Westpac transforms IT and enables secure, inclusive, flexible work with Windows 11 Enterprise and Autopatch

As Australia’s first bank and oldest company, Westpac is an industry-leading banking and financial services company that has provided more than 200 years of continuous service to Australia. Today, the bank has expanded to six business groups and approximately 12.7 million customers, mostly located in Australia and New Zealand.

Westpac’s IT team supports a technology environment that includes over 40,000 people across diverse locations, a wide range of devices from multiple vendors, and a mix of legacy proprietary software and modern line-of-business applications. Adding to the complexity, approximately 20,000 employees regularly work from home each day. To better support this dynamic environment, Westpac decided to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 Enterprise.

Westpac is committed to improving experiences for both customers and employees. “We wanted to get ahead of the curve” explains Paul McKenna, Head of Workplace and Contact Centre Infrastructure at Westpac. “Our workforce had also expanded from 1,000 to 20,000 people regularly working from home. That transition to working outside the office really stepped up the importance of having the latest software and endpoint security.”

Rapid deployment and easy adoption

Although Westpac plans to start using Microsoft Intune and Windows Autopilot for automated provisioning, the bank immediately started deployment with existing on-premise management tools and processes.  

Using a phased deployment approach, the IT team deployed Windows 11 Enterprise to Workplace Technology and seeded in each business unit first, then began expanding deployment to the rest of the organisation. As a result, the IT team could minimise any potential risk by resolving issues before proceeding to the next step. Westpac uses Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and Microsoft Intune for co-management of configuration and policies.

Implementation included both upgrades to existing hardware and the provisioning of approximately 3,000 new laptops. In addition to layers of security enabled by default, Windows 11 Enterprise devices are designed to improve productivity with features like support for multiple 4K monitors, fast application performance, and long battery life. Paul says: “The new Windows 11 Enteprise laptops give our diverse workforce the flexibiilty and performance they need to easily do their jobs anywhere.”

The team upgrades 4,000 devices per week and anticipates even faster deployment with future projects when it completes the transition to modern cloud management using Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Entra Identity (Azure Active Directory). Paul said he knew that some hiccups were possible with the bank’s mix of legacy applications and modern software. The majority of applications transitioned easily to Windows 11, and Paul’s team had ample support. He credits Microsoft’s App Assure service, which is available at no cost to Windows E3/E5 customers, with helping resolve any compatibility issues. “Our partnership with Microsoft and the App Asure team has been really helpful,” says Paul. “They’ve been super responsive, and we’ve been able to work through any problems quite quickly.”

Employees like Ruth Bonser, Infrastructure Tech Lead at Westpac, also said they appreciated the smooth rollout. Ruth, a self-described techie end user, works with a variety of specialised applications on the company’s mainframe. She was able to continue her critical work without interruption, thanks to easy deployment and application compatibility. She admits: “I have to be honest; I don’t remember moving to Windows 11 Enterprise because it was that seamless. When something is intuitive and straightforward, it doesn’t feel like a big shift—and that’s a positive thing.”

In addition, Westpac has chosen Microsoft Edge as its default browser. “Microsoft Edge provides us quite a big benefit,” says Paul. “We have a lot of web applications, and legacy applications run so well in IE mode on Microsoft Edge. We also wanted to take advantage of Bing, and it’s now our primary search engine. It’s not just Windows 11, it’s the whole ecosystem—in combination with management tools like Intune, cloud services, and Edge.”

Automated IT management and streamlined security

Westpac has started using Windows Autopatch to automate updates, which saves time and helps keep devices secure, stable, and compliant. Windows Autopatch is available with both Windows 11 Enterprise E3 and E5. “I think the operational overhead is about 10% of what it used to be,” says Steve Congdon, Service Owner, Digital Workplace Environment at Westpac. “But the real benefit is being able to keep up with updates to device drivers across our mix of models and vendors. We’ve improved performance and stability, which is the original reason we upgraded to Windows 11 Enterprise. It’s a more efficient sort of deployment.”

In the past, it took the bank at least a year to plan and execute a major feature update. Now, the bank has moved to biannual updates. “With Windows Autopatch, we cut deployment time from 90 minutes to 25,” Paul said. So if you apply that across our 40,000+ workforce, that’s a lot of time saved.”

Enabling digital inclusion

The ultimate test of success for any solution is the effect on employees and customers. Ruth is one of the hybrid working employees at Westpac and appreciates features that make it easy to work seamlessly across locations. For example, she can drop open apps into preconfigured snap layouts that automatically adapt when she undocks and plugs into a different display. And as Chair of the Employee Advocacy Group for Disability, Neurodiversity, Carers and Mental Health Advocacy at Westpac, she is passionate about accessibility and digital inclusion. Windows 11 plus productivity tools like Microsoft Teams expand potential for everyone.

“The option for hybrid work is one of the top accessibility features of a workplace,” she points out. “Being able to work from home really opens doors for people who have chronic illness, a disability, or caregiver responsibilities. Now, you can be in a rural location and have the same experience as someone working in Sydney.”

Windows 11 is designed to simplify workflow with features that make it easy to stay organised and work from anywhere. For example, users can drop open applications into preconfigured snap layouts that automatically adapt to the dimensions of their screen. The grouped applications stay in place, even when Westpac employees change locations and plug their laptops into a different monitor.

“The snap layouts feature in Windows 11 Enterprise is a real bonus, because the rise of flexible workstyles has meant that we are deploying multiple displays or wider screens,” says Ruth. “I’m often moving between locations and displays with my laptop. The flexibility that Windows 11 Enterprise devices provide, and the way they efficiently manage screen real estate, is a noticeable difference that I value.”

Windows offers multiple built-in features to improve accessibility for people with vision, hearing, mobility, and neurodivergence needs. Features include the Narrator screen-reader in multiple, natural-sounding voices, voice typing, live captions, focus tools, and ability to customise display settings for better visibility.

Built-in accessibility tools align with her vision for the bank. “I’m keen to embed accessibility and equity into everything we do at Westpac,” she says. “One of the key aspects of that goal is creating an environment where people don’t have to disclose their need for accommodation. Features like live captioning in Windows 11 Enterprise make that possible.”

Future-ready ecosystem

Westpac is continuing down the path of digital transformation, with plans to adopt more cloud-based solutions from Microsoft. In addition to using management tools like Windows Autopilot, the bank is enjoying the hosting of 16,000 virtual desktops used by IT and Operations on Azure and the flexibility this brings.

Windows 11 Enterprise also enables Westpac to benefit from ongoing innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) designed to help people save time and innovate. Westpac is already using Bing Chat, and other features include AI-enhanced recommendations in File Explorer and Start, live captions, smart videoconferencing, and more.

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