Lohsamūii, a Digicloud Africa partner and specialist ChromeOS integrator for English and French speaking Africa, has slashed costs and improved security and operations for a Kenyan contact centre by implementing ChromeOS across its fleet.
The contact centre, which provides business process outsourcing (BPO) services to organisations worldwide, was undergoing a growth spurt at the same time as its 10-year-old laptop fleet required replacement. The organisation needed to procure new laptops for up to 400 agents, and had been considering doing so in batches. However, Lohsamūii recommended retaining the laptop fleet and modernising the devices with ChromeOS.
The pilot project proved that the move would slash costs, improve user experience and productivity, and boost security. It could also serve as a first step towards fully modernising the organisation’s systems.
Lohsamūii Co-Founders Fabrice Alladee-Blatch and Pierre-Guy Cadet explain that the move enabled the client to extend the lifespan and improve the performance of their hardware for the nominal cost of the ChromeOS device management licence. ChromeOS streamlined management of the fleet and dramatically improved the performance of the laptops.
Lohsamūii also noticed that the contact centre did not have noise suppression software installed, which made calls noisy. It implemented a free extension to suppress noise through ChromeOS, improving both agent and customer experience.
Cutting costs and reducing downtime
Alladee-Blatch says: “ChromeOS offers savings in several areas: in this client’s case, it will extend the life of their computers by at least another year to two years, and will enable them to eventually buy secondhand hardware instead of high-spec machines. Running on ChromeOS also reduces their power consumption, reducing electricity costs. Because ChromeOS is completely secure and has never been breached, they can save on their anti-virus costs, and because it is so easy to manage and maintain the fleet using ChromeOS, they also save on IT time and resources.
“In Africa, many organisations are spending around $1 000 whenever they're buying a new computer. So even if they're reviewing just 20 computers in a year, that's $20 000, compared with installing ChromeOS to extend the life of the computers, and a licence of just $50 per year per computer,” he says. “With the ChromeOS Enterprise upgrade licence, they gain security plus manageability for up to 600 different policies to manage on a fleet. So they can protect the computer, they can lock it down, they can block USB ports, they can push specific web apps and the control is just amazing.”
He adds that ChromeOS reduces downtime, since users can simply log on using a different computer if one develops issues. “It's just easier and faster for them to just swap computers. With Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, we also give you a report of what is happening with a specific computer, so IT already knows what the problem is. This makes the lives of IT administrators so much easier.”
Snappy, cloud-first OS for faster performance
Cadet notes that a key benefit of using ChromeOS is that organisations don’t need high-performance machines. “What we have seen is that many organisations buy high-spec computers on Windows because the perception is the higher spec you get, the longer it will last. But in reality, they don't need all the processing power that's in there. The beauty of ChromeOS is that you can use a computer that's more basic, put ChromeOS on it, and the first thing that the users will notice is that it is so much faster. It even revives those eight- to 10-year-old computers that nobody wants to use. This is because ChromeOS is a very lightweight, modern, cloud-first OS that's built for modern usage and for nomad workers.”
Supporting windows
Alladee-Blatch adds that another benefit of ChromeOS is that users aren’t limited to using Google Workspace – although this is recommended for maximum benefits.
“You can completely disconnect it from Google Workspace. ChromeOS is able to work with Microsoft Office and the whole suite. You can even use it to log in with the same credentials that you use for Microsoft 365 into your ChromeOS device. Very often one of the first questions customers ask us is, ‘Is it able to integrate with Active Directory?’ I tell them it can integrate, but they can even get rid of it eventually because with ChromeOS, everything can be connected to the cloud to simplify their lives and streamline their IT stack.”
He notes that using Workspace with ChromeOS offers contact centres myriad benefits, such as access to Gemini to produce improved call scripts, or loading product information in NotebookLM to give agents quick access to complex information.
Adding value to the DigiCloud Google ecosystem
Digicloud Africa says it is the first and leading Google Cloud distributor for Africa, with over 100 Google Cloud partners across Africa. Lohsamūii aims to add value to this partner ecosystem by working with Digicloud partners as a specialist ChromeOS integrator.
Cadet says: “We want to work with partners and hand over projects to partners within the Digicloud network. We have realised that there are many partners who sell Google Workspace, but are not as active with ChromeOS because they lack knowledge and resources for integrations and specific services. We aim to work with them to close those gaps and empower them to drive the uptake and the growth of ChromeOS and Google Workspace across the continent.”
Share