The European Climate Foundation operates across eight offices in Europe, with additional remote staff in different continents. For an IT team supporting hundreds of devices across multiple countries and time zones, creating a consistent, secure employee experience could easily become overwhelming.
"The real complexity is that we’re distributed across many locations,” says Ayoub Bakhtar, Senior IT Officer at the European Climate Foundation. “We have to manage and support devices globally, without being physically present or having dedicated IT resources in every location, while ensuring everything works seamlessly whether someone is in our Paris office or working remotely from another continent."
With staff frequently traveling between offices and working across different locations, the IT team needed to eliminate friction from the employee experience. No one should waste time figuring out how to connect to Wi-Fi, find printers, or configure their device when they arrive at a new office.
The Digital Workplace team at the European Climate Foundation built a highly automated device management system using Iru that handles everything from network connectivity to application deployment—before users even touch their devices.
When employees arrive at any ECF office, they are allowed to connect to the guest network first. But within seconds, their device is automatically recognized and connected to the secure corporate Wi-Fi—no password required.
Every ECF device connects automatically once it reaches the internet. First you connect with the guest Wi-Fi. The device identifies itself and then automatically connects to the main network.
Ayoub Bakhtar
Senior IT Officer
This approach transformed both security and user experience. Without this, Wi-Fi passwords were known to all employees, creating security risks. Now, only managed devices can access the corporate network, and users never need to ask IT for credentials.
Rather than having employees hunt down printer information or submit IT tickets, ECF pre-installs all office printers on every device. Madrid, Berlin, Paris, Brussels—they're all ready to go.
Several users are traveling between offices, including me," says Ayoub. "It's better to have the printer ready in the list when you arrive. You just select the right location and print. No time wasted searching or trying to install."
Rather than making employees manually install and configure applications, ECF pushes everything through Iru: All the productivity and videoconference software, Anti-Malware software, and other essential tools. The device arrives ready to work.
The team is now refining their approach further by removing unnecessary default OS applications that could lead users down the wrong path and generate support tickets.
"Sometimes people don't follow the documentation and try to set up other mail application," Ayoub notes. "That creates delays and support calls. By removing unnecessary apps and only deploying what people need for work, we reduce confusion."
With their Mac deployment running smoothly, ECF is exploring bringing their Android phones and iPhones—currently managed through Intune—into Iru as well.
"We look forward to long collaboration," says Ayoub.
The most important thing is having a partner who understands our needs and our situation. As a nonprofit organization, optimizing our service while managing costs is critical.
Ayoub Bakhtar
Senior IT Officer
The team continues to refine their automation, working with their Iru partner Remitech to implement new policies and improve their setup.
For Ayoub, the goal is simple: make technology invisible so employees can focus on their mission of addressing climate change.
"Our role is to make sure people have what they need, when they need it," he says. "If they're thinking about Wi-Fi passwords or printer configurations, we haven't done our job."
The European Climate Foundation (ECF) is a major philanthropic initiative working to foster the net-zero transition and ensure a healthy, thriving planet for current and future generations. It supports over 700 partner organisations to drive progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, promote practical policymaking in response to the climate crisis, and broaden political and public support for climate action. It strives for a positive, people-centred, and socially responsible climate transition in Europe and around the world. The ECF's IT team supports approximately 350 users across eight European offices and remote locations globally.