Lenovo, powered by IGEL, provides the ultimate cloud-connected device. IGEL is an Endpoint Operating System designed for VDI, Daas, and Digital Workspaces. Together, we can tackle the unique challenges facing the retail space by providing:
(Please click the arrow for more information)
Global expansion, franchise outlets, and natural and man-made disasters demand rapid store provisioning, placing demands on IT admins to onboard and streamline a new insfrastructure while providing a constant end user experience.
- IGEL OS is customizable. Corporate branding or unique screensavers for corporate messaging can make endpoint devices look and perform exactly as desired in accordance with a customer’s requirements. The customer facing and back office workers continue to work on their familiar GUI.
- A broad technology partner ecosystem of more than 100 leading partners ensures support for multiple protocols, fast and seamless integration of authentication, unified communications, printing, USB management technologies, contextualizing, and more.
- IGEL OS delivers a great user experience for unified communications in the back-office or the call center. It supports offloading of Microsoft Teams via Citrix Workspace App, Cisco Teams VDI (with release of 11.04.100) and JVDI, and a broad range of headsets whose firmware can be updated via the Universal Management Suite.
- Merging two orgnazations with disparate point of sales machines and delivery mechnanisms can cause complications and loss of productivity and revenue. IGEL OS supports multiple protocols at a time and can help accelerate technical adoption for buisness continuity.
Complying with Payment Card Industry (PCI), Data Security Standard (DSS) and strict government regulations is difficult to manage across diverse environments.
- IGEL OS does not store any production or customer data on the endpoint. Modular by design; unused features can be turned off, and keeping endpoints “lean” minimizes the attack surface. This, along with the read-only file system, makes IGEL OS even more tamperresistant.
- IGEL’s complete “chain of trust” verifies each step of the boot-up process from the user hardware/UEFI to the destination VDI host or cloud workspace. A secure browser can be configured for safe user access to web apps and cloud-based DaaS offers including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) from the Microsoft Azure cloud.
- Multi-factor authentication plays an important role in controlling access to cashiers, stockrooms, or highly controlled (eg. financial) workspaces. IGEL OS guarantees high-level access control via an integrated PKCS11 library that supports authentication and single signon technologies with the use of almost all smart card readers.
Shifting end-user computing resources to centralized data center or cloud environments enables business continuity through rapid scale-up, reduced endpoint complexity, and minimized security exposure.
- IGEL OS, IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS), and IGEL Cloud Gateway (ICG) are designed in unison to manage devices at dispersed, off-network locations.
- UMS software enables a single administrator to optimize, image, and control up to tens of thousands of diverse endpoints remotely from a single console.
- UMS provides zero-touch deployment, drag-and-drop profiling, and a “buddy update” system for distributed retail locations with reduced bandwidth. IT admins are spared the time-consuming and error-prone patching typical for many dispersed Windows endpoints.
- UMS requires no on-site IT support and minimizes interruption of revenue-impacting systems. Through extensive support and troubleshooting capabilities, the ICG enables secure shadowing of any x86-64 device, including PCs and thin clients, even outside the corporate LAN.
- The Shared Workplace functionality provides user-specific profiles linked to account login details within Active Directory. For example, personal preferences, session type, or peripheral device settings can be predefined. This and many other advanced features offer a consistent and positive user experience regardless of log-in device or location.
- Is remote device patching time-consuming and error-prone?
- How are you ensuring compliance with industry regulations like PCI DSS and regional requirements like GDPR?
- If you use virtual desktops, how do you stay current with the latest client software from Citrix, VMware, and Microsoft?
- Are you accessing any cloud-based workloads?
- Is support for specialized device form factors required?
- Is there a danger of slow system access and responsiveness that has a negative impact on customer experience and store sales?
- Do you want to streamline the provisioning process with granular, centralized management and remote management via a no-touch cloud gateway model?
Based on the end-user, find Primary Challenges and how IGEL and Lenovo can improve their working lives.
(Please use the drop-down for more)
Point-of-Sale (POS)
Customer-facing, store/kiosk associates, personal shopper advisors
- Log-on delays
- Unreliable digital signature devices
- Incompatible multi-authentication peripherals
- Vulnerabilities due to multiple users sharing one cashier or POS device
- Security risk via malware or unauthorized USB usage
- Compatibility with popular peripherals – IGEL Ready
- Fast onboarding
- Single Sign-on
- Shared Workplace
- Day one integrations
- Insight Service (IGEL OS12)
- Much less idle downtime
- Less dependency on IT
- Faster SSO log-ons
- Easily switch between endpoint devices with Shared Workplace
- Faster, more efficient, improved retail environment
- Efficient and reliable technology that just works
- Solutions that are easy to work with, enable the team leading to increased productivity, and directly impacting on the customer experience
E-Commerce
Online stores
- Incompatible systems can impede the online shopping experience directly impacting on revenue
- IGEL OS
- Enterprise Management Pack – Rest API
- High Availability
- Streamlined solutions, eliminates outages and lagging
- Improved user experience
- Offer a quality customer experience
Back Office and Headquarters
Administrative and business service teams who may work remotely
- Business services for omnichannel in dispersed locations
- Access to multiple environments and solutions
- Incompatibilities lead to downtime and delays
- IGEL UD Pocket for secure UYOD and BYOD
- IGEL OS security, lean & modular
- IT Chain of Trust, endpoint to cloud/ VDI workspace
- IGEL OS supports Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx Meeting and Teams, Jabra, and Avaya.
- Seamless unified communication boosts user experience
- With IGEL OS and broad array of integrations co-workers can stay in touch regardless of their geographical location.
Order Management
Order processing and fulfillment, warehouse
- Peripheral compatibility issues
- Multiple users of one device
- Onboarding service
- Multi-cloud SSO
- Self-service for app updates
- Shared Workplace
- IGEL Ready & Day One integrations for printers for labels
- Insight Service (IGEL OS12)
- Compatibility with order management software increases productivity
- Enabling flexibility of multiple users on one device improves user experience and workflows
- Greater efficiencies improves performances, reduces delays and human error which impact on delivery times and customer satisfaction
Mergers and Acquisitions
Common in retail
- Incur even greater complexity with a patchwork IT infrastructure between new and legacy locations
- IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS)
- High Availability
- Enterprise Management Pack - ICG, AIT, SWP
- IGEL OS supports multiple protocols at a time
- The IT admin can manage the onboarding and integration of the new company to an existing infrastructure.
- This reduces the process time to consolidate endpoints, allowing operations to get up and running quickly while saving M&A budget.
Global Expansion
Franchise outlets demand rapid store provisioning
- No on-site IT expertise, placing demands on remote IT admin support
- Time-consuming administration with complex and slow tools across a diverse and dispersed environment.
- From this point zero-touch deployment, easy remote management with UMS, and secure shadowing with IGEL Cloud Gateway (ICG) enables full support and troubleshooting of distributed, remote endpoints.
- Rapid and reliable store provisioning even with limited IT staff on site
- The IT admin can remotely provision a regional store, warehouse or contact center with different IGEL OS endpoints.
- The onsite staff can connect the device to the power source, network cable and press “on”
- IGEL UMS software makes it possible for one administrator to optimize, image, and control up to tens of thousands of diverse endpoints remotely from a single console.
- Business Continuity
Based on the audience, find Primary Challenges and how IGEL and Lenovo can improve their jobs.
(Please use the drop-down for more)
Engineer:
EUC Architect, Senior Technician, Systems Engineer, Consultant
- Difficult to protect the organization from malware/ ransomware
- Must enable and maintain work-from-anywhere
- Need to maintain high performance end-user experiences
- EUC products and technologies must easily integrate with existing and future products and technologies
- Endpoint strategy must be multi-cloud ready
- IGEL OS security: Linux, tiny attack surface, read-only, modular, chain of trust
- IGEL Ready & Day One integrations
- Extend endpoint HW life; improve performance & efficiency
- Use small, efficient, cost-effective thin clients
- 110+ IGEL Ready integrations
- Best route to the cloud: IGEL OS 12 with multi-cloud, SSO, fast onboarding, self-service app store, etc.
- More secure endpoints, reduced malware exposure
- Offer a choice to move to your preferred Lenovo endpoint
- More effective end-users
- Less end-user dependency on IT
- Consistently excellent end-user experiences
- Confidence that IGEL OS is multi-cloud and cloud era ready – “future proof”
Manager
VP, Director, Senior Manager of EUC / Windows / Platforms
- Responsible for IT systems at store branches in multiple locations, omnichannel
- Bandwidth variances
- Retail real estate varies from large department stores to space-saving kiosks demands support for diverse device types
- IT provisioning at new stores from M&A and franchises
- Incompatible IT infrastructure, a patchwork of legacy and modern technologies
- Diverse user profiles – administrative, warehouse, logistics, point of sale, customer services
- Diverse products and supply chains – fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), textile, electronics
- In-store retail staff possess limited IT skills
- Difficult to protect the organization from malware/ ransomware
- Managing and controlling off-network at-home or mobile workers such trend scouts or buyers
- Must comply with customer info confidentiality mandates like Payment Card Industry (PCI)/ Data Security Standards(DSS)/GDPR
- IT budget constraints
- Economic and disruption burden of regular endpoint hardware refreshes
- Time wasted configuring and maintaining fat clients
- Excess trouble tickets from end-users
- 110+ IGEL Ready, day one integrations
- IGEL OS certified – Citrix, Microsoft AVD, VMware, AWS
- Central, remote management with UMS and ICG, no VPN required
- User profiling, set policies
- Onboarding service
- Multi-cloud SSO
- Self-service for app updates
- Shared Workplace
- High Availability
- Insight Service (IGEL OS12)
- App and Services HUB
- IGEL security posture – a lean, modular, read-only, chain of trust
- Customization of IGEL OS to corporate branding
- Retail IT is a complex environment of diverse users across dispersed locations. IGEL OS simplifies this, offering choice and compatibility
- Eliminate complexity by streamlining IT resources
- Standardize diverse endpoints with IGEL OS
- Easy central management of diverse and remote endpoints,
- Simplify update process, configurate and zero-touch deployment at scale
- Support business growth plans with onboarding, faster integration of additional technologies in M&A and franchise transactions
- Offer choice of preferred endpoint devices, secure BYOD, reuse hardware
- Familiar GUI supports end-user adoption, customize IGEL OS to corporate branding
- More secure endpoints, reduced malware exposure, no data stored on the endpoint support compliance mandates for PCI, DSS and GDPR.
- Self-service kiosks with good performance and zero trouble tickets
- Increased intel into users and devices (Insight Service)
- Strong troubleshooting and helpdesk support for home/remote staff
- IGEL OS powered endpoints are more energy efficient
- IGEL is the simple, smart, and secure way to manage and control endpoints accessing the cloud at scale in a work from anywhere world.
CIO
Member of C-level Exec Team
- Dynamic, competitive nature of the retail business
- Business growth plans – mergers & acquisitions, global expansion
- Budget constraints
- Most effective, efficient use of resources, human and IT
- Manage the shift towards cloud technologies
- Mandatory compliance with security, payment, and personal data standards
- Achieve environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) sustainability goals set by government
- Onboarding service
- Multi-cloud SSO
- Self-service for app updates
- Shared Workplace
- High Availability
- IGEL Cloud Gateway
- IGEL Ready & Day One integrations
- Insight Service (IGEL OS12)
- IGEL security posture – lean, modular, read-only, chain of trust
- Standardizing diverse endpoints with IGEL OS, optimizes the use of IT resources
- Repurposing HW reduces CAPEX
- IGEL OS powered endpoints are performant and energy efficient, reducing OPEX
- Easier to comply with GDPR, payment card industry (PCI), and data security standards (DSS)
- Lower carbon footprint by extending the lifecycle of HW, reducing energy use helps achieve sustainability goals
- Achieve business growth plans supported by smart IT – M&A, global store expansion, online stores
- Achieve ESG goals to elevate brand and reputation
Consumer Goods Retailer Teams with IGEL to Operationalize and Secure their Call Center
PCI-DSS capabilities drove Conn’s HomePlus’ decision to adopt IGEL and Amazon WorkSpaces to ensure business continuity as call center agents pivoted to a work-from-anywhere environment to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
Due to the sensitive nature of the data our team handles, we had to ensure the devices in use had the correct security protocols in place. The IGEL solution is plug-and-play for the user, easy to manage remotely, and provides fast access to their virtual desktop and applications. It is impossible for data to be left behind. This makes the IGEL solution very secure and enables us to maintain compliance with PCI-DSS regulations, regardless of the end user’s location.
SUMMARY
The Challenge
- Call center agents were sent home to work as businesses around the globe shuttered in-office operations to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
- WFH users demand an intuitive and easy-to-use solution.
- The transfer of personal and financial information between customers and call center agents requires a secure solution that would help meet PCI-DSS compliance.
- Contact center agents require the use of softphones and need a high-performing, low latency solution.
The Solution
- Security and PCI-DSS compliance
- Easy to use and manage remotely
- Quick deployment enables immediate productivity of agents
- Improved productivity and business continuity
- Saved money immediately
In March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Conn’s HomePlus® found itself working to comply with local health ordinances for more than 140 locations across 14 states. Storefront operations had to change, and large numbers of call center agents were sent home to service Conn’s customers.
“This was very challenging for us,” said Craig Gehrke, VP of IT, Conn’s HomePlus, “a high performing work from home solution would normally take months to design.”
IGEL WORKS, SO CONN’S HOMEPLUS AGENTS CAN TOO
To help solve its remote work challenges, Conn’s HomePlus turned to IGEL. After looking at the challenges faced by Conn’s, IGEL’s technology experts recommended the IGEL OS with the IGEL Cloud Gateway (ICG) running Amazon WorkSpaces. The ICG is a feature of the Enterprise Management Pack which allows Conn’s to manage the IGEL OS over the public internet without a VPN.
“With IGEL and Amazon Workspaces it took less than seven days to build, test and deploy. We were blown away. The icing on the cake was creating a WFH solution quickly while maintaining PCI-DSS compliance.” said Gehrke.
He added, “IGEL was great to work with and enabled our team to create Work-from-Home Kits which include the device, a monitor, keyboard, mouse and headset – everything our agents needed to set up their office at their homes. The roll-out went smoothly and within a matter of days, not weeks, our call center agents were up and running; working productively from their homes leveraging the IGEL OS.”
WINNING COMBINATION: EASE OF MANAGEMENT, COST-EFFECTIVENESS AND PCI-DSS COMPLIANCE
While the IGEL’s ease of use was a huge factor in Conn’s HomePlus’ decision to go with the solution, the support for Amazon WorkSpaces via the IGEL OS, management visibility at the endpoint, and cost-effectiveness were key factors in selecting IGEL for call center agents.
“The integration that IGEL offers with leading cloud workspace solutions, including Amazon WorkSpaces, saved us a tremendous amount of time immediately,” explained Gehrke. “Further, because the solution was easy to use, we didn’t need to retrain our users.”
For Conn’s HomePlus, it was also critical that the endpoint computing solution used by its call center agents would help to achieve PCI-DSS compliance. “Due the sensitive nature of the data our team handles, we had to ensure the devices in use had the correct security protocols in place,” said Gehrke. The IGEL OS allows call center agents to access their virtual desktop without leaving any data or application information used during their session on the endpoint. This makes the solution secure and enables Conn’s to maintain compliance with PCI-DSS regulations, even when the users work from home.
Gehrke continued, “together, the ease of management, cost-effectiveness, and security of the IGEL solution made it a winner in the eyes of our management team.”
FUTURE PLANS EXTEND TO STOREFRONT OPERATIONS
Conn’s HomePlus is so pleased with how well IGEL has worked in ensuring that its call center has remained secure and operational during the global health crisis, that they now have plans to investigate using IGEL for users and devices beyond their contact centers.
“We are currently evaluating where it will make the most sense to deploy IGEL,” said Gehrke. “We have a lot of the same requirements at our brick-and-mortar locations for security, performance, and ease of use.”
Title: Manage and secure your cloud-connected Devices with Lenovo & IGEL
Dear [PROSPECT],
As the retail industry continues to evolve, it's essential to have technology solutions in place that can support your mission-critical functionality and keep up with changing demands. That's where IGEL OS comes in.
Here are some key areas where IGEL OS can help in the retail industry:
- Security and compliance: IGEL OS simplifies compliance with PCI DSS and government regulations with secure features like a Read Only OS, modular design, no data storage, and partnership with many MFA and SSO solutions.
- Simplified central management: IGEL OS, UMS, and ICG enable business continuity through centralized management of dispersed, off-network devices and reduced endpoint complexity.”
- Mergers, acquisitions, and business continuity: IGEL OS streamlines onboarding and provides a consistent end-user experience during mergers, acquisitions, and other disruptions. It's flexible and supports multiple protocols, helping accelerate technology adoption for business continuity.
In-store and online sales associates, as well as back-office and customer care teams, can also focus on their customers instead of technology. Plus, by reducing capital and operational expenses, you can leverage the cost savings and invest in growing the business.
We believe IGEL OS can be a valuable asset for your retail business, and we'd love to discuss the possibilities further. Please let us know if you're interested in learning more.
Best regards,
[Your Name]