Changing suppliers is never a trivial task. But nor is it ever impossible, which is good news for our customers because it means they can always choose the supplier that best suits their specific needs.

There is no room for error. Our customers’ operations and the people who run them are a long way from home and need to be connected. We bridge the gap by ensuring your global communications are performing securely and reliably, allowing you to focus on what is important without worrying about your connection. Every operation is different, requiring a tailored solution. That is what makes it difficult but, for experts, by no means impossible.

We’ve been involved in many, many transitions to ITC Global from other VSAT providers, on rigs, ships, in mines and in remote places on land. And while it would clearly be an exaggeration to say we’ve seen everything, we have built processes that mean we can identify nearly every issue and deal with it before we start the on-site installation.

Transitioning suppliers often means changing the on-site hardware. There are two main concerns: a long outage for the conversion and teething problems. We’ve developed the systems and processes to address both potential issues.

But first, how do we get there?

The first step is planning the transition. We make sure we understand exactly what you need to do. Importantly, that involves planning for the future. The last thing you want is for the hardware to need to be replaced in two years’ time.

Next, we run a Network Design Workshop, when we put together our engineers with your engineers, to work out the exact network requirements and the applications you need. The workshop gives us a full understanding of your exact needs, enabling us to build the technical solution.

It’s only at this point that we decide on the above and below deck hardware and determine the precise bandwidth you need. Each installation is different, tailored to your specific requirements. And those requirements also depend on what you already have onboard: we always do our best to reuse hardware to reduce the impact of the handover.

Then comes the crucial stage: the installation. Actually, perhaps the most important part is the pre-installation verification process, to make sure everything works as it should and that it is fully configured so it integrates into your systems from day one. The last thing we want is prolonged downtime.

The result is, to put it simply, a prefabricated system that we can drop in and turn on. The aim is to make the mistakes in a simulated environment. And we are bound to make some mistakes because this is complicated engineering. The point is we do that work in a controlled environment not on your rig or ship, or at your mine.

We don’t leave you to it once we’re up and running. We provide 24/7 monitoring and network management to make sure you stay up and running and we give you full visibility into the performance 24/7/365 via your own personalized portal accessible via any web-enabled device.

And that’s how we make sure the process of changing VSAT suppliers is smooth and straightforward for our customers.