The GFS- IT Support

The Challenge

Global Fire and Security had a well-established internal IT support structure serving its head office and administrative teams. However, a significant part of the company’s workforce — over 100 field-based engineers — remained largely disconnected from this infrastructure.

Historically, these engineers operated independently, with little to no formal IT management or oversight. Each engineer often used a different combination of laptops, mobile phones, tablets, and personal devices, depending on their location, seniority, or historic procurement practices. This presented several major challenges:
 

Lack of Standardisation

• Engineers used a wide variety of hardware brands and models, many of which were outdated, unsupported, or not configured to company standards.
• There were inconsistent operating systems and software versions across devices, leading to compatibility issues, especially when accessing cloud services or submitting reports.
   

Limited IT Visibility and Control

• Devices in the field were not monitored or centrally managed, meaning that security updates, performance issues, and faults often went unnoticed until critical failures occurred.
• IT had no inventory of mobile assets, no insight into usage patterns, and no way to provide timely maintenance or support.
   

Inconsistent Support Experience

• Engineers frequently experienced delays in resolving IT issues due to the absence of a formal support process for mobile users.
• Without remote support tools in place, issues often required engineers to return devices to the office, leading to downtime and lost productivity.
   

Diverse User Experience & Training Gaps

• With varying levels of digital literacy across the engineer workforce, many staff struggled with key business applications or cloud-based services such as Microsoft 365, leading to inefficiencies in job reporting and communication.
• Without a standard onboarding process or consistent IT user guidance, training efforts were ad hoc and inconsistent.
   

Security Risks

• Many engineer devices lacked endpoint protection, disk encryption, and secure login protocols, leaving the business vulnerable to data breaches and compliance violations.
• Sensitive data such as client records, schematics, or access control configurations were often stored locally without backups or encryption.
   

Communication and Workflow Bottlenecks

• The lack of uniform access to tools like VoIP, cloud file sharing, and central scheduling meant that communication between engineers and office-based teams was often delayed or fragmented.
• Engineers frequently had to rely on personal email accounts or unofficial communication channels, creating potential GDPR and audit issues.
   

It became clear that this disconnected IT environment posed a growing operational and security risk. The business required a strategic and inclusive solution to bring all engineers under a unified support model without disrupting day-to-day field operations.

The Solution

To address these critical challenges, Varciti designed and implemented a comprehensive IT integration plan that connected all 100+ engineers to the central IT support structure and laid the foundation for scalable, secure, and efficient field operations.

This strategic rollout was delivered in phases to minimise disruption and ensure maximum adoption across the workforce.

Outcome

Within three months of project initiation, over 100 field engineers were fully onboarded into the company’s IT ecosystem. The benefits were immediate and measurable:

• Support ticket volume dropped for recurring mobile issues, replaced by proactive fixes
• Engineer productivity increased due to improved system access and reduced downtime
• Security posture strengthened, eliminating the risk of unmanaged or unprotected endpoints
• Communication between office and field became more consistent and traceable
• IT gained full visibility over assets, users, and device usage — enabling future planning