Hino Motors Adopts Windows 365 Enterprise as a DaaS solution to support Hybrid Work

Challenges with remote desktops during the COVID-19 pandemic

Hino Motors is a leading manufacturer of large vehicles like trucks and buses, and continues to take on challenges as a united Team HINO with the credo of "making a better world and future by helping people and goods get where they need to go” based on their basic philosophy, the HINO Way. Social issues like carbon neutrality, the goal to have zero fatalities from traffic accidents, driver shortages, and the maintenance of local public transportation systems are affecting all logistics and transportation systems. To solve for these issues, the company is promoting technological innovation, including the use of connected, automated, shared, and electrified (CASE) technologies, within the Toyota Group and through collaboration with other companies.

The driving force behind the company's transformation is each individual employee. Hino Motors is promoting a hybrid work environment to enable speedy adaptation and accommodate diverse work styles. Speaking about past challenges with infrastructure, Mr. Kei Sumiyoshi from the IT Planning Department of Hino Motors shares his thoughts.

“As an emergency measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, we introduced a remote desktop system in one fell swoop that allowed employees to work from home. However, because the system allowed remote operation of company PCs from BYOPC (bring-your-own-PC) at home, it was necessary to keep the company’s PCs up and running 24 hours a day. As a result, the PCs tended to deteriorate faster and sometimes behaved erratically. The need to operate one in-house PC per person meant that many employees were burdened with maintaining them.”

In 2022, as the pandemic began to recede, Hino Motors started to develop the infrastructure for their hybrid work model, which centered on thin client devices and cloud computing.

Simple operation and consolidated infrastructure were decisive factors

Mr. Jun Otsuka from the Business Systems Strategy Group within the Business Systems Office in the IT Planning Department explains the focus on thin clients. “A thin client only displays the results processed by the server on the PC screen and no data is left on the device. In case of a virus infection or device loss, all data is stored on the server, which minimizes the risk of information leaks. In addition, operations and security measures can be centralized on the server. The fact that we could keep device specifications low was also advantageous."

Mr. Otsuka comments further on the key reasons for moving to the cloud. “The idea was to move from ownership to use, and we are migrating our on-premise internal system to Azure as we shift to cloud computing. The use of thin clients and DaaS is in line with our company-wide policy, but it also reduces the operational burden, allowing IT personnel to focus on DX promotion and other primary tasks.”

Multiple solutions were compared and considered when selecting the right DaaS for Hino Motors. Mr. Masahiro Kimura, who is the head of the OA and Communication Infrastructure Office within the Network and OA Technology Department, recalls that simple operation was the deciding factor for choosing Windows 365. “Initially, we were considering DaaS that can be configured in detail to ensure that we adhere to the existing desktop environment. However, this would have been no different from physical PC operation and management, which had been burdensome tasks. As we continued our internal discussions, Microsoft Japan sent us a proposal for what they call Cloud PCs with Windows 365. Windows 365 is very simple to configure and operate, and the rapid internal deployment and easy standardization of the desktop environment were attractive factors for us.”

“I was also very impressed with the Microsoft Teams (hereinafter Teams) performance on cloud PCs," Kimura continues. “Recently, when I visited Microsoft Japan's headquarters in Tokyo’s Shinagawa area, an employee based in Nara Prefecture joined the meeting remotely, but I only realized that he was participating from Teams on Windows 365 at the very end. We were surprised to see that even in a DaaS environment, the performance of Teams was not at all inferior.”

Thus, Hino Motors pivoted to the adoption of Windows 365. As a Software as a Service (SaaS), Windows 365 streams the Windows OS so that each employee's Windows desktop environment can be accessed from a web browser (and a dedicated client app is also available).

“Employees can work on Windows 365 anytime, anywhere as long as they have an internet connection. They can use their home PC or a PC owned by the company, and even if the device they are using breaks down, they can simply access the system from another device and continue their work," said Mr. Kimura.

Mr. Kimura adds that the security of hybrid work can also be enhanced. “Windows 365 is hosted on highly reliable Azure, so we thought it would be an effective countermeasure against cyberattacks. Hino Motors prohibits the use of USB memory sticks, but such settings are configurable. Generally, disabling USB use in the BIOS is time-consuming, but with Windows 365, it is just a matter of changing settings in Microsoft Intune (hereinafter Intune). You can even adjust the settings to enable the use of a USB-connected microphone but not the transfer of data to a USB stick.”

Mr. Sumiyoshi shares insights from an infrastructure perspective, citing easy integration with the management of employee accounts. “Windows 365 is designed to manage identities and accounts with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) and devices with Intune. This allows for system affinity as well as overall optimization and enhanced governance. Furthermore, the infrastructure supports daily operations, so consolidation offers peace of mind in case of system failures. Even isolating the cause of a problem can be difficult when using a combination of individual services.”

Sharing of physical PCs is expected to lead to reduced number of in-house PCs

When introducing Windows 365, the IT Planning Department at Hino Motors conducted various verifications, according to Mr. Otsuka. “Our department actually tested Windows 365 to see if it would perform well. In the conventional setup, where applications were used by operating in-house PCs via devices at home, the network was causing slow responses in some cases. However, Windows 365 responds quickly and briskly because it uses the Microsoft Hosted Network.”

Generally speaking, the thin client approach is considered to be relatively expensive to implement. “We should not simply consider the change as a replacement of physical PCs, but should also look at the operational costs,” Otsuka adds.

“We listed the processes that can be reduced from the overall operational perspective, such as significantly reducing the man-hours required for replacing PCs and introducing new ones and eliminating the need for physical kitting and PC management performed in each department, and the data showed that there is a cost advantage," said Mr. Otsuka.

Based on this research, the decision was made to adopt Windows 365 in September 2023 and implementation began with the IT Planning Department. “Even after the system has been deployed, we continue to send detailed requests to Microsoft Japan as we use the system in our actual work, and Microsoft has responded with improvements. We are planning to expand the system to our headquarters, the development teams, and factories, and hope to increase the use to 10,000 employees by FY2025,”  said Mr. Sumiyoshi.

How will the use of Windows 365 change from existing remote desktop operations?

“Work from home does not hinder progress and the number of people adopting the hybrid work system will increase naturally, so we are considering utilizing this change to revise the office layout and create new communication areas. We are currently working with other divisions and the General Affairs Department to review the office environment across the company. These kinds of positive changes have never happened before,” stated Mr. Otsuka.

Mr. Otsuka also touches on the optimal number of PCs. “Windows 365 allows multiple people to share a physical PC, each with access to their own dedicated Cloud PC. We are testing Windows 365 Boot (a feature that allows direct access to Windows 365 without having to log in to a physical device) as a function to achieve this. In addition, by establishing company rules and promoting a BYOD policy not only at home but also at the office, it will be possible to reduce the number of in-house PCs.”

In terms of operational efficiency, Mr. Kimura points out that eliminating the need for physical kitting is a huge benefit. “In the past, more than 100 physical PCs were lined up in a dedicated space at the office for kitting, and it took several people about five days to configure various settings and install applications, but with the Windows 365 DaaS, none of that is necessary. Once provisioning policies are defined on Intune, PC deployment and management is automatic, so it only takes half a day to get 100 PCs ready. In addition, the time and effort previously required to distribute kitted PCs have been eliminated completely. The total benefits are significant indeed.”

Microsoft's engaged support across the organization is highly valued

Mr. Kimura says that Hino Motors hopes to use Intune in the future to further improve operational efficiency. “Intune allows us to manage both Cloud PCs and physical PCs without distinction, and I feel that it is a big plus. With the introduction of Windows 365, we will eliminate administrative privileges as part of our security enhancements, and to do so, we are testing Intune's add-on solution, Microsoft Intune Endpoint Privilege Management (EPM), which is part of Intune Suite. We have great expectations for this, because it will allow us to temporarily grant administrative privileges and install only specific applications.”

Mr. Kimura adds that the company is also interested in Windows 365 Frontline, which allows any three employees to access a Cloud PC with one license. “In our factories, workers change depending on the day or night shift, so this would be an effective desktop environment for such employees.”

The Design Division is also looking at GPU support for Windows 365. “If the use of GPUs becomes available, employees can edit CAD data in the Cloud PC environment while working from home. We are also considering how to manage the vast amount of CAD data held by the Design Division,” said Mr. Otsuka.

Mr. Kimura also comments on the use of smartphones as the ideal way to work in the future. “If we can access Windows 365 from a smartphone on the palm of our hand, and then simply connect it to a monitor and a keyboard, we have an environment that resembles a PC desktop. I think the essence of Cloud PCs lies in their use beyond the boundaries of physical PCs.”

Mr. Sumiyoshi thinks highly of Microsoft's engaged support across the organization. “Prior to the introduction of the system, we sometimes held Teams meetings with Microsoft Japan employees three times a week. The person in charge of the project called in experts according to the agenda who then answered questions from Hino Motors on the spot. Problems that could not be addressed immediately were resolved by contacting engineers in the specific country of operations. With their engaged support, we were able to implement Windows 365 and build the foundations for implementing a hybrid work model. I consider Microsoft Japan a partner that works together with us on our projects.”

The credo of Hino Motors is “making a better world and future by helping people and goods get where they need to go.” As a partner of Hino Motors, Microsoft Japan will support the work style of each employee at the company so that a more sustainable society can be realized through the enhanced movement of people and goods.