Smiths Group Centralizes and Streamlines IT Support with Bomgar

JACKSON, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Smiths Group PLC, a world leader in the practical application of advanced technologies, recently consolidated and centralized their IT functions with help from Bomgar, the worldwide leader in secure, appliance-based remote support solutions. With 23,000 employees in 400 locations around the globe, Smiths Group delivers products and services that make the world safer, healthier and more productive, including threat and contraband detection, medical devices, energy, communications and engineering components.

“One thing we really liked about the on-premise Bomgar solution is that it sits behind our own firewall and doesn’t pass data through a third-party server. This gave us the ability to configure and integrate it with the other security measures within our IT network”

Prior to deploying the Bomgar solution, Smiths Group operated under a decentralized IT model, where each division had their own CIO and managed their IT independently from the rest of the company. The company made a strategic decision to consolidate IT functions and centralize its end-user support processes which were being handled regionally using a variety of help desk systems. As part of the consolidation, Smiths Group needed a single solution that enabled support analysts to control remote computers in order to support more than 14,000 internal end-users around the world. “As a global organization, we needed a remote support solution that could break down the geographic and cultural barriers between countries, languages and the different ways that people work,” said Neil Cornwell, director of service support for Smiths Group.

With strict requirements for security and multi-lingual capabilities also on the checklist, the Smiths Group IT team evaluated a number of potential remote support solutions, finding that many were offered in the form of software as a service (SaaS). “One thing we really liked about the on-premise Bomgar solution is that it sits behind our own firewall and doesn’t pass data through a third-party server. This gave us the ability to configure and integrate it with the other security measures within our IT network,” Cornwell explained. The multi-language capabilities, concurrent user license model and ease of installation also drove Smiths Group’s decision to choose Bomgar for their organization.

Cornwell says the IT support analysts at Smiths Group are finding their jobs to be a whole lot easier. “Traditionally, remote support would be provided on the phone, and then the analyst had to decipher and remember what the user described on their screen. The Bomgar remote support solution removes the uncertainty of what’s going on with the remote device, allowing the analyst to see what’s happening and quickly fix it,” said Cornwell. “As a result, we are seeing improvement in both first call resolution and call-to-answer times.”

Cornwell sees advantages in the Bomgar solution that go well beyond providing technical support. “Of course it’s an improved customer service solution for us, but it also improves the image of IT to our end-users. Increasing the general impression that our users can now get direct and effective support from remote analysts has been a huge win for us.”

For a full case study about Smiths Group use of Bomgar, please visit: www.bomgar.com/customers.

About Smiths

Smiths is a global technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange (SMIN) and operates a sponsored level one ADR programme (SMGZY). A world leader in the practical application of technologies, Smiths Group delivers products and services for the threat & contraband detection, medical devices, energy and communications markets worldwide. Our products and services make the world safer, healthier and more productive. Smiths Group employs more than 23,000 people in over 50 countries. For more information visit www.smiths.com.

About Bomgar

Bomgar is the worldwide leader in secure, appliance-based remote support solutions. The company’s award-winning solutions enable organizations to improve IT support efficiency by securely accessing and managing virtually any system – Windows, Mac, Linux, BlackBerry, Android, the iPhone, iPad and most versions of Windows Mobile, regardless of their location. More than 5,500 companies around the world have deployed Bomgar’s enterprise-class solutions to rapidly transform their IT support functions and significantly improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction while dramatically reducing costs. Bomgar is privately-held with offices in Jackson, Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Paris and London. In 2010, Bomgar was named one of the fastest-growing technology companies in America by Deloitte.