Awingu as a secure homeworking solution at the Municipality of Evere

Evere is a Belgian municipality with 43.000 inhabitants, in the Brussels-Capital Region with 1.220.000 inhabitants. In the municipal administration, there are about 300 computer users, working in different departments each with their own needs and work requirements. At the end of 2019, the IT team was looking for a simple and secure solution to enable teleworking for their employees.

Long before working with Awingu, the municipal administration of Evere had implemented the Citrix solution for all its users both within the municipal administration, as well as to allow employees to work remotely on an occasional basis. Over time, limitations encountered with certain specific business applications resulted in a mixed fleet of classic computers and Citrix workstations.

Too much complexity

In 2019, before the health crisis, the situation was as follows: two different solutions for workstations, one of which (Citrix) was slowly being upgraded or replaced by another solution.

“Managing two different technologies but especially the complexity of the Citrix configuration means more complex management, a higher level of skill for the IT team and higher support costs when faced with more advanced technical issues.”

“Managing two different technologies but especially the complexity of the Citrix configuration means more complex management, a higher level of skill for the IT team and higher support costs when faced with more advanced technical issues.”

Philippe Fournier
Responsible for IT at the Municipality of Evere

Working from home

To continue to make remote working possible and in anticipation of the implementation of structural teleworking, the IT team had already initiated before the start of the pandemic to look for another solution to replace their current configuration.

When the need for teleworking exploded in 2020 due to COVID, the team was pleased to have identified and begun implementing an ideal solution like Awingu.

Advantages of Awingu

Working with Awingu brings only advantages, both for the IT department and for the end users of the municipal administration of Evere, explains Philippe :

“The licensing model is very transparent and easy, especially when compared to other solutions like Citrix or VMware, where you need a consultant just to explain the model to you. Awingu offers competing licenses, so the only choice you have to make is whether to buy or rent the licenses.”

Philippe Fournier
Responsible for IT at the Municipality of Evere

In addition, he is very pleased that he can purchase Awingu through the CIBG’s central purchasing office. In their catalog, you can find Awingu licenses. All Brussels administrations that have joined the central purchasing office can buy Awingu licenses in compliance with public procurement legislation but without the administrative burden. When Philippe heard about this possibility from a colleague in Sint-Agatha-Berchem, a long-time Awingu customer (as well as 80 other local authorities in Belgium), he immediately saw the great advantage.

In addition, the IT team explained to him that it was relatively easy to install, set up and configure Awingu. For end users, Philippe adds, it couldn’t be simpler:

“Just go to the web, enter a predefined custom url, provide your username and password and you’re in. Then you can easily work with any application (legacy, web, SaaS) or file needed, all in a secure environment. If necessary, you can even mandate that some or all of the integrated MFA solutions be used at no additional cost.”

Philippe Fournier
Responsible for IT at the Municipality of Evere

For now, they are only using Awingu to facilitate teleworking in a seamless and consistent manner. Other goals are to enable secure remote access for external contractors via Awingu as well.