Overview
Daikin Europe, the regional headquarters of the world's leading HVAC manufacturer, faced a major challenge when HP OpenView ServiceDesk reached end of life. The company urgently needed a next-generation IT Service Management (ITSM) solution offering speed, ease of use and flexibility, without heavy customisation projects.
After a thorough selection process, Daikin Europe chose Xurrent, implemented by onITnow, as the foundation for a modern, scalable service management strategy across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
About Daikin Europe
Daikin Industries is the global market leader in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Daikin Europe acts as the sales, development and manufacturing hub for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and supports an extensive network of subsidiaries and partners.
The Daikin Europe Group comprises a headquarters in Belgium, 5 manufacturing sites, 17 subsidiaries and 5 sales offices across the EMEA region. Industry: manufacturing. Region: EMEA. Number of end users: 3,000+.
The challenge: the need to migrate
When HP announced that HP OpenView ServiceDesk would be phased out, Daikin Europe had to look for a reliable replacement.
Key requirements:
- Support for ITIL processes without major customisation
- The ability to manage a complex support model across EMEA, including multiple outsourced service desks
- Integration with existing tools such as SAP and Jira
- An intuitive user experience for thousands of end users across different countries
The selection process
Daikin Europe evaluated several major ITSM solutions. Most, however, required significant customisation to meet Daikin's requirements, which would lead to higher costs and longer implementation times.
First impressions of Xurrent were positive: fast performance, a user-friendly interface and strong alignment with ITIL best practices. There were initial concerns about flexibility given the complex EMEA structure, but these quickly disappeared during workshops using realistic scenarios, where Xurrent demonstrated it could support all requirements out of the box — without costly customisation.
The solution
Together with onITnow, Daikin Europe implemented Xurrent with an approach featuring three separate Xurrent accounts for the outsourced service desks, linking of those accounts for seamless collaboration, integration with Jira for more efficient SAP change management, and secure connections to existing systems for user management and reporting.
Implementation journey
The implementation took place over several months, with an emphasis on integrations and account configuration. Training was delivered through online courses in Xurrent's learning environment and classroom sessions for service desk staff, specialists, configuration and change managers. The rollout was phased: first Belgium and Spain, followed by Italy.
Results
- Seamless collaboration with external service desks thanks to Xurrent
- Improved SAP change management via the Xurrent–Jira integration
- Transparent performance monitoring of all external service providers
- Support for 3,000+ end users across EMEA
- Faster resolution and higher customer satisfaction
Critical integrations
- Active Directory: automatic synchronisation of contact details
- SAP BI reporting: daily, encrypted exports from Xurrent for advanced KPI analysis
- Adobe eForms: integration via the Mail API so users could keep using their familiar forms
- Jira: two-way link for change management and SLA monitoring
The move to Xurrent was a deliberate choice to bring more clarity and transparency within IT and towards our internal customers. Service levels and KPIs are now visible to all stakeholders.
Xurrent delivers enterprise-grade ITSM functionality straight out of the box, letting organisations like Daikin reduce complexity and implement faster.
Future plans
Departments such as Facility Management, Product Engineering and R&D (EDC) have since also decided to adopt Xurrent to further optimise internal service processes.
Why Xurrent?
- Fast implementation compared to traditional ITSM solutions
- Out-of-the-box ITIL support without customisation
- Powerful integration capabilities
- Scalability for international organisations