Astro—a Malaysian and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) content and consumer company—wants to provide its customers with the best possible service, and that requires giving its more than 4,600 employees the best possible technology tools to do their jobs. Astro chose to deploy Microsoft 365, which includes Microsoft Office 365, Enterprise Mobility + Security, and Windows 10, to make its IT infrastructure more agile, more mobile, and more secure. Employees now have better collaboration and communication tools, and IT staff spend more time focusing on supporting the business and less time on tasks like software upgrades.
“The key for us is to have the right technology platform in place so that we can be agile, scale easily, and experiment with new solutions that will let us enhance our service and expand our business.”
Phuah Aik Chong, Chief Technology Officer, Astro
If you consume content in Malaysia—whether it’s TV, radio, online video, or e-commerce—you probably do so through Astro, Malaysia’s premier content and consumer company. Astro serves 76 percent of Malaysian households; that’s 23 million individuals who have access to Astro for entertainment, information, and shopping through all screens—TV, laptop, tablet, and phone—and on demand.
In order to offer customers the best possible experience, Astro provides its employees with a technology infrastructure that makes it easy to carry out their day-to-day work and keep the business running smoothly. “The telecommunications and media industries are going through a digital revolution that can be very disruptive,” says Phuah Aik Chong, Chief Technology Officer at Astro. “The key for us is to have the right technology platform in place so that we can be agile, scale easily, and experiment with new solutions that will let us enhance our service and expand our business. Moving to Windows 10 is becoming a necessity. Modern enterprise applications increasingly depend on Windows 10 and the new technologies within it. This includes many critical applications that Astro depends on to run our daily operations.”
A technology transformation to a modern desktop
Beginning in late 2016, Astro embarked on a technological journey to provide its employees with a modern desktop that boosts efficiency and streamlines internal operations. This involved rethinking the way the company approaches its entire IT infrastructure. “We aim to transform Astro into a cloud-first, mobile-first, analytics-driven company,” says Phuah. “We want to move as much of our infrastructure to the cloud as we can, instead of maintaining on-premises systems. We also want to make sure that our employees can easily access enterprise services, whether they are in the office or somewhere else.”
Astro has a long history of using Microsoft products, so the company looked to Microsoft to help with its IT transformation. Beyond embracing the cloud and mobility, the company also wanted to offer self-service support for its employees to improve efficiency. Providing top-notch security was another concern. To achieve its goals, Astro became one of the first major enterprises in Asia to deploy Microsoft 365, the complete, intelligent solution that combines Windows 10 with Office 365 and Enterprise Mobility + Security. Astro is taking advantage of tools and features that include Windows Analytics, Windows Defender Antivirus, Windows Information Protection, Microsoft Azure Information Protection, and Microsoft Intune, along with the ability to deliver Windows as a service.
Security and mobility drive transformation
The upgrade to Windows 10 is one of the key activities in the Astro journey. Features like continuous updates lighten the support burden on the IT team and give them more time to provide employees with better service. The operating system also offers a level of security that Astro welcomes.” Windows 10 introduces a host of security features,” says Arumugam Thenappan, Vice President, IT Operations and Support at Astro. “In Microsoft Edge, we appreciate modern technologies like SmartScreen and Certificate Reputation for fraud detection. Our security team is very interested in BitLocker encryption and Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, because it helps protect an enterprise hybrid environment like ours from multiple types of cyberattacks. When combined, the security features of BitLocker, Windows Information Protection, Azure Information Protection, and Office 365 represent a formidable set of end-to-end data protection capabilities. We are also using Azure Multi-Factor Authentication to give us more control of our highly secure environment and data access.”
“The Microsoft Services team makes sure to understand exactly what we are aiming for, and then they help us achieve it.”
Aru Thenappan, Vice President of IT Operations, Astro
Astro views Office 365 as an important component of its move to a highly mobile IT environment. “Office 365 is a simple way to give our employees easy access to mobility tools like email with the level of security we want,” says Phuah. “We’re also improving collaboration in the workplace with Microsoft tools like Yammer, Skype for Business, and OneDrive. And the anywhere, anytime access that cloud-based Office 365 provides helps our employees be more productive.”
An enterprise-wide deployment benefiting many departments
The IT transformation project encompasses all 36 Astro regional offices. Astro has rolled out Windows 10 to more than 4,500 users. Throughout the process, Astro has enjoyed strong support from Microsoft Services. “The relationship has been very collaborative, and they’ve kept in constant touch with us from end to end to track any issues and ensure they’re resolved,” says Aru. “The Microsoft team makes sure to understand exactly what we are aiming for, and then they help us achieve it.”
The move to Windows 10 and Office 365 has been a winner for Astro in more ways than one. By relying on the security features in Windows 10, Astro has been able to eliminate a third-party security program and produce savings annually. Using the cloud-based applications of Office 365 has also eliminated the cost of purchasing and maintaining on-premises servers.
Using Microsoft 365, Astro has deployed a platform to streamline its marketing and customer service. “We launched a new omnichannel customer care platform running on Windows 10 that incorporates traditional telephony, social media, email, and online messaging,” says Phuah. “The platform has delivered significant efficiency gains across our telemarketing and call center operations, because we consolidated incoming and outgoing telemarketing into a single channel that can be handled by the same person. We’ve also been able to digitize our sales operations, so they no longer work with physical forms that need to be sent between offices.”
“The gradual introduction of features in every iteration of Windows 10 allows the employees to be more agile, and it significantly reduces the operational load on the IT department,” says Aru. “Windows 10 offers two new versions a year with continuous and iterative maintenance. Employees get to utilize these benefits when they become available, without having to depend on IT to roll out new releases of the operating system. When Microsoft introduces Windows as a service with deployment rings, upgrades are much more constructed and well-managed, as opposed to having to manage each Windows upgrade and maintenance manually as in the past.”
“Office 365 is a simple way to give our employees easy access to mobile tools like email with the level of security we want. We’re also improving collaboration in the workplace with Microsoft tools like Yammer, Skype for Business, and OneDrive.”
Phuah Aik Chong, Chief Technology Officer, Astro
As part of its desire to become an analytics-driven company, Astro is utilizing the components of Windows Analytics to better measure the state of its computer inventory. Astro has an instant view into the current state of upgrade readiness, patch maintenance compliance, and device health. This makes it possible to predict and plan for problems that hamper a computer’s usability and reduce employee productivity. The company is also saving annually by taking advantage of Windows Defender and eliminating additional security software installed on its computers.
Altogether, Astro uses Microsoft 365 to improve the way its business works at all levels. “By moving more of our work environment to the cloud, we are more technologically agile,” says Aru. “Employees can work from anywhere in a more secure manner, giving them a flexible working environment. The scalability and automation help us to optimize our IT resources and allow us to grow. Using Microsoft 365, we have improved efficiency, security, and mobility. We’ve given our employees a modern desktop, and that helps them to focus their efforts on providing our customers with the entertainment, information, and new services they expect. We’re excited about what we have achieved with Microsoft 365 so far, and we’re looking forward to see what it could help us achieve in the future.”
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