A provider of mobile training and field reference solutions for technicians, service managers and operators of commercial food equipment approached us for help with their network. They were an advancing firm that had outgrown their existing network.
The company had 3 locations: main office, satellite office and warehouse; they employed 22 team members, some of whom worked remotely. The organization needed to be able to share files, data and access to the accounting software Quickbooks.
Their Chief Technology Officer explained their predicament: “As our portfolio of services grew, we needed to streamline our network, consolidate multi-office infrastructure, and increase reliability, all while reducing our costs and making things more efficient.”
The firm’s existing IT provider suggested that they needed 2 physical servers, one for the main office, and one in a data center, each running two virtual machines. The proposal added up to a lot of unnecessary expense.
Frustrated, the CTO called Future Link. We reviewed their needs and existing network and proposed a simpler plan. As CTO, Jason, recalls, “Future Link IT came in and analyzed our current situation and gave us a proposal that would address all our goals at a fraction of the costs from our previous IT provider.”
We installed a new server at their main office to store and share files with both remote offices and remote users. While evaluating whether Quickbooks was the best-fit software, we determined that putting QB into an authorized Intuit preferred hosting provider would eliminate the need for a separate server. In addition, we provided the company with a secure wireless network of the office and off-site backup.
All together, we saved the company $19,000 in hardware, and a monthly savings of $500, or $6,000 in annual expenses – by evaluating the needs of the customer and their budget. The total, $25,000 savings in year one, was less than what the other IT company was going to charge our customer to manage the physical server.
“The migration and implementation were incredibly smooth,” the customer raved. “Whenever we need assistance, Future Link responds immediately with team members whom we trust and have become an extension of our team.” You can watch the whole story here.
Is your company expanding beyond the capabilities of your existing technology and network? We can help. Schedule a call with one of our IT experts to see how you can upgrade—without blowing your budget.