Connecting securely with conditional access: Managing IT support at Specsavers

Handling IT support in healthcare comes with multiple security requirements. For instance, technical issues must be resolved quickly to avoid disrupting customer service. At the same time, protecting sensitive patient data is just as critical.

So, IT teams need a solution that ensures only authorized personnel can access critical systems—without slowing down operations.

For Specsavers, the challenge was clear: balance security and efficiency across a global network of stores. Conditional access provided a solution by allowing IT managers to enforce strict access controls while maintaining fast and effective remote support.

In this article:

• What is conditional access?
• What are the benefits of conditional access?
• Case study: Specsavers
• Which companies need conditional access?
• Summary

What is conditional access?

Conditional access is an automated approach to ensure the security and compliance of your IT. Rather than a one-size-fits-all solution, it grants or denies users access based on certain criteria. That means when a user wants to access a network, device, or application, they need to fulfill a set of conditions. By tying access rights to these conditions, you can prevent unauthorized people from accessing sensitive data and reduce security risks.

Companies often use conditional access as part of their identity and access management (IAM) framework. It can be used to:

• Require multi-factor authentication (MFA) or biometric verification
• Restrict access to within business hours
• Restrict access to specific networks or physical locations
• Link access permissions to specific user roles in the organization

For Specsavers, integrating conditional access into its remote IT support strategy meant maintaining high security standards while ensuring that stores receive quicker assistance.

TeamViewer Tensor offered built-in conditional access, allowing Specsavers' IT managers to oversee access rights centrally and stay in control of all their assets.

What are the benefits of conditional access?

Improved security and data protection

This will likely come as no surprise that one of the main benefits of conditional access is that it helps to keep your IT assets safe and secure.

By restricting access according to user role, location, and timing, you can prevent unauthorized people from accessing your IT assets. Even if login credentials are compromised, requiring additional verification, such as MFA, adds another layer of defense.

Many conditional-access solutions, such as Teamviewer, offer monitoring and reporting capabilities. Allowing IT teams to track access attempts and detect unusual activity.

At Specsavers, their IT management team uses conditional access to provide remote technicians with access to in-store IT assets, like their patient management system. The technicians can only gain access if they fulfill a set of pre-defined criteria. This safeguards sensitive patient data while enabling fast, effective troubleshooting.

Higher productivity  

Security shouldn’t come at the cost of speed. Conditional access can also help boost productivity across several departments.

It does this by eliminating disruptions to your workflows. By granting instant remote access to authorized technicians, it allows your team to address IT problems immediately. This ensures that everyone else can continue working with little or no interruptions.

For Specsavers’ in-store teams, this meant they could now focus on serving customers instead of waiting for IT fixes. With secure, efficient remote support, they maintain a seamless service experience.

Better scalability

As your business grows, so do your IT security needs. And managing remote access across multiple locations and teams can quickly become complex.

With conditional access, you can scale your IT operations while keeping permissions tightly controlled. This is because conditional access enables you to manage access permissions and user roles centrally. That way, you can roll out remote access rights to new employees, stores, or offices that are onboarded securely—without increasing security risks.

Specsavers leveraged TeamViewer’s solution to scale its IT support and meet the needs of 32,500 employees across 2,300 stores. This ensured consistent security and compliance worldwide.

How Specsavers leverages conditional access to secure its IT support 

Specsavers, the largest privately owned optical group in the world, operates in a highly regulated industry where protecting sensitive patient data is paramount. Despite selling 510 million contact lenses and more than 22.1 million glasses frames in FY21/22, maintaining a family-style business on an enterprise scale is no easy task.

To stay ahead as a global market leader, Specsavers’ IT desk turned to digital solutions, such as TeamViewer, to remotely access any corporate, retail, or supply chain computer worldwide.

Using TeamViewer Tensor with conditional access, Specsavers established strict security policies that regulate remote access based on predefined criteria. This approach ensures that their IT technicians can only connect to store systems when they meet specific security requirements, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

The result? Increased staff efficiency, more secure IT support, and uninterrupted service for customers.

Read more: Specsavers leverages TeamViewer Tensor for the secure remote support of its 2,300 stores worldwide

Which types of businesses use conditional access?

Many industries depend on conditional access to balance security and operational efficiency. But it’s also particularly valuable for businesses handling sensitive data, managing large workforces, or operating in highly regulated environments.

Businesses in highly regulated industries

Maintaining compliance is a major challenge for most businesses. Nevertheless, some industries, like finance or healthcare, are characterized by particularly tight regulations.

For instance, laws like HIPAA require healthcare providers to tightly control access to patient data. Conditional access can help to enforce security policies, monitor user activity, and maintain regulatory compliance.

For Specsavers, this meant that only authorized personnel could access customer data. This helped it meet regulatory requirements.

Businesses with a diverse global workforce  

Remote and hybrid work environments introduced a variety of locations, devices, and new security risks. Employees and IT teams need access to company systems from various locations and devices, but businesses must ensure that these connections remain secure.

Conditional access enables flexibility without compromising security. Features like MFA and location-based restrictions prevent unauthorized access while enabling your IT teams to solve issues anywhere in the world.

With TeamViewer’s Conditional Access, Specsavers’ IT teams can see exactly what’s happening on any in-store device. That way, they can support their colleagues across all 2,300 stores without leaving their office.

Businesses in competitive environments

Customer-facing businesses can’t afford IT-related disruptions. Whether in retail, healthcare, or other service industries, ensuring a smooth experience is essential.

Let’s take the optometry industry as an example. In 2023, economic inflation led more than 25% of British consumers to postpone their eye tests, putting a major strain on the industry.

To attract and retain customers, providers like Specsavers need more than just quality services. A seamless experience from start to finish is essential, and technical disruptions are not an option.

Conditional access helps businesses maintain smooth operations. It enables fast, secure remote support while also restricting user access rights, reducing the risk of operational or configuration errors.

Summary

Conditional access supports you in several ways to meet your business goals. By centrally managing access rights and tying them to precise criteria, you can strengthen your security, improve productivity, and ensure compliance.

In highly regulated industries, businesses use conditional access to ensure data compliance. Conditional access can also deliver secure remote access in global work environments. At the same time, it gives you a competitive edge by eliminating disruptions and creating a smooth customer experience.

Specsavers is a great example of a company that used conditional access to streamline its processes and provide better service. Why not see what it could do for yours?