Baillie Gifford recruits Edinburgh IT monitoring provider in UK first

Global asset management firm Baillie Gifford, which has assets under management of £130 billion, has appointed Edinburgh-based Assure APM to gain greater forensic insight and control of its IT systems.

The move makes Baillie Gifford the first asset management firm in the UK to form a partnership with an Advanced Performance Management provider, a business model that has proven popular with similar firms in the US.

Assure was appointed following a pilot of its ‘Advanced Performance Management’ technology across Baillie Gifford’s IT environment to monitor and manage their network, server and virtual infrastructure.

This partnership highlights the growing demand for businesses to enhance visibility across Baillie’s IT estate as newer, more powerful business applications become more common, leading to an increase in the complexity of systems.

IT Partner at Baillie Gifford, Richard McGrail said: “We push our IT systems hard and continue to look for ongoing improvement – we are always willing to invest in clever technology to ensure maximum efficiency and security.

“Thanks to the Assure provided Riverbed solution we now have much greater visibility and control of our IT environment. We have been delighted with the deep forensic insight and control Assure has offered and are already noticing considerable benefits for our IT support teams.”

Assure CEO Doug More said: “Operating in such a large global marketplace, Baillie Gifford needs to be in full and constant control of its IT systems to ensure it is delivering an optimum service to its clients.”

“Baillie Gifford have incredibly high standards, and it was a challenging and rewarding experience working with their high calibre team to raise the bar just that little higher.”

“The initial trials rapidly highlighted issues that traditionally require considerable resource to identify and this has strengthened the firm’s IT systems to further reduce the likelihood of outages or performance degradation.”

“I am delighted with the outcome, especially to be generating even further efficiencies through visibility and control of Baillie Gifford’s complex multi data centre environment.”

Assure APM announced its official launch last month and is working with global leaders in performance management, Riverbed, to provide solutions that enhance both visibility and control.

Assure APM and Riverbed have teamed up to develop a unique range of integrated management tools to eradicate unnecessary IT downtime or degraded IT service and help increase user productivity.

Assure services have already been used in a range of organisations across public and private sectors including Barchester Healthcare and Angus Council.