Flexible workspace, powered by Wi-Fi RSA Group brought all London employees under one roof with a Cisco® Unified Access solution. There’s one network, one policy, and one management interface for wired and Wi‑Fi connections. “We’re saving millions of pounds a year from the combination of less office space and office sharing. We could not have done it without a rock-solid corporate Wi-Fi solution. ” James Sandell, Group IT Delivery Director, RSA Group Flexible workspace reduces space requirements because a certain percentage of employees are out of the office at any given time. To make it work, RSA needed a solid, secure wireless network and an easy way to manage it. Challenges • Reduce London real-estate costs • Improve productivity and team collaboration • Lower IT costs RSA Group is a leading global insurance company with 18,500 employees around the world, including just under 1000 in London. To reduce rental costs, the company decided to consolidate its three separate London offices in one location: the iconic “Walkie Talkie” building at 20 Fenchurch Street. “We wanted to change the culture,” says James Sandell, Group IT Delivery Director, RSA Group. “People would no longer own a particular desk or office.” Instead they would choose the right space for the day’s work—maybe a quiet room in the morning and a team room or the company coffee shop in the afternoon. Case Study | RSA Group Size: 18,500 employees Location: United Kingdom © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Industry: Insurance 1 Cisco Unified Access uses Cisco switches to handle both wireless and wired network traffic, so RSA doesn’t have to buy and manage separate wireless controllers. • Built one network for wired and wireless connections using Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches Solutions • Enforced one policy no matter where people connect, using Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) • Provided one management interface, Cisco Prime™ Infrastructure One network, one policy, one management interface The wired and wireless networks are managed with the same application, Cisco Prime Infrastructure. Cisco ISE recognizes the user and device, and automatically connects them to the right VLAN based on policy. “Our Cisco Unified Access solution provides one network, one policy, and one management,” Sandell says. “People can work from anywhere in the building, because the underpinning Wi-Fi is rock solid, fast, and easy to join.” Improved peopleto-desk ratio from 0 .9 to 1.3 • Lowered real-estate costs Results • Simplified IT management • Strengthened ties with brokers by providing reliable, fast guest Wi-Fi © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2 Employees have the freedom to work anywhere in the building Employees can connect to Wi-Fi using corporate or personal devices. They can even roam between floors without losing their connections. They can log in to any Cisco IP Phone to personalize it with their office and speed-dial numbers. “We have an energetic workspace,” Sandell says. “It’s low cost, and all underpinned by flexible IT infrastructure.” Desk sharing saves millions of pounds annually. In the old offices, approximately ten percent of the desks were unoccupied at any given time. Now desks are fully occupied. In fact, RSA provides one desk for every 1.3 people. Employees like the flexible workspace. So do brokers that sell RSA Group products. The fast Wi-Fi and easy connection makes it convenient to check email, browse the web, and complete transactions. The easy accessibility for brokers to visit RSA offices means they get to spend more time with RSA experts and discussing business, easily and flexibly. One network costs less than two “We’ve slashed IT expenses,” says Sandell. Management is simpler because network administrators use just one interface. The help desk receives almost no calls about Wi-Fi, because it’s so reliable and doesn’t require a login. And IT no longer needs to spend time reconnecting network cables when employees move. “If we’d known how effective the Cisco Wi-Fi network is, we would have probably held back on wiring and saved several hundred thousand pounds,” says Sandell. Sandell concludes, “We’re saving millions of pounds a year from the combination of less office space and office sharing. We could not have done it without a rock-solid corporate Wi-Fi solution.” Next up: flexible workspaces in other global offices RSA Group is preparing to introduce flexible workspaces in its other offices. The company projects that Generation-Y employees will account for 50 percent of the workforce by 2020, up from 25 percent today. The Cisco Unified Access solution lays the foundation for them to work the way they want—from anywhere, on any device. © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 3 Products & Services Wireless • Cisco Aironet® wireless access points Collaboration • Cisco Unified Communications Manager Routing and Switching • Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switch with Cisco IOS® XE Software • Cisco Unified IP Phones 9900 Series Security • Cisco Identity Services Engine For More Information To view all Cisco customer stories, visit www.cisco.com/go/customerstories To learn more about Cisco Unified Access solutions, visit www.cisco.com/go/unified access For more information on RSA, visit www.rsagroup.com. Americas Headquarters Cisco Systems, Inc. San Jose, CA Asia Pacific Headquarters Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd. Singapore Europe Headquarters Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam, The Netherlands Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R) © 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. ES/0116 4