24/7 support guarantees stable operation of the intranet for networking 20,000 employees

A stable intranet gains in importance with increasing company size and intensity of use - especially when more than 20,000 employees network and exchange information via it every day. RWE AG relies on the expertise of TIMETOACT for a functioning intranet. The experts took over the operation of HCL Connections in the fall of 2020 and have since ensured the fail-safe stability of the platform. Within the scope of a 24/7 support contract, TIMETOACT is available to the energy company at all times and, in addition to operation, also ensures continuous further development of the intranet.

Initial situation:

  • Use of HCL Connections as central intranet
  • Poor performance and instability of the platform
  • End of support from the previous service provider

Solution:

  • Stabilization of HCL Connections by TIMETOACT
  • License consulting for new licensing

Added value:

  • Stable operation of HCL Connections without outages.
  • Continued use of the platform by 20,000 employees for collaboration and networking
  • 24/7 managed service support for stability and continuous development

We had a relaxed and open relationship right from the start - it just fit on a personal level. I am also extremely satisfied with how quickly and competently TIMETOACT works.

Martin Herll IT Operations & Incident Management RWE

Need for a stable platform for efficient work

Many companies rely on a central intranet for their internal communication flow in order to provide employees with relevant information. For RWE AG, the intranet has a special significance - because every day, more than 20,000 employees of the energy group use HCL Connections for a mutual exchange: messages in the newsfeed, working in communities and status updates of projects are the most frequently used features for networking throughout the company. It is therefore all the more important that the platform runs smoothly at all times.

Especially at peak times, however, it often happened that the platform either ran very slowly or was partially down altogether. This made working hardly bearable and required a lot of patience on the part of the users. Above all, however, the work was slow and inefficient. In addition, the previous service provider wanted to end its support for HCL Connections as soon as possible. RWE was thus faced with the challenge of operating an unstable platform on the one hand, and on the other hand, a new support partner had to be found to solve this problem and take over operation.

Core requirement

The core requirement was primarily to ensure the stable operation of HCL Connections. This included the prevention of system failures and the import of all relevant updates. In addition, the platform was to be continuously developed further.

TIMETOACT Health-Check to solve the problem

There was already a joint project between RWE and TIMETOACT in 2019, in the course of which the address books of the various companies were merged in HCL Connections. After this successful collaboration, the energy company decided to again rely on TIMETOACT's expertise.

Since we had already successfully implemented a project with TIMETOACT, the conclusion was obvious to choose TIMETOACT again. And I am very satisfied with the cooperation.

Martin Herll IT Operations & Incident Management RWE

 

In October 2020, the collaboration started with a transition phase lasting just under two months. During this phase, both the old service provider and TIMETOACT were active, with TIMETOACT gradually taking over operations and processing initial support tickets. In case of questions or missing information, an exchange with the old service provider was possible at any time.

 

A central component of the transition was above all a health check of the platform by TIMETOACT: For example, the patch level status, pending security updates, server configuration and database settings were checked. This resulted in recommendations for changes that were adopted step by step. These included adjustments to the infrastructure in the HCL Cloud, adjustments to the configuration of HCL Connections and the connection of other systems (for example, directories such as LDAP/AD). Five months after the start of the project, HCL Connections is running stably without any outages and RWE employees can access the intranet without any disruptions.

Customizable for each customer

With the stability of the platform, TIMETOACT has laid the foundation for RWE to continue to rely on HCL Connections. This is because the licenses for HCL Connections expired at the same time as the support of the old service provider. Since the platform is now running smoothly again, RWE decided to re-license. Based on TIMETOACT's licensing consulting, RWE now continues to use the HCL platform on the basis of Processor Value Unit (PVU) licensing.

24/7 managed service & support for stable operation and further development

Dashboard von HCL Connections bei RWE

As a managed support partner, TIMETOACT continues to ensure stable operation of HCL Connections and is in regular exchange with RWE. At the same time, the further development of the platform in the form of (feature) extensions and customizing is continuously driven forward. The operation is mainly carried out via the ticket system ServiceNow in order to report, collect and process problems. TIMETOACT is available around the clock under a 24/7 contract in order to be able to quickly resolve critical malfunctions at any time.

RWE AG is a global leader in renewable energies. With a clear growth course. RWE has its finger on the pulse of the times and is an important driver of change in the renewable energy age. Change is part of RWE's history. It is a prerequisite for remaining fit for the future. Through innovations and investments, the new RWE is creating the basis for a climate-neutral future.

Feel free to contact me!

Christian Luxem
Head Of Professional Services TIMETOACT Software & Consulting GmbH
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