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Customer Story

Dutch Police Maintain Better Order by Switching to Google Platform

The National Police emergency service in the Netherlands migrated its sixty-five thousand employees’ workstations to Chromebooks resulting in more flexible, efficient, modern and secure operations across the entire organization
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Related services
ChromeOS, Google Cloud Platform

Industry
Public | Utilities

 
As a police service, the Dutch Police (also known as the National Police) enforces the laws of the Netherlands, maintaining public order and providing assistance. The Dutch Police is also the investigation service of the Public Prosecution Service. The Netherlands has one national police force comprising ten regional units, with one central unit tasked with specialized duties. The Netherlands Police has sixty-five thousand employees: fifty-one thousand police officers and fourteen thousand employees who fulfill other roles supporting police work, making up a large and complex organization.
Why
Need to embrace digital and cloud technology
What
Switch hardware to Chromebooks and the Google platform
How
Use virtual desktops and embrace security features

Securely Looking to Improve Staff Flexibility

As an essential government service, the Dutch Police needed to become more digitized and automated. This would ensure that it remained relevant and modern when attracting and retaining talent while also allowing the organization to operate more efficiently. For example, some employees wanted to work more flexibly where appropriate, outside of traditional spaces or working hours.

To help the Police adapt to these changes, it was imperative that the safeguarding of personal data, along with the managing of devices and software, was impeccably organized. The organization had been using a static operating system without the secure sharing facilities required to allow employees the flexibility desired.
“It’s vitally important for our team to develop how they work to better serve the public and to feel happy in their work. This change to Google Chromebook means we are working better across the board.”
dutch police
Chief information officer Dutch Police

Migration to Chromebooks

At the beginning of 2015 the Dutch Police started looking for an alternative to the Windows laptops, focusing on security, flexibility and cost as the key features. After a thorough review, in partnership with Xebia and Google, the organization initiated a pilot to migrate employees from Windows to Google Chromebooks.

This migration provided the Police with advanced security options, an essential feature for its vital role in society. Chromebooks also gave the desired flexible access to the organization’s data, with simplified management using a cloud-based Google admin console meaning staff spend more time on work that matters.

Virtual Desktops Give Users Familiarity

The Dutch Police and Xebia integrated Citrix Receiver with the Chromebooks to allow users to gain access to systems via virtual desktops. Employees were now able to work on a simple, inexpensive and secure laptop from anywhere, in exactly the same way that they do at their workplace.

All stakeholders were enthusiastic about the ease of use of the Chromebooks and the reduction in management constraints, along with the improved security. The pilot was a success and was rolled out across the organization; there are now thousands of Dutch Police employees working with a Chromebook. The organization and Xebia are now looking at other ways they can utilize Google’s business applications together.

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