windows experience on any device. Elanco employees can seamlessly resume work at the start of every shift, because their apps, data, and settings are immediately available when they sign in. In addition, Elanco can provision three Cloud PCs with a single license, making the solution ideal for shift work. The Cloud PCs are available for a single session at a time. When an employee signs out, a personalized Cloud PC is ready for a colleague on the next shift.

Because employee onboarding is easy and the solution is simple to deploy, Elanco can also easily accommodate changing business and employee needs. Hutchins-Joss explains, “Windows 365 Frontline has given us a unique ability to scale up and down with Cloud PCs, enabling our hourly helpdesk workers to access the same resources at different times of day.”

Streamlined management with stronger security

Elanco also has the control, flexibility, and security it requires to support employees anywhere. Elanco uses Intune for deployment and policy management across its fleet of physical and Cloud PCs. The company also monitors the entire environment with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and leverages Microsoft Sentinel for intelligent security analytics powered by artificial intelligence (AI).  

“Windows 365 is inherently more secure than our previous solutions because we are giving hourly workers access to a Cloud PC only when they need it and there is nothing physical to lose,” says Hutchins-Joss. “What’s more, we are managing these Cloud PCs using Intune, which gives us granular control over user policies, access rights, updated antivirus, and much more detailed reporting. For example, if an hourly worker leaves, we can centrally remove access or power down their Cloud PC from Intune.”

An up-to-date environment that’s compliant with the company’s security policies is also a powerful safeguard against modern cyberthreats. “There was a major vulnerability last year, and a lot of other companies were having to manually speed up their patching process,” Chilvers says. “With our model, whenever Microsoft releases an update, we automatically implement it within two days. Bringing our virtual environment into that same model significantly improves our security posture.”

Improves efficiency and customer service

Employees can sign in and start working immediately through the browser on their own devices. “Windows 365 is like having a physical PC in front of you because it’s super quick and fast,” says Chilvers. “With our previous on-premises VDI environment, it could take up to twelve minutes for a shift worker to log on and get started,” says Chilvers. “With Windows 365 Frontline, it takes just 30 seconds.”

Chilvers emphasizes the ultimate value of improving the employee experience. “Windows 365 Frontline makes employees’ lives easier, and the productivity benefit is important,” he says. “That also translates to a real business impact because it allows them to focus on supporting customers.”

Gains better agility for worldwide operations

Elanco has 200 brands and operations in 90 countries, and it’s not slowing down. The company continuously innovates to improve wellbeing for animals, people, and the planet. Now, the company can move faster than ever. “In the past, if one of our businesses wanted to try something new it would take at least a few weeks to create a new user profile and spin up virtual machines,” says Chilvers. “With Windows 365, we can just drop them into a security group, deploy any apps they need with Intune, and they’re good to go with a Cloud PC in less than an hour.”

Hutchins-Joss concludes, “Windows 365 improves our employees’ experience, helps keep them secure, and saves us time managing Cloud PCs around the world.”