Windows 7Customer Solution Case Study

Skin Care Laboratory Gains Flexibility with Powerful PC and Operating System Solution

OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Cosmetics, health, and personal care products

Customer ProfileSince 1989, CoValence Laboratories has provided doctors, skin care experts, and beauty industry leaders with private label and custom formulations.

Business SituationCoValence sought a computer system that would offer greater speed, intuitiveness, and responsiveness in daily tasks, including starting up and accessing multiple files and applications simultaneously.

SolutionWindows 7 Professional and Lenovo ThinkPad SL notebook delivered improved performance, speed, and productivity, as well as enhanced power management and search capabilities.

Benefits Saved five minutes per day, per user

on restart time 10 percent faster application loading 61 percent faster file copying 150 percent longer battery life Saved 15 minutes per week, per user,

with Windows Search Saved one minute per day, per user,

"I would like to see all of CoValence's desktops refreshed to Windows 7 Professional–based Lenovo PCs. This system is a huge time saver."

Cheria Orozco, Sales and Product Development Manager, CoValence Laboratories

With more than twenty years of experience in the beauty industry, CoValence Laboratories prides itself on delivering quality skin care and cosmetics formulations to doctors, leading brands, and other customers. CoValence has been honored among the Chandler 100, a list of distinguished anchor businesses in its home city of Chandler, Arizona. But the company recognized a need for improvements in its computer systems, which were impeding the efficiency of its research and compliance experts. CoValence sought a new computing solution that would allow for the kind of quick, efficient, multitasking work its employees perform on a daily basis. Windows 7 Professional and the Lenovo ThinkPad SL notebook are a powerful combination that has met all of the company’s speed and performance needs, while offering additional benefits in reliability and functionality that outshine its old system.

Works the way you want

SituationFounded in 1989, CoValence Laboratories is a leading supplier of skin care, cosmetic, and beauty product formulations. The company offers a full range of private label and custom formulas to industry experts, including leading skin care companies. It also works to ensure that each of its compounds and formulas meets government compliance and regulatory requirements.

With many of the company’s processes being transferred online, CoValence was in dire need of a faster, more reliable computer system.

The company’s Manufacturing Compliance and Process Manager, Sina Stern, spends most of her workday online and on the computer, accessing government compliance programs. CoValence's older operating systems and hardware were simply too slow and unreliable to serve her needs.

Stern often accesses information from files in several different applications simultaneously, which slowed down the older computers and caused frustrating delays. The limited search capabilities, short battery life, and inconsistent hibernation/sleep behavior on older notebooks was also a real concern.

SolutionWith the introduction of the Lenovo ThinkPad SL notebooks that run the Windows 7 Professional operating system,* CoValence has changed the way it works. The ease, accessibility, and power of

Windows 7 have greatly improved the speed and efficiency of everyday tasks.

CoValence’s Sales and Product Development Manager, Cheria Orozco, was pleasantly surprised when she began using the operating system. "I would like to see all of CoValence's desktops refreshed to Windows 7 Professional–based Lenovo PCs,” she says. “This system is a huge time saver. Every computer in the building should be running this system."

Benefits

Improved EfficiencyThe first change apparent to CoValence employees was the dramatic improvement in startup speeds. The new computers start up significantly faster than the older machines, in as little as 35 seconds according to manufacturer tests, which saves a substantial amount of time at the start of each day. "Startup time is at least five minutes faster," says Stern. "Going back to the old computer is definitely not an option!"

Stern is also impressed by the ease with which the system juggles multiple programs. Compared to her old computer, which had trouble handling multiple applications, she says, "It appears that I can have more programs open at once, without slowing anything down." This has made a big impact on the efficiency of Stern’s work, as she often needs to cross-reference information from Microsoft Office Word with data in Adobe Acrobat, entering it all into online government compliance forms.

Accomplished More on the Go

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"Startup time is at least five minutes faster [with Windows 7 and the Lenovo ThinkPad]. Going back to the old computer is definitely not an option!"

Sina Stern, Manufacturing Compliance and Process Manager, CoValence

Laboratories

Another significant improvement is the greater freedom and efficiency employees have experienced when working out of the office, thanks to the enhanced mobility functions provided by Windows 7 Professional and Lenovo ThinkPad SL.

The operating system includes a wide range of features that improve power management and extend battery life, making it possible to work longer hours between recharging. When compared to the company’s old notebooks, which provided about two hours of battery life, the Lenovo ThinkPad SL running Windows 7 Professional gives employees up to five hours of remote work time—a dramatic increase of 150 percent.

CoValence is also pleased by how quickly the operating system resumes from sleep and hibernation modes, a function that Stern didn't feel confident using in the past. "I never used the sleep function on the other computer," she says, "because I never knew what it was going to do, and I’d usually end up restarting. But now I use the sleep function all the time."

Customized for Flexibility and Ease of UseWindows 7 offers a customized experience that can be tailored to the needs of each individual. Customizable features such as Jump Lists make it easy to access programs that are used most often, or to return instantly to documents that are opened every day.

Both Stern and Orozco rave about the versatility and usefulness of the Snap feature, which has streamlined routine

computer work. Snap allows them to effortlessly view two documents side by side with one click of the mouse, something they do often in the course of a typical workday.

Stern uses the Snap tool daily to quickly and accurately copy information into the proper format for government compliance forms. She snaps a source documentation window to one side of the screen, and the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) window to the other side, allowing her to effortlessly switch between them. "The Snap tool is an incredible time saver, especially when working with ERPs," she says.

She also appreciates the ease with which the Windows 7 desktop provides live taskbar previews of open files and applications by showing an actual thumbnail image of the document. "When working with email and waiting for things to download, I tend to get impatient and I'll switch back and forth," she says. "Snap and previews makes it really easy. You just hover and click and it's there."

Boosted Everyday Computing Windows Search is another Windows 7 tool that Stern uses often. It is many times more powerful and versatile than its predecessors, providing autopopulated suggestions and sorting search results into libraries. Stern notes, “Now, Windows Search is just as efficient as the search function on my smartphone."

CoValence also praises the versatility of the remote desktop, which makes it possible to access files located on a desktop computer

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"I never used the sleep function on the other computer because I never knew what it was going to do, and I’d usually end up restarting. But now I use the sleep function all the time."

Sina Stern, Manufacturing Compliance and Process Manager, CoValence

Laboratories

from a remote location, directly on the Lenovo notebook. This function gives Stern the flexibility to work wherever, whenever, with greater ease and convenience.

"Using the Remote Desktop doesn't take me to a separate desktop. It's very different, in a good way,” Stern says. “I can open my music files and personal documents, and I can still access all my work files just as I would at the office.”

*As part of the solution deployment through the Windows 7 Professional SMB Evidence Program, the customer received complimentary notebooks and technical support from Microsoft and Lenovo.Windows 7Works the way you want: Windows 7 will help your organization use information technology to gain a competitive advantage in today’s new world of work. Your people will be able to be more productive anywhere. You will be able to support your mobile workforce with better access to shared data and collaboration tools. And your IT staff will have better tools and technologies for enhanced corporate IT security and data protection, and more efficient deployment and

management.

For more information about Windows 7, go to:

www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Lenovo ThinkPad SL products and services, call 800-456-3355 or visit the website at: www.lenovo.com

For more information about CoValence Laboratories products and services, call 480-897-0551 or visit the website at: www.covalence.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published September 2010

Software and Services Windows 7 Professional

Hardware Lenovo ThinkPad SL Series

Partner Lenovo