Precision IT Group Case Study

IT service provider supports traveling customers using appliance-based remote desktop support solution

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The Challenge

"For about 15 percent of our customers, we act as consultants to their IT department, advising them on IT issues," said Marc Pantoni, Partner CTO of Precision IT Group. "For the other 85 percent, we essentially are their IT department." With approximately 30 employees providing IT services to well over 3,000 end-users, Precision IT places a high premium on efficiency and speed in their support processes.

Up until the beginning of 2006, Precision IT supported all of their customers through various LAN-based remote control solutions. While this setup worked well for issues within networks to which Precision IT had administrative access, it did not enable them to support customers located at remote locations or customers who were traveling. With customers located in the US, UK, Japan, China, and other locations worldwide, a more flexible solution was needed.

The Solution

In February of 2006, after trying several remote desktop support solutions, Precision IT purchased the B200™, Bomgar's small business appliance model. With Bomgar™, traveling customers can receive support through any browser without firewall configuration, even if they are located on a network over which Precision IT has no control. "Bomgar™ fit a specific pain point of ours," said Pantoni. "Previously, when our clients were traveling, and were in an airport or hotel, it took too much time to remotely connect to their computers. Often, the problem that they were experiencing was simple, and remote access was the largest obstacle to overcome. Now when clients are in hotels, they always have help, and we don't waste time trying to figure out how we are going to connect to their computers to see what's wrong."

Because the majority of Precision IT's customers are in financial services, regulatory compliance is a significant concern; Precision IT needed a solution that would automatically uninstall the customer client from the remote computer to reassure their customers that future access would only occur with customer permission. "With some solutions, you have to leave software on the client's system," said Pantoni. "If someone hasn't connected to them in a year or so, they may forget it's there, and we don't want an outdated remote access client sitting on the customer's computer."

During the first thirty days after the purchase, Precision IT's engineers ran Bomgar™ through the quality assurance gauntlet. "We needed something that wasn't going to work only one out of three times," said Pantoni. "If it didn't perform, we were going to send it back. For the first thirty days, we didn't let our lower-level engineers use it. Most of our senior engineers started using it and liked it, so we finally rolled it out to the rest of the staff."

The Results

Because of its minimal infrastructure requirements and because Precision IT and its clients were already familiar with remote control technology, Bomgar™ was simple to implement in Precision IT's environment. "It was pretty straight-forward," said Pantoni. "We didn't do any formal training – just a brief meeting with the support groups to walk through an active session with our engineers."

Using Bomgar™ primarily for supporting users located on networks outside of their control, Precision IT utilizes two Bomgar™ licenses and performs up to 250 sessions per month. Because support reps no longer have to perform technical acrobatics to support traveling customers, total call times have decreased by 25 percent, increasing support rep capacity by the same amount. "Our guys love Bomgar™," said Pantoni. "The only thing they ever say negative is that all of the licenses are in use."

Through its use of the Bomgar Box™, Precision IT has reduced call escalation and increased first call resolution by 10 percent each. And because they can connect to more clients with Bomgar's browser-based installation process, on-site support visits have been reduced by 20 percent. Some of the most crucial benefits, however, come from an enhanced reputation for efficient support. "It's happened more than once that a CEO from one of our big firms would wait to work on an important task until they were at an airport," said Pantoni. "Something would go wrong that they couldn't fix themselves, often a simple problem. Having the capability to fix what we need to fix in just a matter of minutes makes us look good and reasserts the quality of service that we provide to our clients."

About Precision IT Group

Precision IT Group, headquartered in New York, is focused on delivering secure and cutting edge technology that allows businesses to adapt to change and capture opportunities, all with cost and productivity in mind. Precision IT enables businesses to enhance performance and plan for the future, with cost-effective and reliable information technology solutions. Precision IT Group strives for providing a measurable improvement in all aspects of its clients' businesses.

About Bomgar

Bomgar™ is the only provider of appliance-based remote desktop support solutions, offering greater security and lower total cost of ownership. With the Bomgar Box™, Bomgar's clients can eliminate monthly fees and enhance the security of their helpdesks.

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