Mainfreight has overhauled its entire IT environment in China and Hong Kong and deployed a virtualisation solution from Citrix which supports 160 users.With 165 offices throughout the Asia Pacific region, Mainfreight’s Australasian IT manager Anthony Barrett says the company was keen to centralise its IT systems and deliver all of its business applications from the data center in its global headquarters in Auckland.He says the Asian offices had previously been on a separate system and suffered from the ‘tyranny of distance’. As the China and Hong Kong offices had no clear visibility of Mainfreight’s current logistics and supply chain data, there was a large amount of work duplication, inefficiencies and poor customer service.Citrix, via its New Zealand partner Softsource, was chosen to deploy its application virtualisation product XenApp, in addition to Citrix Access Gateway and an Internet VPN. Mainfreight uses a combination of Citrix and Microsoft Terminal Services to accelerate its ISV traffic. Applications the company uses include Microsoft Office and an international freight forwarding package application called Cargo Wise.According to Barrett, the improvement to workflows is measurable - he estimates the company has saved a minimum of 200 hours a week in work duplication. “We can now ensure that our customers have a better customer experience by having up-to-date and clearer visibility through our supply chain. It’s definitely increased our competitive edge in the Asian market,” says Barrett.In addition, Barrett says Mainfreight has significantly reduced security risks. The company plan to deploy Citrix technology across its offices in Australia, New Zealand and the United States as it continues to expand its business across the globe. Mainfreight has over 3,200 employees and over 20,000 customers.