Labour giant Gi Group chooses Windows Phone as the new workhorse

Nokia has announced a new partnership with Gi Group (www.gigroup.com), a leading Italian multinational human resources company. Replacing BlackBerry, Windows Phones will now be used as its business smartphone. Dealing with temporary employment, staff leasing, research and selection, outplacement, HR consulting and training in 19 countries around the world, mobile technology is certainly an important part of the business. 

Gi Group has reportedly provided more than 800 employees in Italy with Nokia Lumia Windows Phones, including the new Lumia 925 flagship, Lumia 820 and Lumia 620. The company plans to expand this rollout worldwide in other markets where operations take place. Much like KONE and other companies, the main benefit of Windows Phone is connectivity with Microsoft products and services, including Outlook and Office applications.

Taking full advantage of Microsoft InTune, Gi Group administrators can manage the Lumia Windows Phones remotely, including the installation of apps and services as well as remotely wiping confidential data. Here's a quick snippet on what Barbara Cottini, HR manager at Gi Group, had to say about the move to Nokia:

"Our people need to be able to connect with colleagues and access and edit Microsoft Office documents, wherever they happen to be. They also need to access our customer relationship management systems as well as their professional social media networks without having to have a laptop with them at all times. Nokia Lumia offered us a unique way of doing this, with elegant, modern smartphones and a user experience that is immediately familiar."

Other Microsoft produces are also mentioned in the press release, including Lync and Skype. With companies utilising Windows, Office and other products from Redmond, it makes perfect sense to migrate to Windows Phone, which is an arguably more effective deployment. This isn't the first enterprise success story we've had from Nokia, nor will it be the last.

Check out the full press release below. Thanks again for the tip, pbroy!

Espoo, Finland - Nokia has announced that Gi Group, a leading Italian multinational company dedicated to the human resources market, has chosen Nokia Lumia as its business smartphone, replacing BlackBerry. The company offers temporary employment, staff leasing, research and selection, executive search, outplacement, HR consulting and training in 19 countries around the world.

Gi Group has already provided more than 800 employees in Italy with Nokia Lumia smartphones, including the eye-catching Nokia Lumia 925, the versatile Nokia Lumia 820 and the bright and bold Nokia Lumia 620, with plans to expand to all of the countries where the company operates.

The ability to seamlessly operate with Gi Group's Microsoft Outlook mail and Microsoft Office applications was an important factor in the choice of Nokia Lumia, which is built on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 platform. Using Microsoft InTune, the company's IT organization can manage the Nokia Lumia smartphones remotely, installing new apps and services and remotely wiping confidential and personal data if an employee's smartphone is lost.

"Our people need to be able to connect with colleagues and access and edit Microsoft Office documents, wherever they happen to be," said Barbara Cottini, HR manager at Gi Group. "They also need to access our customer relationship management systems as well as their professional social media networks without having to have a laptop with them at all times. Nokia Lumia offered us a unique way of doing this, with elegant, modern smartphones and a user experience that is immediately familiar."

As a company which truly understands the importance of making a personal connection with employees, contractors and clients, Gi Group also values the ability to use Microsoft Lync for conference calling and is evaluating using Skype, together with the great cameras in Nokia Lumia, to enable video interviews with applicants when they cannot meet face to face.

Nokia Lumia also offers HERE Maps with LiveSight to help Gi Group people feel at home, wherever they happen to be as well as HERE Drive, with free, turn-by-turn navigation to help them get to their next meeting.

Paola Cavallero, general manager for Italy at Nokia said, "Gi Group is a great example of how Nokia Lumia enables smartphones to become an integral part of any company's IT infrastructure, working seamlessly with their corporate systems and freeing their people to work effectively wherever they are."

Nokia for Business

The Nokia Lumia range offers business users a true Microsoft Outlook and Office experience out-of-the-box. With the Windows 8 platform, Microsoft Office and Outlook are built in allowing employees to open, edit and share PowerPoint, Excel and Word documents and synchronise changes without losing the original formatting.  Combined with a design that stands out, business class navigation, security that's fit for business, and a range of Qi standard wireless charging solutions, the Nokia Lumia is the best smartphone for businesses. For more information, visit www.nokia.com/global/business.

About Nokia

Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia's technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world. For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia.

About Gi Group

Gi Group is the first Italian labour multinational company as well as one of the major global players in the sphere of services geared to labour market development. The Group operates in the following fields: temporary work, staff leasing, recruitment and selection, executive search, outplacement, training and HR consulting. At the beginning of 2007, Gi Group started to move on the international scene, and today it operates in 19 countries across Europe, America and Asia. At the end of 2010, it obtained an important acknowledgement, becoming Global Corporate Member of CIETT, the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies. In 2012, it found a job for 160,000 individuals and served over 15,000 companies, with an overall turnover of 1,092 million euro. The Group counts 480 branches all over the world and over 2,400 employees. For more information, visit www.gigroup.com.

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.