Standing in the middle of a massive server room surrounded by stacks of aging servers, SushilParvatham asked himself "Are we truly receiving the best value from our IT?" As he investigated further, the newly appointed CEO of apparel manufacturer Baycreek started to realize that his company had a serious problem.
With staff complaints about IT issues growing and a planned office move less than a year away, Sushil challenged his internal IT director to come up with a strategic plan for upgrading their system. But when the IT manager, realizing that the necessary consolidation would also mean a reduced headcount, dragged his heals on developing a roadmap, Sushil knew he needed to take control of the situation and find a new solution.
After reading about IT outsourcing in the Atlanta Journal Constitution and researching its small-business applications, Sushil decided it would be the best model for Baycreek's IT management. He compiled a list of area outsourced IT firms and narrowed his choices down through an exhaustive process.
"I ended up choosing Qanta for two reasons. First, their message was right in line with what I was looking for: a company that could manage costs while successfully overhauling and upgrading our network. And second, I just felt more comfortable with Qanta and their team over everyone else."
Qanta began the relationship by performing a comprehensive Network Health Assessment that reviewed Baycreek's key infrastructure. This resulted in a list of prioritized recommendations for upgrading their current network as well as strategic planning for the upcoming move.
"Qanta was extremely thorough in preparing the Network Health Assessment. I knew that there were a lot of issues, but until I read about them in the assessment I didn't fully realize the actual scope of the problem."
Upon completion of the assessment, Baycreek decided to replace two of their IT staff members with Qanta and retain one internal resource for day-to-day desktop issue resolution. Qanta immediately began stabilizing Baycreek's network, consolidating their servers, and upgrading their systems. Over the following months Qanta also designed the infrastructure for Baycreek's new office, and built their new network offsite so when it came time to move Qanta was able to get the network set up and running overnight.
"Like night and day" is how John describes Baycreek's IT network now compared to when he first joined the company. From consolidating Baycreek's servers from 26 down to 6, upgrading their email server from Lotus Notes to Exchange, proactively maintaining their network during bi-weekly visits, and putting powerful enterprise-level tools and processes in place - Qanta continues to make sure that Baycreek is always strategically aligned for success.
What I feel most comfortable with is the knowledge factor. With Qanta, their responsibility is to bring to you best practices and be up to speed with the newest technology that is right for your business. If you have an internal resource, you can send them to training but it's impossible to get the same depth of knowledge. With Qanta I have a group of individuals that I always feel comfortable with.
We had a three person internal IT staff managing thirty nine desktop-type servers that averaged in age from 3-7 years old, some even older. It was 2009 yet we were still running Windows NT servers. We were also using a Notes-based email server even though 85-95% of our employees were using Microsoft Outlook
SushilParvatham
Baycreek
