Service Component |
Before |
After |
Proactive system management on critical components. |
There are more servers than anyone can efficiently keep track of manually so problems were easily missed or overlooked. |
Our enterprise-class monitoring system allowed us to create a custom 'dashboard' which indicates at a glance the state of all the servers right down to the critical-process level for each one! |
Proven track record of 97% system uptime. |
GCR's problem wasn't server performance, just the opposite. They had way too much horsepower! |
We helped them design a server consolidation plan using virtualization which would leave them with spare servers and parts and save them thousands during their upcoming hardware refresh. |
Strategic planning |
The in-house IT person was on his own both trying to keep up with desktop support and do all of the reasearch and planning for the next step. Needless to say, he was having trouble keeping up! |
Since CNC has researched and tested so many industry-leading products, we can quickly provide advice on what to try, what to buy, and what features may be worth additional expense.
Our mantra is: What product will meet current and future business needs while having the lowest TCO? |
Flexible services |
GCR has an in-house IT person who is amazingly knowledgeable and efficient. However, his plate is full!
Handling change management and new business needs was difficult to squeeze in between user-support and maintenance tasks. |
Since GCR has an in-house IT person, we work with him when he needs us to research, plan, and implement the big projects his daily rounds don't leave time for.
We also have in-house access to expertise in everything from Exchange to Cisco to help solve those sticky problems that come up.
In addition, we are able to leverage enterprise-class software that is definitely not in his company's IT budget. |
On-Demand Support & Change Management |
GCR would have to bring in expensive software or hardware consultants at over $200/hr to install any new products that were purchased. |
As mentioned above, we are available to help research, test, plan, and deploy new/replacement business systems when it's too much for the in-house staff.
Since we are already intimately familiar wth their systems from monitoring them 24/7, we are immediately ready to analyze how a new product will fit in. |
Business Continuity & Disaster-Recovery Planning |
Being a knowledge-based, medium-sized business, GCR already has an excellent and robust backup strategy. |
As part of the server consolidation/virtualization process, we are looking at ways to use VMs to make server recovery from hardware failure nearly instantaneous. |
We implement IT industry "Best Practices" |
A previous IT person had done some of what we call 'empire building.' Which means: 'buying more gear than the core business needs demand' and 'configuring it in an unnecessarily complex and confusing manner.' |
We are still working with the current in-house IT person to simplify, clarify, and document the network so that it can be administered quickly and efficiently.
The goal of this process is to end up with enough gear to fulfill the core business requirements, no more and no less. |
Regular security audits. |
It was time-consuming and difficult (read 'expensive') to monitor so many systems individually and to keep track of which may be experiencing security issues. |
With our monitoring dashboard, we can see at a glance exactly which monitored devices have logged a security 'failure audit', which have detected a virus, and which have up-to-date virus definitions (among many other security-oriented metrics.) |
Bottom-Line Results |
Over-spending on IT hardware was having a dire effect on the bottom line. |
GCR will save many thousands during their upcoming refresh (and all future ones). Their network will be easier to modify which will also save thousands in consulting and personnel costs each time a new service is introduced! |
