UK Recruiting Firm Increases Productivity by 15% with Windows 7 Professional

1. Windows 7
Customer Solution Case Study
UK Recruiting Firm Increases Productivity by
15% with Windows® 7
Overview “With Windows 7, we are saving time, safeguarding
Country or Region: UK
Industry: Business Services
our data, and increasing productivity at the human
level.”
Customer Profile
Paul Flynn, Director, Health and Safety Partnership
The Health and Safety Partnership is a
leading recruiting firm for health, safety
environmental, and quality sectors in the
UK. The Health and Safety Partnership is a leading recruiting firm for
Business Situation health, safety, environmental, and quality sectors in the UK. Based
The Health and Safety Partnership in Birmingham, England, the firm has matched hundreds of
managed large amount of important
information efficiently and safely. When the professionals with leading companies since 2003.
firm began experiencing computing issues,
it needed to solve the problem quickly.
The company supports multiple clients and hundreds of job
Solution candidates, necessitating highly efficient systems and business
Windows 7 Professional helped improve
efficiency by reducing time-to-resolution for continuity functions. As the list of clients has grown, the need for
computing issues, while safeguarding business efficiency has also grown. So when the company began
information, and speeding up business
processes. experiencing computing issues due to sluggish PC performance, it
needed to solve the problem quickly.
Benefits
 Saved ~50 help desk hrs/yr
 Productivity up over 15% By deploying the Windows® 7 Professional operating system, the
 Prevented data loss
company has improved efficiency by reducing time-to-resolution for
computing issues, while safeguarding information, and speeding up
business processes associated with everyday tasks.

2. “Windows 7 Professional Situation operate in an IT-managed or business
Operating with a staff of seven, the Health environment where security and productivity
is the recommended and Safety Partnership provides recruiting are critical,” says Mike Ybarra, Windows
choice for small services for hundreds of companies in the General Manager at Microsoft®. “For those
health, safety, environmental, and quality running Windows Vista® Business, it will be a
businesses and for people sectors, which requires the collection, very logical move to Windows 7 Professional.”
who work at home but manipulation, and analysis of vast amounts
of sensitive business information. Benefits
have to operate in an IT-
managed or business To operate efficiently and effectively, the Reducing Time-to-Resolution
company relies heavily on its computer Today, powerful diagnostic and
environment where systems, and a specialized, third-party troubleshooting tools built into Windows 7
security and productivity recruiting software program. Recently, it Professional make it easier for users to
noticed an increase in system issues that resolve many issues themselves, and when
are critical. For those were slowing business processes and users do need help desk support, Problem
running Windows Vista inhibiting the performance of its recruiting Steps Recorder helps reduce time-to-
software. “We were sending five to six calls a resolution by making it easier to
Business, it will be a very week to the help desk, resulting in significant communicate the details of the issue.
logical move to Windows downtime,” says Paul Flynn, Director of the
Health and Safety Partnership. “And for us, Users record their interactions with an
7 Professional.” downtime means lost productivity, and application, and capture a detailed screen-by-
Mike Ybarra, Windows General Manager, ultimately missed revenues.” screen view, along with accompanying
Microsoft Corporation information. They send the recording to the
The company needed to find a way to make it help desk agent for faster, easier diagnosis
easier for staff members to get working and and resolution – a process Flynn experienced
stay working, and to safeguard client firsthand. “I had a problem recently that I
information from loss or damage. needed help desk support for,” Flynn recalls.
“With Problem Steps Recorder, I simply
Solution pressed the „record‟ button, and emailed it
The Health and Safety Partnership deployed off to our help desk, and that was it. Problem
Windows 7 in 2009. The new system‟s solved.”
powerful diagnostic and troubleshooting tools
increased uptime by making it easier for According to Flynn, Problem Steps Recorder
users to resolve more issues themselves, is shaving approximately 15 minutes off each
while reducing time-to-resolution issues that help desk call – or more than 50 hours of
required a help desk call. Strong security and productive time annually. He says, “We‟re
document recovery features protect user data getting more than a week back in productive
from security threats and loss due to failed or time due to Problem Steps Recorder.”
missing backups. In addition, Windows 7
“We‟re getting more than increases business efficiency by simplifying Safeguarding Information
a week back in productive everyday tasks, and speeding up access to Information Security is a top priority for
information employees need to get their jobs companies like Health and Safety
time due to Problem done. Partnership, which must protect sensitive
Steps Recorder.” information against security threats such as
“Windows 7 Professional is the spyware or information theft, or data loss
Paul Flynn, Director, Health and Safety recommended choice for small businesses caused by failed or missing backups.
Partnership and for people who work at home but have to

3. “The business continuity The strong Windows 7 security features help to infrequently used files and information.
protect systems against malware and other Now, users simply type questions and
features in Windows 7 are forms of security threats. Advanced Backup phrases in the Instant Search box, and
giving us the ability to lets users schedule periodic data backups Windows 7 scours a local PC, HomeGroup,
that automatically save specific data or the network, external drives, and the Internet to
protect our important entire system image, while Restore Previous find the information needed. For example,
information at the highest Versions creates a shadow copy of typing in “power management,” or “dim
documents so users can instantly recover screen,” will bring in the power management
levels. This is an immense files that have been accidentally deleted or feature that extends laptop battery life.
benefit to our business changed.
Windows 7 Libraries enable the company‟s
efficiency.” The Windows 7 Encrypting File System (EFS) recruiters to share information quickly and
Paul Flynn, Director, Health and Safety enables users to encrypt files or folders that easily, while providing version control.
Partnership contain sensitive information. “The business Libraries are collections of related files and
continuity features in Windows 7 are giving us folders that can be aggregated and shared
the ability to protect our important between users. Users simply create a Library
information at the highest levels,” says Flynn. category, and then drag files and folders from
“This is an immense benefit to our business other network locations into those libraries.
efficiency.” The user can then access and edit any of the
documents in those folders anytime –
Speeding up Business Processes streamlining projects by providing a single,
Windows 7 Aero® desktop personalization unified view of project elements.
features increase productivity by reducing
time spent on redundant tasks such as “Search is brilliant, but Search coupled with
aligning windows in order to compare Libraries is more than we could have hoped
information between documents. Aero for in a productivity tool,” says Flynn. “We are
“Snap,” lets users position windows side-by- saving time, and improving quality by sharing
side for simultaneous viewing. Aero “Shake,” information more effectively.”
allows users to minimize all windows at once,
and Aero “Peek,” makes windows transparent Process Efficiency
so users can see what‟s on the desktop. One of the biggest challenges associated with
“Search is brilliant, but running a data-driven organization is ensuring
With Jump Lists, users see recently-accessed that staff members understand and execute
Search coupled with files by simply right-clicking on an icon. They standard processes precisely. The Health and
Libraries is more than we can keep frequently used documents and Safety Partnership is using the Windows
files handy by pinning them to the Jump List, Problem Steps Recorder to automatically and
could have hoped for in a and for even faster access, they can pin files accurately capture core processes, such as
productivity tool. We are directly to the Taskbar. “These changes to the the ones steps recruiters must take to qualify
interface seem small at first, but they have a candidate, or instructions on how to use the
saving time, and had a fantastic impact,” says Flynn. “What company‟s recruiting software. “What used to
improving quality by were once long, arduous tasks such as data take us one to two days now takes us one to
comparison, and analysis of candidate two hours – a huge time savings,” says Flynn.
sharing information more qualifications are now a snap!” “With Windows 7 we are saving time,
effectively.” safeguarding our data, and increasing
Federated Search enables users to find files productivity at the human level.”
Paul Flynn, Director, Health and Safety and folders instantly – rather than spending
Partnership painful minutes trying to remember pathways

4. For More Information Windows 7
For more information about Microsoft Faster and more reliable: Windows 7 will help
products and services, call the Microsoft your organization use information technology
Sales Information Center at (800) 426- to gain a competitive advantage in today‟s
9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft new world of work. Your people will be able to
Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- be more productive anyway. You will be able
2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of- to support your mobile work force with better
hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone access to shared data and collaboration
(TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in tools. And your IT staff will have better tools
the United States or (905) 568-9641 in and technologies to enhance corporate IT
Canada. Outside the 50 United States and security, data protection, and more efficient
Canada, please contact your local deployment and management.
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information
using the World Wide Web, go to: For more information about Windows 7, go to:
www.microsoft.com www.microsoft.com/windows/business
For more information about Netlink IT
products and services, call 0800 0193
870 or visit the Web site at:
www.netlinktrading.co.uk
For more information about The Health and
Safety Partnership products and services,
call 0121 426 3377 or visit the Web site
at: www.thasp.co.uk
Software and Services
 Products
− Windows 7 Professional
© 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case
study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO
WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Microsoft®, Windows®, Aero® and Windows Vista® are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in
the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks
are property of their respective owners.
Document published June 2009