The Salvation Army Case Study

IT services consolidated with appliance-based remote desktop support solution

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The Challenge

The Salvation Army provides humanitarian aid around the world and has done so for more than 125 years. They operate 8,500 locations across the US. Over the years, their IT organization has grown organically, resulting in a federation of loosely connected "silos". Each of those silos developed their own way of providing support services. To increase efficiency, the Salvation Army's USA Western Territory went through an IT reorganization and consolidated the IT functions into one department. However, despite the fact that the department is centralized, it is still very geographically diverse and still supports an equally geographically diverse workforce.

As part of that reorganization, they decided to address the way they provide support to their employees. In the past, their dispersed IT departments were using a number of remote support tools, including pcAnywhere, multiple versions of open-source VNC, and Laplink.¹ "We've embraced remote control technology for a long time, starting with pcAnywhere a number or years ago," said Clarence White, CIO and IT Secretary – USA Western Territory. "It's a key technology that enables you to cost-effectively virtualize your support staff ... but being a nonprofit we needed to put our money into our services rather than IT overhead." Through their experiences, they recognized the need for a support solution that would meet the following requirements:

• Zero Footprint: No client-side software could be installed on the end-user's PC
• Network-Independent: It had to work across any network in any geographic region
• Cost effective: As with most IT departments, they had a limited budget for support tools

The Solution

These requirements led the USA Western Territory, which had 13 different IT organizations, to the Bomgar Box™. Bomgar™ is a zero footprint solution that does not require any pre-installed client. Because of this, they were able to deploy the solution very quickly. "We have nearly 1,500 centers of operations here in the 13 western states, some with hundreds of computers. And with only 75 [IT staff], going to every site to deploy software is not possible," said White. Because Bomgar works over a standard internet connection, it is network-independent. This enables the Salvation Army to provide support services regardless of the location of the person needing support.

Finally, the solution was more cost-effective than other solutions due to Bomgar's licensing model. Bomgar counts the number of concurrent support users to determine the license cost rather than requiring a license for each named support user. For the Salvation Army this is the most costeffective way to provide the support they need. With the Bomgar Box now in place, the Salvation Army is able to quickly support anyone, anywhere, at anytime, regardless of time zone or network connections, at much lower cost.

The Results

In addition to meeting all three of their primary requirements, the Bomgar solution provided some unexpected benefits. According to White, "There are not too many software products that you really like after you've bought them and used them for a while, but Bomgar is definitely one of those."

While the majority of the computers the Salvation Army supports are PCs, they do have a limited number of Macs, and with the Bomgar solution, they are now able to provide support for their Mac users. Additionally, they have been impressed with the responsiveness of the Bomgar team and the speed of innovation. Finally, because the solution is an on-premise appliance, they feel more comfortable because they do not have to rely on an external provider. "The [Bomgar] tool has helped us move in the right direction in the way we provide support," said White.

About The Salvation Army

Founded more than 130 years ago by William Booth, the Salvation Army is a religious and social service organization, a branch of the Christian Church dedicated to the battle against sin and despair. The Army seeks not only to improve the physical environment and provide for material needs, but also to reveal the power of Christ's love. Its social services programs assist children, the elderly, families, and those battling addiction.

The Western Territory, one of four territories in USA, operates under the leadership of Commissioner Philip Swyers. The territory is divided geographically into 10 divisions, each headed by a divisional commander. Divisions are comprised of the corps community centers or churches and other specialized service centers. The corps is the basic service unit of the Salvation Army and provides religious and social services adapted to the needs of the community.

About Bomgar

Based in Ridgeland, Miss., Bomgar Corporation specializes in appliance-based solutions for remote control support. Bomgar allows companies to connect to remote clients and co-workers via the Internet anywhere in the world, in less than 10 seconds. The company is the only provider in the industry offering an appliance-based solution, providing companies with an unparalleled level of security and the ability to scale effi ciently. Backed by venture capital, Bomgar has grown steadily since its inception in 2003, securing more than 3,500 customers in all 50 states in the US and 48 countries, in addition to resellers in Canada, South Africa and the U.K.

1. pcAnywhere™ & Laplink are trademarks of Symantec Corporation and Laplink Software, respectively

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