University of Reading standardises on Microsoft Surface to achieve sustainability goals.

When Chief Digital and Information Officer Stuart Brown joined the University of Reading, he identified a need to standardise device management though the estate.  

Stuart Brown explains, “There were devices of every sort. People were buying their own kit. There was no real standardisation except in some of the desktop labs. I knew it was costing us in internal support time. We needed to be more financially and environmentally sustainable.” 

The team looked at a number of devices on which the University could standardise from a variety of providers and decided that the Microsoft Surface family of devices was the best fit for its requirements. Sustainability, performance, user acceptance, and tight integration with the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem, especially in terms of security, were key considerations. 

“Although the Microsoft Surface devices were relatively expensive compared to some options, we made a strong business case based on the savings we would achieve through support, optimisation, sustainability, and standardisation,” states Stuart Brown. 

Sustainability is a big part of purchasing decisions

The University of Reading has a stated aim to become the most sustainable university in the world—and it is well on the way to achieving this. It is ranked first in the People and Planet University Rankings, which measure UK universities by their environmental and ethical performances.

“It’s important to us that we have partners who understand our vision and sustainability commitments,” explains Henrik Brogger, Director for Digital Operation and Service Delivery at the University of Reading. “Microsoft has provided a lot of detailed information about the carbon footprint of each of their devices, in manufacture, in transport, in residual value. Microsoft is thinking about everything through to recyclable packaging. These insights are helpful to me and colleagues across the sector.” 

Because Microsoft uses standardised components in its Surface devices, these metrics go beyond the usual indicative guesstimates of other suppliers to provide accurate indicators of a device’s carbon footprint. For a university with big net zero goals, this accuracy is important. 

Furthermore, Microsoft has committed to being carbon negative by 2030 and by 2050 Microsoft will remove from the environment all the carbon the company has emitted either directly or by electrical consumption since it was founded in 1975. This aligns with the University’s philosophy and its own commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. 

Henrik Brogger adds, “It’s important to us that we have suppliers and devices that are at the forefront of sustainable thinking and lifecycle thinking.” 

Bringing greater visibility to the environment

The new device programme has enabled the University to address several challenges, especially around device and information security. 

“Because professional functions and schools were purchasing their own devices, we had no centralised asset management. This made it challenging from a security perspective,” states Stuart Brown. “Having standardised devices makes it easier to manage and ensures we have full visibility and control. We’ve eliminated issues, such as the patching of unmanaged devices.  

“As well as the intrinsic security benefits of that, it means we are in the right place to retain Cyber Essentials certification and ISO 27001 accreditation for our business school. Achieving this is vital for securing more revenue-generating activities, because we need those credentials to work with businesses and, especially, the public sector.” 

Improved security posture

The University leans in to key Microsoft security tools, including Microsoft Entra ID cloud identity and access management solution, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for email security, Microsoft Intune for endpoint management, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps. 

The IT team are using Microsoft Defender on all of the devices and can identify and report on any issues or vulnerabilities. They can now take a more proactive approach to issues. The team use Intune to deliver security and asset management benefits.  

Henrik Brogger confirms, “Each device is assigned to one user and it’s only them who can use it. All the laptops have encryption. And if a device is lost or stolen we can remote-wipe it.” 

A smooth and welcome rollout

To date, the University has rolled out over 3,000 new devices, including Surface Pro and Surface Laptop for staff and another 96 Surface Pro 7 Laptops for students. It has created nearly 300 new hot desks with Surface Dock. In the art building, the replacement of premium but aging desktops with hot desk facilities equipped with Surface devices has created a very clean solution with which the department is delighted.

The University uses Windows Autopilot and Microsoft Intune to enrol each device and provision the essential user setup. This simplifies the work of the IT team. The team has reallocated time which used to be spent on device setup to more value-add activities, including helping the Henley Business School to attain Cyber Essentials certification. Free time has also been directed to providing one-to-one user assistance, helping users to feel confident with their new device. 

“Users used to have to plug in their new device, wait an hour for an update and only then have a basic configuration. It caused a lot of frustration, a lot of calls to the service desk and unhappy people,” remembers Richard Jolliffe, Device Lifecycle Manager at the University of Reading. “Now, we can add value—we’re not just giving them a box.” 

As a result, the IT team has driven huge improvements in user experience and satisfaction. Communication about the rollout is all managed through a dedicated channel in Microsoft Teams so everyone knows what to expect. The vast majority of survey responses have described the device rollout as “excellent”. Users said: “the whole process was very smooth”, “the desk-side support was the best” and “one of the best rollout projects that I can remember”. 

University staff are impressed by device performance

At first, not all users welcomed the change. Mary Weller, Finance & Asset Administrator at the University of Reading, was nervous about trading in her existing desktop and laptop. 

“In my finance work, I use a lot of different software applications and I work a lot on spreadsheets. I can have many things open at the same time. I thought my old device was a high-end device, so I didn’t want to give it up. But it would often freeze, then crash, and I’d have to recover my files. Since I’ve switched to my Surface, I’ve not had any of those problems. There’s none of that downtime,” she explains. 

Mary is now very pleased with her new Microsoft Surface Laptop 5. She adds, “I’ve got rid of my desktop as well, so my desk is clearer. I can access everything I need with ease and it opens quickly. The Surface Laptop 5 i7 handles all my software really well. I love how lightweight it is, too. I work in the office three days a week, and at home for two. The Microsoft Surface is easy to pick up and carry around. It fits neatly in my rucksack. It’s definitely been worth the investment the University has put in.” 

High build quality fuels user acceptance

“One of the things we really like about Microsoft Surface devices is the build quality,” confirms Stuart Brown. The premium feel of Surface is loved by both IT and users. 

Stuart Brown explains, “Some of our users want a high-quality device. The cheaper devices don’t measure up. Some of the devices which were perceived to be premium fell down on durability, portability, and ease of deployment,” Stuart Brown explains. “Microsoft Surface devices are the best way to experience Microsoft 365 and the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem, including the security tools and services. 

“We had to reassure the different schools and functions that we were protecting their budgets by providing the devices from a separate, central budget. The internal marketing was very much around financial sustainability; we’re buying a quality product because we want it to last. With a high-quality Surface device, you get big ticks for both financial and environmental sustainability. 

“If we give them a higher quality device, we can sweat the asset a little bit longer—and that means that after three years they have plenty of life in them and can be reused, helping us to address inclusion and digital poverty.” 

A new emphasis on managing the device lifecycle 

As part of the programme to transition to high-quality, standardised devices across the estate, the University has invested in improving device lifecycle management, creating a dedicated team. 

Richard Jolliffe leads the drive to manage the device lifecycle in the best way possible—from choosing the right device in the first place, through delivery and buy-in, to recovery, reuse, and environmental disposal.

“The creation of this new role is indicative of the University’s commitment to improving lifecycle management,” Richard Jolliffe says. “It’s also helping us to get money back for old devices instead of them sitting in cupboards being a security risk.” 

A better student experience 

As well as the revenue-generating potential that a better managed device lifecycle enables, the University is proactively reassigning devices for the benefit of students.  

Richard Jolliffe reports that for every device distributed, the team can collect two or three. The returned devices are assessed for reuse potential. Where possible, they are wiped and then distributed to students.

“Our disability students borrow devices for a term. In the past, the disability office had a mish-mash of devices. Now we can offer them something a bit nicer and more consistent—and this situation will improve further over time,” explains Richard Jolliffe.  

“The Microsoft Surface devices came out on top in terms of accessibility and are optimised for using the wider Microsoft accessibility tools as well,” agrees Stuart Brown.  

He explains, “It used to be that the University would wipe and destroy old devices that were returned. However, we know that at least ten percent of our students don’t have access to a device. And others only have access to devices that are not fit for purpose. If we can repurpose some of our two-, three- or four-year-old devices and lend them to students, that’s a fantastic good news story.” 

Tackling digital poverty through the library service 

The University of Reading team has also invested directly in devices for students to tackle digital inclusion and ensure all students have access to a high-quality device that is fit for purpose. 

A laptop loans service was initiated in the library around ten months ago. The purchase of Surface Pro Laptops was financed via STEM funding to ensure that coursework with high processing demands—such as computer science or meteorology—could be completed by all. It has just clocked up its 1,000th student loan. 

The library was delighted to free up space that used to be dedicated to fixed desktop computers. Now students have access to high-quality devices which enable greater flexibility around workspace. The scheme has been so well received by the student body that there are already plans to extend it to other areas of the campus. 

Unexpected benefits & rethinking on-campus study space

This isn’t the only way the team’s rollout is improving the student experience.  

Richard Jolliffe says, “In the past, a lecturer might be delayed if they had the wrong cable to connect to the projector, for example. When they had an issue with their device, we could only get there so fast. There was a risk of whole lectures being cancelled because of an IT issue.” 

“Now, we’ve standardised, there is only one cable. People can support each other better. We have fewer callouts. That’s a real benefit of standardisation; it helps our lecturers and our student experience.” 

“The success of the programme has got us rethinking how we use our study space,” admits Henrik Brogger. “If you think of a computer lab today, you’d probably think of a row of desks with desktop computers. With the Microsoft Surface Laptop Pro, they can pull out a device from a locker, sit in more comfortable seating, then put it away at the end of the session. For me, that is much more like the way we work today. It ties into the way we think about computers now.” 

At the same time, the device-rollout programme is also inspiring a rethinking of the device policy across the estate. 

Policy development as standardisation beds in 

As the rollout of devices has widened, the University has identified an opportunity to develop the set of principles around the devices.  

“The idea of ‘one user, one device’ suddenly makes sense,” says Henrik Brogger. “With one really good device, we can swap out all those other secondary devices and establish that as a rule. People only have to carry one device around with them. For us, the development of policies and principles around device use, especially in terms of supporting our sustainability goals, is another positive development.” 

“Microsoft stands out as really understanding the device lifecycle,” he continues. “Our customer success manager at Microsoft recently introduced us to companies in the Microsoft Partner Network that can help with recycling and recovering materials from devices that have come to end of life. It’s not just about the product—it’s also about buying from an organisation that thinks.”