Holcim Selects Aeroprise

Dublin, Oct 08, 2008 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- BMC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Aeroprise, a mobility solution for BMC Remedy, announced that cement maker Holcim is using its software to run BMC Remedy Service Desk 7 from BMC Software on BlackBerry smartphones.

Managers use BlackBerry smartphones to monitor service performance, approve change requests and escalate trouble tickets submitted by IT technicians, who now update, create and reassign records from the field.

Aeroprise stated that its Mobility for BMC Remedy mobilizes service desk, asset management and change management applications in three days -- without any modifications to the back-end system -- and automatically updates BMC Remedy workflow changes on the handheld device to ensure ITIL compliance.

Holcim hosts its North American Support Center (NASC) in Dundee, Michigan, where IT operations for more than 200 offices and manufacturing facilities in the US and Canada are managed. It is a subsidiary of Holcim Ltd., which has 90,000 employees in more than 70 countries.

Service requests, or so-called trouble tickets, ranging from individual laptop computer failures to manufacturing equipment malfunctions are tracked by NASC in BMC Remedy, a client-server application. Prior to deploying Aeroprise, Holcim computer systems administrators (CSAs) had to return to the office after each assignment in order to receive and update trouble tickets.

"With demand for IT services increasing, time is our most valuable resource," said Preston Abadie, manager of technical architecture at NASC Technical Services. "Before Aeroprise, managers had no real-time insight into IT, and CSAs spent countless hours each week traveling to and from the office to access BMC Remedy. This negatively impacted responsiveness and productivity -- not to mention fuel costs."

With Aeroprise, CSAs receive, update, reassign, search and create trouble tickets and asset records on BlackBerry smartphones. Service updates remotely filed by support technicians are instantly mirrored in the back-end system. Business managers can track service level performance, monitor business-critical system availability and respond to time-sensitive requests after hours or while in meetings. Users can personalize Aeroprise Mobility through a Web-based console to determine which BMC Remedy features they want to mobilize including fields, alerts and reports. Aeroprise Mobility ties into Holcim service level agreements (SLAs), so technicians can manage project workloads against required response times.

"Because Aeroprise works seamlessly with BMC Remedy and the BlackBerry solution, deployment was uncomplicated and took less than one week," said Abadie. "We anticipate an increase in SLA compliance of 12 percent to 15 percent within one year. Other benefits are likely to include reduced fuel costs, increased equipment uptime and less paper-based reporting. Finally, we will have greater transparency in IT operations, strengthening the bond between IT and the business community we serve."

"Enterprise mobility is broader than simply allowing workers to access email from cell phones. Industry leaders like Holcim are grasping the true essence of what is possible, including enterprise application continuity and business process workflow," said Dan Turchin, CEO of Aeroprise. "In deploying Aeroprise, Holcim has extended its IT service management beyond the confines of the business desk to the business world. This strategic use of enterprise mobility puts Holcim at the cutting-edge of technology adopters and truly separates the company from its competition."

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