Who is managing your inventory? Who makes sure your systems are up and running? Who makes sure you're invoices are sent correctly and on time? If you're someone in the Manufacturing industry, knowing the answer to these questions is paramount. But more than that, knowing who protects those essential business operations is even more foundational. Check out how we helped someone just like you out of a jam with a faulty IT provider and got them back on track (and compliant).
The Problem: IT Headaches
When we heard a local Oklahoma company in the Manufacturing industry was experiencing headaches with their existing IT provider, like with all companies we hear having this problem, we jumped in to help.
In a world where time is money, things like long response and resolution times to support tickets are unacceptable, which is why this company decided to look for better, more local and personalized support. Not only was their current MSP violating the time requirements in their Service Agreement (detailing the max time to get support), but there was no visibility into what tools were being utilized or any alerts that were manifesting from these tools. In short - it was a big ol' mess.
But, as our CEO likes to say, we're not scared.
They needed full managed services and support, an easy process to on/off board employees, and more security controls to adhere to cybersecurity policies set forth by insurance policy (this is a big deal!). Finally, they needed a dedicated IT resources to assist with roadmap items and building technology advancements within their daily operations.
Impacts to Business Operations
When you have lazy support ticket response times, it's no surprise that business operations get delayed. With this specific manufacturing company, they experienced multiple outages which interrupted their production line productivity. Time = money but in this case, online systems = money.
Cyber insurance have increased their requirements over the years, specifically in the age of AI. Threats are getting more sophisticated, so too do our security measures. In this case, the current IT provider wasn't staying on track to keep their customer compliant with insurance requirements, putting them at risk of not only a loss of money and production to hackers, but no insurance to back them up.
Additionally, IT providers should be able to give the right attention to the needs of their customers. This is a no brainer. So when their current provider wasn't dedicating the right time, resources, or support for their systems, it's understandable that they would want someone else to be their IT team. Not only were we able to patch that loss of trust in IT providers but we were also about to get them caught up on all their needs (including replacing end-of-life hardware that the existing IT provider didn't have a log of), so they could get back on track to doing what they do best: providing the best quality equipment to their customers.
In our eyes, that's the whole goal - building relationships that help you win.
The Solution
- Got the team set up with our Secure Managed Services (SMS), Office 365 Support (with a dedicated specialist), and backup solutions that fit their budget.
- Like we do with all customers, we also got them situated with their personalized service delivery team (we call them PODs) who they will interact with exclusively every time the company has a problem. This dedicated team is all spearheaded by the manufacturing company's personal vCIO to keep Centre on track to help them accomplish their business goals.
- Setup secure and reliable network with quick resolution to support tickets and future IT projects to plan, all with a cost that worked with the customer's budget.
- Helped them get the right security measures in place so they were compliant with all requirements for their cyber insurance policies. Not only does this protect them reactively in the event of an attack, but these security measures also work proactively, protecting them from potential attacks as well. Win win!
- Uncovered many opportunities of replacing hardware that was end of life (EOL) or coming up on the end of support. The existing IT provider did not provide asset inventory for EOL hardware.
Learn More
In the end, our goal is simple: we want you to succeed without worrying about all the IT mumbo jumbo. We take care of the tech so you're focused on why you got into business in the first place.
So we're willing to do whatever it takes - whether that's offboarding you from a less-than-stellar existing IT team or just to help you fill in the gaps. We're committed to making sure our customers stay online and protected from future problems.
Want to learn more about how we've helped companies specifically in the Manufacturing industry? Check out our blog and our Manufacturing page for more information.
Or do you want to go straight to the source? Feel free to contact us directly. Talk soon!
Emily Kirk
