The challenge.

“Choice is the cornerstone of REA’s employee IT experience,” says Luke Fletcher, Executive Manager, Enterprise Technology at REA Group. “Employees are more efficient if they’re comfortable with their technology and it suits their job needs. Our culture has a long history of hybrid working – WFH, café, office – to get the best from everyone and their time.”
“We want them supported by their technology, not frustrated by it. And that experience is also about choice – which keeps evolving as employee preferences change.”

A general return to part time in the office has had an impact on device use at REA: employees are relying more on their devices battery life, as opposed to devices being plugged in all day at home.

Fabian Serruto, Senior End User Computing Manager at REA Group says: “Battery life is absolutely vital. We have to supply teams with devices that allow them to be away from their chargers – in conversation rooms and outside meetings.

“When we went to update devices across such a large business, we were looking at battery, design, weight and value, plus great support.”
REA’s Enterprise Technology team of 20 works from Melbourne and Sydney and provides remote support to the rest of Australia. With 1700 employees to kit out, and half choosing Windows, this equates to rolling out 300 new devices each year.

The Group is deeply committed to the best sustainable practices. It’s important to REA that devices at end of life do not end up in landfill.

The solution.

Support capabilities were crucial to REA’s decision making. “Working with HP and Compnow has been a significantly better experience than with others in the past,” Luke says.

Compnow arranged a Proof-of-Concept purchasing plan to ensure REA secured the best options. They accompanied REA to the HP Experience Centre to evaluate machines for organisational fit and value matching. Various devices were then taken back to REA for staff to test. “Before we committed to any devices, we got to see how the machines performed in our real work environment,” Fabian says.

Two model options were selected: the HP EliteBook as the standard device and the higher spec Notebook, as well as the HP ZBook for developer and system engineer technical staff.

“We have the best products for their use case, and with a professional look that our teams are proud to carry when they’re out representing REA,” Fabian says.

As HP Authorised Repairers, Compnow’s onsite technicians undertake REA’s warranty repairs. Compnow also conveniently keeps REA pre-imaged stock and parts on hand in its capital city warehouses across Australia. “Whether it’s about damaged, dropped or stolen devices, or onboarding new staff, everything is on hand. The rapid response times to our requests means we minimise downtime and can meet the service expectations of our employees. Compnow makes it very easy for us,” Luke says.

REA use Workspace One for light touch management of its multi-vendor environment. Facilitated by Compnow, the REA team can automatically enrol new devices, and security protocols are standardised across the entire fleet. Employees log in seamlessly to the apps pushed to their devices and they also have a self-service portal from which they can download pre-approved apps. “Everyone has a consistent experience no matter what the hardware is,” Fabian says.

The benefits.

“We were looking for the best advice and professional services, plus the best technology. And we’ve got that with HP and Compnow. We have one point of contact to get the answers or services we need. It’s so efficient,” Luke says.
“Previous devices batteries were starting to fail after 12 months. With HP even our 2-3 year old devices are still going strong,” he says.

Another plus for the relationship with Compnow is its comprehensive lifecycle management services. As part of REA’s Climate Change policy, it has a sustainability responsibility to manage and reduce the Group’s impact on the environment. “Compnow’s services have real world benefits for REA.”

“We gain enormously from Compnow’s end of life SustainIT program which goes beyond recycling. All devices are assessed for re-use potential to give them a second life. Its buyback credits mean we offset the cost of recycling devices while achieving our environmental goals. We also extend a great value option to our staff where they can buy equipment at a reduced cost and with a warranty too,” he says.

For the Enterprise Technology team, Luke says: “Working with Compnow means we deliver a frictionless experience to every REA employee”.