At a Glance
With thirty years of experience in the market, COMPAREX serves public institutions and mid-sized businesses as much as industrials and internationally operating corporations. Its product portfolio comprises software licenses from over 3,000 providers, plus consultancy and a comprehensive range of professional services. One special focal point of COMPAREX Germany is the development of innovative, tailored cloud computing solutions. The company domicile of COMPAREX is in Leipzig, a city known for both its tradition and trade fairs. In addition to over 80 locations in 36 countries around the world, the company currently has 12 locations in Germany
The Partner
As a top certified software license management company for the world’s leading IT providers, COMPAREX specializes in the budget-friendly procurement of software and its seamless license management. Additionally, it has a global license desk for worldwide service delivery. The IT company provides the conception, implementation and support of IT infrastructures from a single source. The constantly changing needs of customers form the focal point for this.
The Challenge
“Security is becoming an increasingly important topic for our customers,” says Gabriele Hartig, head of the Inside Sales team at COMPAREX. “They seek IT solutions that protect sensitive data against unauthorized access from outside which guarantee compliance with the latest statutory requirements, such as the GDPR,” Hartig adds. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) establishes a stricter handling of personal data from EU citizens starting May 2018. If breached, companies will be heavily fined.
And even the fact that more and more employees aim for greater workplace mobility and prefer to work using their own terminal devices poses new challenges for customers of COMPAREX. Whether smartphone, notebook or tablet – an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) platform is called for that not only securely handles current device models, operating systems and ownership options, but which also manages new device models and alternative end points paired with flexible scalability.
Interconnecting man and things, after all, is sure to increase further across all sectors over the years to come, turning a business more often than not into an Enterprise of Things. This makes it even more important to enable companies to transfer sensitive data confidentially and reliably between two end points.
The Partnership
COMPAREX and BlackBerry cultivate a special rapport: On the one part, COMPAREX is a certified Gold partner of BlackBerry, while on the other it employs BlackBerry’s EMM solution even for itself. “COMPAREX has 80 locations in 36 countries. This naturally creates entirely different scenarios as to the secure integration of mobile devices,” says Gabriele Hartig. This includes, for example, different ownership models (BYOD, COPE), or a clear focusing on certain device makers. “BlackBerry’s solution fulfilled all of our requirements and has been protecting COMPAREX for over 8 years now from the inside out,” Hartig continued. In Europe alone, 2,000 COMPAREX employees use the BlackBerry solution. Here, too, the company benefits from the BlackBerry partner program in the form of discounted user licenses.
Experience gathered internally assists COMPAREX in turn when it comes to giving solid advice to its customers, especially to those operating in security-critical sectors (e.g. financial sector, utilities companies). Also, in the field of public authorities, COMPAREX is well connected and is a listed supplier of nearly all public authorities. Here, the BlackBerry Gold partner COMPAREX benefits from its certified BlackBerry expertise. Irrespective of the industry, the analysis is always the first step: Which needs and requirements does the customer have? Which problems are to be solved? COMPAREX then advises its customers on the optimal solution.
“In this regard, we aim to sensitize our customers especially in the municipal segment and medium-sized enterprises about the issue of mobile security,” explains Hartig. The biggest solution need not necessarily be the best one. “An EMM platform is often the entry point which is then gradually expanded on – depending on what is required – for example, by a container solution,” explains Hartig. BlackBerry scores in relation to this with a secure EMM solution which offers comprehensive functionalities and is easy to configure. Pivotal in this case: “Security and user-friendliness are not mutually exclusive with BlackBerry’s solution,” says Hartig. This is the only way to prevent users from reverting to insecure options for reasons of convenience”.
COMPAREX’ affiliation with the BlackBerry® Enterprise Partner Program proves highly beneficial to providing optimal advice to its customers. As a certified Gold partner, the Saxony-based IT service provider has access to wide-ranging background information on BlackBerry solutions through training and online platforms like BlackBerry Universe, and can even incorporate in-house proposals into future product developments.
“We practically draw on all possibilities and advantages which our Gold partnership offers. This allows us to provide genuine added value to our customers,” explains Hartig. COMPAREX implements the BlackBerry solution at the individual customer with the help of vendors who are equally BlackBerry partners. To guarantee interruption-free business flows, COMPAREX has a Multi-Vendor Helpdesk for the chosen BlackBerry solutions. The helpdesk is available to customers around the clock. Any issues or questions are analyzed and solved in the context of this First Level Support or, if necessary, forwarded to BlackBerry. This is how COMPAREX and BlackBerry together ensure the smooth, fail-safe IT operation while forging the requirements that permit the Enterprise of Things to evolve.
Organization Profile
Industry IT Services
Employees ~2,450
Customers 7,000
Location Netherlands
http://www.comparex-group.com