MBDA and SCC

The overview

MBDA, as part of its formation, made a strategic decision to operate independent IT services from their three parent companies. SCC has been working with MBDA for over 10 years, initially winning a competitive opportunity for supporting their front office which has expanded to encompass a number of services over the lifetime of our partnership.

The challenge

Initially, MBDA wanted to outsource a number of IT functions to specialist organisations as they did not have the breadth of skills in house to deliver the day-to-day operational IT services. This would release their internal IT team to focus on strategy and the more specialist areas of their complex design and manufacturing business.

The solution

SCC deliver to MBDA a number of workplace solutions which enable the 4,000 strong MBDA UK workforce and overseas users to collaborate and work effectively from day one of their employment at MBDA. This is a particular point of pride for Dave Molloy, MBDA’s Head of IT Operations UK: “One of the things that MBDA is particularly proud of is how productive our employees are from day one. SCC is one of the key enablers of this, with the delivery of equipment, the correct setting up of applications and the ability for all of our customers to log in and collaborate as a team from day one.”

The main solution SCC deliver to MBDA is the on-premise service desk which is located in MBDA’s UK Stevenage site, manned by SCC’s specialist, skilled and dedicated engineers, who support first line calls to resolution or direct calls to other providers within the MBDA IT supply chain. The SCC engineers understand the response demands and are aware of the impact that any form of IT challenge can have. For out of hours support and password resetting, MBDA have recently extended their service desk into SCC’s secure, off-premise service centre.

SCC also provides MBDA its core end-to-end device management service, from the initial purchase of a device, whether it’s a laptop, desktop or a workstation, in service life of it ensuring its secure, loading of applications, packaging of applications, to its eventual disposal and resale. Due to the security requirements of MBDA every asset, every item, every user, every application has to be traceable. Our team of SCC security cleared engineers meticulously maintain the EUC estate across all MBDA sites meeting the necessary security requirements that have been laid down by MBDA and their customer base.

Most recently, SCC has been working with MBDA to deliver innovation into the contract and identify efficiencies for ensuring the productivity of MBDA employees, this has included the ability to independently raise incident tickets, without having to phone the service desk to talk to an agent. Plus, the deployment of an IT vending solution for smaller items and IT peripherals and a digital concierge to help them collaborate successfully across all MBDA premises worldwide. 

As MBDA continued to grow and were challenged by other factors, their requirement for support from SCC also continued to grow. Praising SCC’s ability to flex in line with MBDAs changing requirement, Dave Molloy gave an example of this: “One of the prime examples of that recently has been our joint response to the worldwide pandemic. With the pandemic MBDA has had to fundamentally change as a business with the introduction of blended home office working. Without SCC’s ability to motivate its resources and acquire equipment, MBDA would not have been able to adapt as quickly as it did and to support our armed forces wherever they may be in the world.”

The Future

MBDA and SCC are currently deploying the concept of an IT Hub. Manned by SCC specialist engineers, the first of these will be opening at the Stevenage Office where new starters into the business are received. In 2023, the concept will also roll out to other UK office locations, including the Bolton and Filton sites. The IT Hubs will enable MBDA employees to access specialist advice and guidance in person, with one-to-one sessions bookable to look at particularly challenging or inconsistent issues. There will also be the option to provide small team training sessions from within the MBDA training facility.

This service will be complemented by new IT locker services where, with a pre-booked time slot, larger pieces of IT equipment and hardware can be collected or dropped off. This enables the seamless swapping of devices which need repair or replacing, as well as efficiently ensuring devices are returned to MBDA at end of usable life or when employment terminates. 

MBDA has recently engaged SCC to provide new resources that will work directly with their engineering communities to enhance the product development environments. SCC is proud to be working with MBDA and looks forward to continually supporting them in their future business and manufacturing success.