01
Business Context
The workplace is no longer a place — it is a strategic business capability. A complex, distributed workplace environment required modernisation while continuity was preserved across the organisation.
Enterprise Transformation Brief · Volume 03
Global Digital Workplace Transformation
Building a cloud-first employee experience for a future-ready enterprise, without interrupting business continuity.
Executive dashboard
The numbers
- Workplace devices migrated
- 2,500Workplace devices migrated
- VDI desktops
- ~1,000VDI desktops
- Cloud-enabled devices
- 4,000Cloud-enabled devices
- Productivity improvement
- 30%Productivity improvement
- Reduction in IT support calls
- 20%Reduction in IT support calls
- Implementation of its kind in Japan
- 1stImplementation of its kind in Japan
Transformation focus
- Business continuity
- Employee experience
- Hybrid cloud
- Security by design
02
Transformation Challenge
Legacy workplace technology limited flexibility, resilience and employee experience. Any change had to be delivered without disrupting daily operations across multiple regions.
Personal contribution
Devendra’s role
Programme scale describes the transformation. This describes the leadership contribution within it.
- Transformation Leadership
- Led the global digital workplace migration in phased waves, protecting continuity in every region.
- Technology / Architecture Direction
- Directed the hybrid VDI architecture on VMware Cloud on AWS — the first Horizon implementation of its kind in Japan — with security built in by design.
- Delivery Governance
- Governed delivery against employee experience and support demand rather than deployment counts.
- Stakeholder Management
- Maintained global stakeholder alignment, change leadership and communication alongside technical delivery.
03
Strategic Response
A migration to a modern hybrid workplace architecture — cloud-enabled, secure by design and business aligned — delivered through phased global waves.
04
Executive Decisions
- Treat the digital workplace as a business capability, not an IT initiative.
- Phase the global migration to protect continuity in every region.
- Build security into the architecture rather than adding it afterwards.
- Measure success through employee experience and support demand, not deployment counts.
05
Operating Model
Workplace services were consolidated into a single operating model with clear ownership for experience, security and support performance.
06
Governance
Global stakeholder alignment was maintained through structured governance, with change leadership and communication planned alongside technical delivery.
07
Technology
VMware Horizon implemented on VMware Cloud on AWS — the first VMware Cloud on AWS Horizon implementation in Japan — supporting hybrid VDI at scale.
08
Business Outcomes
- 2,500 devices migrated to hybrid VDI
- ~1,000 VDI desktops and 4,000 cloud-enabled devices
- 30% productivity improvement
- 20% reduction in IT support calls
09
Leadership Lessons
Employee experience is an executive metric. When people are equipped and confident, adoption stops being a programme risk.
Key takeaway
The shift to a digital workplace is not just an IT initiative. It is a business imperative.
More evidence
Other transformations
Every major outcome traced back to executive decisions taken before technology was selected.