EMC's Transition to SMS for Real-Time IT Alerts

Technology Category

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Virtual Private Cloud

Applicable Industries

Cement
Equipment & Machinery

Applicable Functions

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Intrusion Detection Systems
Tamper Detection

Services

System Integration

The Challenge

EMC, a global leader in cloud computing, data storage, and data virtualization, was struggling with an inefficient and slow method of alerting its 68,000 employees about IT system updates. The traditional method involved drafting an email, proofing it, getting approval from several stakeholders, and finally sending it. This process was not only labor-intensive but also unreliable as it depended on the user's email being unaffected and the user actually opening and reading the email. After sending 1.2 million alert emails in a single month, EMC decided to find a more efficient and immediate way to alert employees. The challenge was to find a solution that was not only faster and less labor-intensive but also globally available and scalable to EMC's needs.

The Customer

EMC

About The Customer

EMC is a global leader in the field of cloud computing, data storage, and data virtualization. The company has a large workforce of 68,000 employees who rely on a critical set of IT tools to perform their jobs. These employees are located at EMC's headquarters and around the world. The company's needs are incredibly diverse and rapidly changing, requiring a flexible and scalable solution for IT alerts. EMC was sending out 1.2 million alert emails in a single month, indicating the scale of their operations and the volume of IT alerts required.

The Solution

EMC decided to build an automated IT alerting system and chose Twilio SMS to power it. Twilio SMS was chosen because it was three times more likely to be read by a user than an email and was globally available. Initially, EMC considered on-premises SMS infrastructure solutions, but they were either too expensive or too brittle. Twilio offered the flexibility and global scale that EMC needed. In addition to connecting Twilio SMS directly to the newly built automated alerting system, EMC added an internal API service layer on top of Twilio. This service layer, along with a simple dashboard, empowered employees to choose which services they wanted to monitor and create new alerts themselves. For instance, sales architects could monitor the virtual machines in their demo environments while on the road and receive a text alert if a machine stopped responding.

Operational Impact

The transition to Twilio SMS for IT alerts has resulted in happier users and less work for the IT department. Employees have responded positively to the new SMS monitoring services, and the company has no plans to return to an email-based alert system. The automated Twilio infrastructure eliminates the need for manually sending alerts, as they are automatically generated as soon as the monitoring tool detects an issue. The internal service layer also simplifies reporting usage by department, allowing finance to easily see which groups are using the service and bill them accordingly. The IT team can also clearly demonstrate the value of the tools they provide. The implementation was so smooth that the team did not have to contact support even once.

Quantitative Benefit

Reduced the number of alert emails sent from 1.2 million in a month to an estimated 900,000 SMS alerts a month.
The SMS alerts are three times more likely to be read by users than emails.
The solution is scalable to the needs of 68,000 employees.