JACKSON, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bomgar, a leading provider of secure remote support solutions, today announced that Boise State is using its solution to provide real-time tech support that fits the needs of all students and faculty. Founded in 1932, Boise State is a public university that offers an array of undergraduate and graduate degrees and experiences that foster student success.
When a new chief information officer joined the university several years ago, he immediately recognized the need to provide broader support for the university community, particularly the student body. Keeping in line with Boise State’s growing emphasis on the student experience, they began searching for a new remote support solution. With an enrollment of more than 22,000 students, the university needed a solution that could support users with Windows or Mac OS X operating systems, and connect to devices outside the university network.
“He drove the initiative to transform our IT support to a ‘students first’ approach,” said Peter Jurhs, desktop support manager for Boise State. “We opened walk-in support locations for students, but knew we also needed a robust remote support solution that could support Macs as well as PCs, because approximately 30-40 percent of our students use Macs, which we were struggling to support.”
Previously, the university’s IT department provided remote support for university-owned computers that were primarily used by Boise State’s faculty and staff, and limited support to students for authentication issues to university systems. The remote support tool at the time was cumbersome for the technicians to use and only allowed them to access devices on the university’s network. The IT support staff could not fully assist faculty, staff and students working off campus.
“Bomgar now allows us to serve Mac users the same way we do with our clients running Windows. The solution has enabled us to evolve our support to a platform-agnostic approach,” Jurhs added. The IT support team also chose Bomgar because of its attractive price point and appliance-based model. “We liked that the Bomgar appliance is on-site and within our control.”
The Bomgar solution also played a crucial role when the university recently rolled out a new student web page. “The page allows students to do a number of tasks from a single location, such as checking their grades, registering for classes, getting class assignments, etc. We embedded a Bomgar chat link right on the page, which allows the students to immediately access our support team. The students are very comfortable with online chat, so they really utilize this feature,” said Jurhs.
The Boise State support team now feels confident attempting to support any device that students, faculty or staff may be using on campus. “We’ve moved from a ‘these are the devices you can have’ approach to one that is ‘You bring it, we support it,’” Jurhs added.
“The need to integrate social aspects into the remote tech support environment is a trend we’ve seen on the rise among IT departments,” said Nathan McNeill, co-founder and chief strategy officer, Bomgar. “It is becoming more common for end users to prefer chatting with tech support online rather than talking on the phone. This method allows both the end user and technician to multi-task, with little to no interruption of their daily routines.”
Overall, Jurhs believes that Bomgar has dramatically improved his support team’s responsiveness. His team no longer has to make a 20 minute walk across campus or schedule an appointment if a support session needs to be escalated to the second level. He also believes Bomgar will play a critical role as Boise State’s technology landscape continues to evolve. “Distance education is going to play a growing role over time for the university, as we extend the reach of our programs beyond the campus to the world at large. Bomgar will allow us to support distance learning students and academics in the field in a way we never could have done previously.”
For a full case study about Boise State’s use of Bomgar, please visit: www.bomgar.com/customers
About Bomgar
Bomgar provides remote support solutions for easily and securely supporting computing systems and mobile devices. The company’s appliance-based products help organizations improve tech support efficiency and performance by enabling them to securely support nearly any device or system, anywhere in the world — including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, BlackBerry and more. More than 7,500 organizations across 65 countries have deployed Bomgar to rapidly improve customer satisfaction while dramatically reducing costs. Bomgar is privately held with offices in Jackson, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Paris and London. You can find Bomgar on the web at www.bomgar.com, or on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
