Fairview Health Services saves over $3 million with Windows 11 OS modernization

Like many healthcare organizations, Fairview Health Services had legacy applications, policies, processes, procedures, and governance models that needed to be modernized and secured quickly, adopting Microsoft Modern Management principles to get the most from their Microsoft entitlements.

Over a 12-month period, Fairview Health Services rolled out solutions based upon the Microsoft Modern Management framework, utilizing Windows 11, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Defender, and Copilot to establish strong relationships across Fairview Health Services’ IT, security, and business lines.

The Microsoft Modern Work solution has enabled Fairview Health Services to realize its goals, creating a consistent end user experience, building a homogeneous, high-performance IT environment, delivering access to best-in-class technology, and opening the door to multiple future optimization projects.

Fairview Health Services, a nonprofit healthcare organization based in Minneapolis, operates an extensive network of hospitals, clinics, and specialty care services dedicated to providing high-quality, accessible healthcare across Minnesota. With a strong emphasis on community health, Fairview supports advanced medical research and innovation, continually evolving its care offerings to enhance patient outcomes.

The challenge of modernizing legacy infrastructure

Fairview had legacy applications, policies, processes, and governance models they wanted to modernize and secure. They also wanted to accelerate deployment to Windows 11 Enterprise to get more from their Microsoft 365 E5 entitlements. Of the ambitious modernization initiative, Jason Garbisch, IT Infrastructure Director at Fairview Health Services, said, “Fairview prides itself on ensuring that we are running the most efficient IT infrastructure in order to best serve our patients' needs.”

Their existing use of Microsoft 365 had already played a role in helping them modernize their legacy technology, prompting them to explore the advantages of cloud-based endpoint management. Deciding to implement a significant digital transformation initiative, they were able to modernize the IT infrastructure, improve operational efficiency, enhance patient care, and bolster security.

“Fairview prides itself on ensuring that we are running the most efficient IT infrastructure in order to best serve our patients' needs.”

Jason Garbisch, IT Infrastructure Director, Fairview Health Services

Modern management for cost efficiency, rapid deployment

Fairview prioritized a comprehensive approach to adopting Windows 11, recognizing the critical role a seamless transition would play in its healthcare mission and the end-user experience. With a diverse installed base of clinical and non-clinical devices, Fairview focused on the clinical end-user experience to prioritize patient outcomes and care quality. Working with Microsoft, Fairview was able to make the most of its existing entitlements and adopt a cloud-based endpoint management solution.

Shifting from traditional device management to Microsoft Intune for cloud-based endpoint management enabled Fairview to streamline processes, strengthen security, and optimize compliance. This allowed them to better manage and protect their digital infrastructure, reducing complexity, lowering costs, and boosting the resilience of their systems.

Through careful planning and execution, Fairview successfully upgraded over 80% of its devices—28,000 of its 34,000-device fleet—via in-place upgrades. This streamlined approach minimized end-user disruption and reduced deployment costs by more than $3 million compared to prior migrations.

Realizing strategic goals through modernization

Fairview’s modernization initiative delivered improvements in system reliability, IT support efficiency, and the clinical end-user experience. With Windows 10, the company’s support teams managed over 4,200 help desk tickets; following the transition to Windows 11, this figure dropped to fewer than 500 tickets.

These improvements helped Fairview’s digital employee experience scores improve by 11%, highlighting the significant impact that system upgrades and digital modernization have on workforce satisfaction and productivity. By prioritizing the employee experience, Fairview has cultivated a supportive and productive digital workplace culture—essential for maintaining a high standard of patient care.

An optimized stance for the future

Looking ahead, Fairview continues to focus on building a robust security foundation, planning to implement advanced security measures to bolster defenses against cyberthreats and improve data governance capabilities, ensuring that patient and organizational data remain secure.

Fairview is also exploring strategies to incorporate AI and large language models (LLMs) into its systems to enhance data management and security protocols. Through AI-driven data classification initiatives, Fairview aims to streamline information governance, support more informed decision-making, and safeguard data integrity across its systems.

The modernization initiatives Fairview Health Services has employed reflect a comprehensive approach to digital transformation. By investing in secure and efficient solutions like Windows 11 Enterprise, Intune, and Windows Autopilot, Fairview is advancing its mission to provide high-quality care while optimizing operational performance. Through strategic planning, commitment to community health, and continual improvement in its digital infrastructure, Fairview exemplifies the way healthcare organizations can utilize advanced technology to enhance both care delivery and organizational resilience.

Discover more about Fairview Health Services on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X/Twitter, and YouTube.