The ability to remotely access distant sites to perform essential tasks and responsibilities like network device provisioning, configuring and troubleshooting is central to the success of any modern business, particularly global enterprises – like Schneider Electric – that have engineers covering several large business regions across multiple countries. With 128,000 employees worldwide, Schneider Electric is a global leader in industrial automation and energy management generating over $36.5 billion (€34 billion) in revenue annually. This leader in energy management offers various products, from connected room solutions and smart panels to low-voltage motor control centers and switchgear, including automation software and digital services for data centers, businesses and homes, helping them become more sustainable and energy-efficient.
Out of a need for interoperability, active technology partnerships and robust IT networks, Schneider built a flourishing open ecosystem network of diverse groups, such as customers, suppliers, universities, independent software vendors and solutions/service providers. Today, Schneider’s networks power its smart factories and distribution centers across the globe within four key regions: North America, Europe, China, and India. Its IT Network Service Delivery team supports this multi-hub model, ensuring data and communications over its network get delivered swiftly, securely and consistently.
Although having a distributed team allowed Schneider to respond and adapt to regional circumstances and challenges rapidly, the IT network service delivery team was small. Specifically, there were ten engineers per region, supporting hundreds of sites across different countries, with the US team having to manage more than 350 sites. The challenge of managing these dispersed locations was exasperated in 2020 by the pandemic-related lockdowns and travel restrictions which forced the IT network service delivery team to work from home. Nonetheless, users and devices still needed to access Schneider’s network. Likewise, the team had to find a way to provision, administer connected devices and troubleshoot in the event of disruptions.
As Schneider grew, so too did its IT network infrastructure needs eventually, requiring the assistance of an experienced Out of Band provider. Having over a decade-long relationship with this provider, Schneider’s asked them to help its IT team achieve a secure means of accessing, monitoring and controlling remote, connected devices. By implementing their provider’s Smart Out of Band management solution, Schneider’s IT team could access the remote management interface in their data centers. Likewise, this Smart Out of Band management solution enabled the IT team to streamline administrative processes, perform proactive maintenance and remediate network disruptions remotely. These capabilities were particularly invaluable as Schneider continued to grow.
Additionally, Schneider used its Smart Out of Band provider solutions to manage its routers, switches, firewalls and over 112 access points, allowing it to spin up a new office, stage a new site or refresh an existing one much more efficiently. Schneider also utilized the Smart Out of Band provider’s software solution, permitting its IT team to access and orchestrate routers, switches, or firewalls via this unified and easy-to-access dashboard. The combined result of the Smart Out of Band management solution and the remote management software was some much-needed peace of mind for the IT Network Delivery team, who could now access, manage and remediate critical devices from anywhere, even during a disruption.
The multi-faceted results were significant – especially in cost reductions. Typically, the several days of lost labor required for a network engineer to travel to a remote site and remediate an outage, including the fees associated with lodging, can be expensive. Nevertheless, thanks to the Smart Out of Band management solution and remote management software, Schneider’s IT team managed to decrease the cost of travel from $80-100k to $8k over two years, equating to 90% of savings. Moreover, constantly accessing, monitoring and managing routers, switches and firewalls from leading vendors empowered Schneider’s IT Network Delivery team to upskill, earn certifications and elevate their career journeys.
Not only did having access to remote sites to complete essential tasks and responsibilities help Schneider’s IT team drive high network service quality, but it also proved invaluable during the travel restrictions of the pandemic. Without the solutions from its Out of Band provider, the IT team would not have been able to access these remote sites in their respective regions. Today, they are more than ready to support their network infrastructure every day.