Current Supports Hybrid Workforce

Executive Summary 

Current, a leading global provider of sustainable advanced lighting and intelligent controls, was seeking an enterprise-level remote endpoint management tool to support its hybrid workforce. They enlisted Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which deployed Intel® Endpoint Management Assistant (Intel® EMA). After experiencing Intel EMA’s remote management capabilities, Current eventually plans to procure additional Intel vPro® devices to leverage the out-of-band capabilities of Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT) fully. 

Introduction 

Current manufactures a portfolio of sustainable lighting and control solutions for a wide variety of commercial, industrial, and institutional applications. With primary locations in Greenville, South Carolina, and Cleveland, Ohio, Current began as a subsidiary of GE and has a history of innovation. Current’s managed services partner, Tata Consultancy Services, is a global IT services, consulting, and business solutions organization that provides industry-specific solutions optimized on Intel.

Challenge: Deploy a Remote Endpoint Management Solution Quickly and Affordably

In 2021, Current acquired Hubbell C&I Lighting, a commercial and industrial lighting company. The acquisition required migrating close to 1,100 PCs within the brief span of five months to integrate the new Hubbell employees. Employees were working remotely due to the pandemic, which added complexity. 

Initially, Current dispatched technicians to locations near remote users, who could then come to a central location to have their PCs set up. Because Current already used Microsoft Teams for collaboration, the IT team began using it to connect to remote users’ devices and troubleshoot issues. Both approaches had significant limitations: Traveling to remote users was costly and time-consuming, while Microsoft Teams didn’t allow IT to take administrative control of users’ devices. 

“From a long-term perspective, [Current] needed to explore and start using an industry-standard remote management tool,” says the Service Delivery Manager at TCS. Having advised Current in building out 2,000 PCs during its divestiture from GE in 2019, TCS began assessing remote endpoint management options, looking for a cost-effective solution with minimal administration overhead that could be deployed within Current’s desired time frame. They suggested using Intel Endpoint Management Assistant, a cloud-based offering that provides IT administrators with a simplified way to manage devices in a remote or hybrid work environment.

Solution: Intel Endpoint Management Assistant

TCS analyzed several potential tools for remote user management, but they all had a per-admin license cost. Ultimately, TCS determined that Intel EMA was the best solution in terms of both cost and capabilities. 

After TCS and Intel partnered to run a successful proof of concept, the teams configured Intel EMA to meet stringent requirements and guidelines from the Current security and legal teams. “Introducing additional endpoint management software on the machines was a concern,” says Naresh Kopparapu, Director of IT Services for Current. However, the “brand value of Intel” gave him confidence that the solution would offer the security Current required.

The ability to customize Intel EMA was critical to meeting Current’s needs. TCS performed customizations, including: 
 

• Creating a policy to ensure end users’ data privacy by restricting backend file share access from the Intel EMA console for Intel EMA admins.
   
• Creating a custom Powershell script to deploy a shortcut icon on users’ desktops to give end users the ability to disconnect Intel EMA remote sessions at any time with a single click.
   
• Creating a policy to allow backend file access from the Intel EMA console without user intervention for legal hold cases.
   
• Creating a script to enable audit logs and provide the ability to fetch activity logs of all Intel EMA sessions for enhanced security and tracking.
   

After in-house and third-party penetration and vulnerability testing was completed satisfactorily, implementation proceeded.

Results: A Cost-Effective Solution for Faster Migration, Rapid Issue Resolution, and Reduced Tech Support Needs 

Once Intel EMA was installed on both Current’s existing PCs and those acquired from Hubbell, Current saw a bevy of benefits, including faster device migration, reduced need for third-party tech support, and rapid resolution of issues, all of which generated significant cost savings. 

Faster Migration: Leveraging Intel EMA for remote migration allowed TCS to migrate all the endpoints for the acquired company’s end-users to Current domain faster and more cost-effectively. Similar device migrations that TCS had performed for Current in the past had required significant “hands and feet” support team involvement. 

Thanks to Intel EMA, TCS could gain unrestricted access and remotely manage end users’ devices, all but eliminating the need for in-person support and fast-tracking the migration. “Once we started using Intel EMA, the end user was able to install that agent, and we never had to deploy [IT staff] to go fix the machine or rejoin it to our domain,” explains Kopparapu. Current’s TSA timeline required closing on the device migration within five months; TCS was able to close it in four, saving Current nearly $250K USD.¹ 

Cost Savings: “Typically, device migration involves swapping out the users’ device with a new device and giving them a newly imaged endpoint,” explains the Service Delivery Manager at TCS. “In this case, we used the existing device. We removed the device from the acquired entity’s domain and then re-added the machine to the customer’s domain.” By eliminating the need for Current to procure close to 94% of the devices, this creative approach generated significant cost savings.

Reduced Need for Third-Party Support: Intel EMA decreased the need for third-party touch support, delivering additional savings. Previously, TCS had a contract with a third-party support team and had to call them in whenever they needed troubleshooting. Using Intel EMA, most issues can be handled remotely, slashing support costs to just $9K USD—a nearly 95% reduction compared to the estimated $191K third-party support would have cost.¹

“Intel EMA definitely helped us not only during the transition, but in day-to-day operations,” says Kopparapu, who estimates Current is enjoying operational cost savings of $3K USD to $5K USD per month.¹ Fewer in-person support visits also mean less travel, helping to reduce carbon emissions and support Current’s commitment to sustainability. 

Faster Issue Resolution: Hybrid work has become the new normal for Current. Kopparapu says Intel EMA decreases the need for physical touch support, reducing deskside support tickets by nearly 60%, and enables IT to resolve issues 90% faster.¹

Thanks to Intel Active Management Technology, which provides secure out-of-band remote management capabilities, Current’s IT support team can take control of devices and perform tasks even when a device is powered off, has a failed operating system, or has connectivity issues. Issues can be resolved quickly with minimal impact on end users’ productivity. Employees no longer need to travel to have their PCs fixed or sit in front of the computer to help a technician with remote troubleshooting or repairs.

“Intel EMA is part of Intel devices, which was a key value-add for the customer,” says the Service Delivery Manager at TCS. During the Hubbell transition, Kopparapu’s team had to work with existing PCs, few of which were Intel vPro devices. However, when it’s time for future device procurement, Kopparapu says he plans to consider using them. “That will give us more control and allow us to do things we can’t without Intel vPro,” he says.

About Current Lighting Solutions

Manufacturer: Global provider of sustainable advanced lighting and intelligent controls, with a portfolio of 35 brands for commercial, industrial, and institutional use.

Location: Primary offices in Greenville, SC, and Cleveland, OH, with additional locations in IL, TX, and Canada. The company has manufacturing operations in the US and Mexico.

Number of Employees: 2,900

Gross Revenue: Approximately $1B [2022]

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