Erzbischöfliches Ordinariat

Nonprofit administrator delivers “the right level of service” with Citrix Priority

In Bavaria, Germany, Erzbischöfliches Ordinariat builds a CSS Priority relationship to deliver technical success across the region.

At their foundation, most IT organizations serve end users. And end users generally have a range of technical capabilities. So an IT team has to be technically adept and able to scale their operations, and also great at helping users with the tools they need to do their job.

Now imagine spreading those users across 1,650 sites, including 770 churches, 28 schools and 450 daycare centers. Sure, there are plenty of large organizations with thousands of sites. But to support them well is tough.

Enter Erzbischöfliches Ordinariat (EOMUC), the administrator of the Roman Catholic archdiocese  of Munich and Freising in Southern Bavaria, Germany. EOMUC’s responsibilities range from religious guidance and pastoral care to education and charitable services and even ecclesiastical buildings and art. Their IT team owns implementation, maintenance, and support of the archdiocese’s information technology.

The 16,000 employees and 10,000 volunteers stationed at the archdiocese’s locations have varied resources and technical skills. EOMUC’s IT team was highly capable, and they realized a coordinated effort with Citrix would best serve the organization’s overall implementation and its individual sites and users.

EOMUC decided to upgrade its existing Citrix relationship and partner with Citrix Customer Success Services Priority. That decision has been validated: as Harald Stieglmaier, Desktop Management Lead at EOMUC says, “Priority Support is the solution.”

Building a Citrix partnership

“From our past experience, we knew how important it was to have a single point of contact,” continues Stieglmaier. When they were invited to be one of the first Citrix Customer Success Services Priority clients in Germany, they readily accepted.

Priority was a logical addition to EOMUC’s Citrix solution set, which also includes Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Endpoint Management, and ShareFile. EOMUC regularly works with Citrix Consulting for special projects. And the consistent conduit to Citrix is their Technical Account Manager.

A Technical Account Manager bridges communication

A Citrix client’s Technical Account Manager (TAM) is its point of contact for communications and support. TAMs understand their clients’ business and technical objectives and work with them to develop and implement an aspirational Priority Support Success Plan.

The EOMUC IT team’s TAM helps them to pursue their Success Plan. They work together to build an ever-evolving technical roadmap and project plan. When needed, their TAM pulls in appropriate resources from Citrix. Their TAM also monitors EOMUC’s Priority Queue of support tickets to verify inquiries and issues are resolved quickly and to satisfaction and assists as needed. EOMUC meets with their TAM in monthly and quarterly meetings to review the success plans and program progress.

EOMUC greatly values how its TAM has both deep knowledge of their implementation and deep knowledge of Citrix solutions. Together they keep the implementation in a healthy regimen of maintenance and upgrades, new feature rollouts, security improvements and efficiency initiatives.

Providing great service to many users

Because the implementation is managed from a central office, EOMUC’s users all over the diocese receive the benefits of the organization’s scale. Even with no onsite IT resources, the users at each church, school, and center have access to the same information and tools. They can always obtain support at the level they need. “Citrix helps us provide high-quality service to each of our sites, regardless of their bandwidth or abilities,” says Steiglmaier.

End users also benefit from the EOMUS IT team’s participation in Citrix product enhancement activities and engagement, webinar, and conference programs. The team is continually evaluating ways to provide better service and improve their roadmap and implementation.

EOMUC’s leadership confidently attributes consistently high stability and availability across its locations to the joint and continued efforts between its internal and Citrix Priority teams. Steiglmaier concludes: “I can say with confidence that every company using Citrix should consider the Priority Program. It makes the lives of the IT teams as well as the lives of the users so much easier.”