How Cary Group took control of its IT environment after many acquisitions
The Nordic region’s leading car glass expert, Ryds Bilglas was founded in 1947 by Erik Ryd in Sundsvall. Today, the company has 148 workshops in 87 locations around the country and another 50 or so in Norway, Denmark and the UK. The Ryd family still owns parts of the company, which is now part of the Cary Group. Entrepreneurship and a forward-looking spirit permeate the organization, which is reflected in a constantly growing business.
Ryds Car Glass
Vehicle
Cary Group is a highly expansive company in car care services. Ryds Bilglas, which is part of Cary Group, has 148 service stations in Sweden alone. With offices and workshops in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the UK, managing the IT environment for all employees is a challenge.
Many new acquisitions previously caused a mess of different systems and were neither efficient nor secure. With the help of Zelly, Ryds Bilglas and Cary Group have a solution that is scalable and easy to manage. All programs and organizational data are distributed centrally from the IT department, to units and people as needed. There is no longer any risk of an employee accidentally downloading malware onto a device, or of important data being lost if a computer in a workshop is stolen.
The major expansion of the Cary Group, which includes Ryds Bilglas, meant that after a while there were no common structures at several levels in the IT environment. Information was stored either on local computers or in a variety of cloud services. Some used Microsoft, others used Google or Dropbox. Nothing followed the same standard. For Cary Group’s IT project manager Camilla Törnqvist-Carlberg, getting control of the company’s IT environment was difficult. There was no satisfactory way to manage maintenance, as everyone had different solutions and there was no visibility into which programs were being used. With a digital work environment that was not harmonized, it was difficult to take advantage of the benefits of digitalization. The 148 workshops were also not equipped in the same way, which made collaboration and meetings via link difficult. The conferencing tool used did not work satisfactorily, so there was no recurring solution for digital meetings.
Cary Group is a group that likes to explore the possibilities of technology when it comes to offering customers the very best experience. Of course, this should also apply to the working environment of its own employees. The group needed a unified system, uniquely adapted to the special needs that come with having 148 different workshops around the country and also operating internationally. To get this right, they enlisted the help of Zelly.
– What was decisive in choosing Zelly was that they not only talked about licenses, but also about the end-user experience, says Camilla Törnqvist-Carlberg.
An IT system should not only work. It must also be user-friendly for users at all levels. For a company expanding across borders, using a system that is available worldwide makes it easier.
-“It’s reassuring to know that it’s not going to change all of a sudden, which can be the case with products from smaller players,” explains Camilla Thörnqvist-Carlberg. There is also excellent support and it is easy to adapt the system to different needs.
One of the difficulties for Cary Group before moving to the unified Microsoft environment was that the IT department did not know what programs the different workshops were using on their digital devices. It was impossible to get an overview of what was downloaded on the computers, which created confusion and posed a major security risk. Today, each workshop has a back office computer connected to a large screen and camera to facilitate meetings in Teams. The computers run the programs that the business needs, but nothing else. This provides control and higher security. Thanks to Microsoft Intune, Cary Group’s IT department can see which devices have been registered and get an inventory of devices using organizational resources. If a computer is lost, stolen, or no longer in use, organizational data can be easily removed. Updating, adding and deleting programs is managed from the IT department so that other employees can focus on their respective areas of expertise. At present, all computers are connected to Intunes. The next step is to integrate all mobiles. This will make it even easier for the company to reach every employee, as many people only move around with mobile phones today.
Challenge
When a company grows through acquisition, it can end up with a jumble of different IT systems in circulation. That’s exactly what happened to Ryds Bilglas. In addition to the heterogeneous IT environment being impractical for the business, the lack of structure posed a major security risk. Cary Group’s lack of control over the company’s data was not only costly in terms of inefficiency, but also threatened the entire business in the event of a potential data breach.
Solution
Managing the expanding company’s IT infrastructure required a major overhaul. The solution Zelly came up with was to migrate the business to Microsoft 365 Cloud with tailored customizations for Cary Group. Thanks to Microsoft Intune, the IT department at Cary Group can see which devices have been registered and get an inventory of devices that use organizational resources.
Outcome
Control
With the help of Zelly and Microsoft 365, Cary Group has a unified IT environment where users are secure and have the right permissions.
Scalable
An IT structure that is scalable for further acquisitions regardless of the country of acquisition.
User-friendly
A good working environment that enables you to provide the best possible service to customers.
The coronavirus pandemic forced many companies and organizations to go digital more or less overnight. Fortunately, Cary Group had already started its transition to Microsoft 365 in 2019. When the pandemic hit, the technology was available, even if not everyone had had time to be trained in the tools. Some employees had to learn along the way, but thanks to a user-friendly interface, it went smoothly and today digital meetings are part of everyday life. For Cary Group, it means lower travel costs as regional managers don’t have to travel to every workshop in the region for meetings. It also makes it easier to make everyone feel included in the company.
A major overhaul of the IT environment is a big investment. Of course, this investment has cost money, but it pays off in the long run because there is less administration and thus lower IT costs. Having a more secure IT environment also reduces the risk of costly incidents. Through the Zero Trust service, Cary Group receives reports on which intrusion attempts are actually made against the company, which is useful information. The number of IT attacks against companies is increasing all the time. Rather, it is about when, than if a company is hit. Keeping systems safe from hackers is an ongoing job, but now Cary Group has ensured that the conditions for security work are the best.
–The reason we chose to work with Zelly was their high level of service. We feel seen and they take into account our special needs, says Camilla Törnqvist IT Project Manager Cary Group
