Local IT support keeping Callaway Golf in the swing of things for 20 years

Callaway Golf is a subsidiary of an American public company that has become a well-known name in Australia, manufacturing and selling several brands of golf equipment, balls, and accessories to keen golfers all across the country.  

While their parent company works closely with the Australian team to provide support, their large IT function couldn’t provide the local on-the-ground support required by the growing Australian team. So, they brought on VITG to provide local support. 

“We signed on with VITG nearly 20 years ago,” says Beau Turner, Callaway Golf’s Finance Director. “We’ve grown a lot in that time, and they’ve grown with us – it’s one of our longest-running partnerships.”  

Originally coming in to help fill the local IT support role, VITG’s flexibility as Callaway has grown – plus VITG’s ability to work with the larger offshore IT team – has seen the support grow over the years. 

Day-to-day support that’s built years of trust  

The growth of the golf game across Australia and a number of acquisitions have seen Callaway double in size over the last five years. It is now home to 80 staff spread across nearly every state in Australia. 

“VITG supports all our staff across Australia and helps us with some specific IT requirements at our warehouse and production facilities,” says Beau. “The on-the-ground support they offer is vital to our operations.” 

Support desk 

An absolute centre point of their service, the VITG IT support desk provides a direct point of support for all Callaway’s staff to easily rectify IT issues and requests via phone or email. VITG provide a wide breadth of knowledge and capabilities that Callaway wouldn’t be able to access with an in-house IT resource. 

Hardware 

While their systems and processes are dictated by their US business, VITG manages and consults on all hardware and devices in the Callaway office, warehouse and across their remote staff. 

Security 

There are global requirements when it comes to Callaway’s security processes, including disaster recovery and backup. VITG collaborates with Callaway’s US providers to ensure everything locally follows the right procedures and is always up to date, patching issues and identifying and filling any gaps. 

Remote work 

While the head office is based in Melbourne, a large number of Callaway’s sales staff are spread across Australia who still need access to internal systems. VITG manages devices and secure accessibility for these staff and provides 24/7 IT support, ensuring they stay in line with company security requirements and are able to operate without interruption from any location. 

“We have calls with VITG and the US-based security team to ensure we’re able to meet global standards and fill any security gaps that might occur. We just don’t have that breadth of knowledge in-house, so VITG is able to play that role for us.” 

The longevity speaks for itself 

While the Callaway Golf team highly values the day-to-day IT support, Beau also recognises that VITG’s ability to constantly meet new and changing needs—from one-off projects to warehouse renovations to requests from their US parent company—is what has made them stand out as an exceptional IT partner. 

“It’s been incredibly beneficial having VITG on our side to provide the IT expertise we need at a local level,” says Beau. “And we’ve never had any major issues, which is pretty rare in the IT world.” 

With 20 years already behind them, the VITG and Callaway Golf partnership has many more years to come. 

“Having a third-party partner is rare at Callaway. VITG has been able to give our US counterparts confidence that they are the right partner, and they can be trusted to access our systems and support our business. And they’ve maintained this confidence for 20 years.”