January 1, 2016
This case study and the direct quotes included were informed and/or provided by an interview with a Mindsight client conducted by an objective 3rd party. The original interview in its entirety is available at Clutch.co.
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In December 2015, a centrifuge manufacturing company based in Iowa faced a serious problem. Their network and data center environment was no longer able to keep up with the demands of their growing business, and their in-house IT department lacked the technical capabilities and time to research, deploy, and manage the upgrade. After interviewing several IT consultants and engineering firms, this client found Mindsight to be their best fit.
In short, the client said that they need, “to move out of our back room, and into a data center.” To accomplish this, our objectives were twofold:
- Design and deploy a new network and data center solution
- Provide ongoing support of the environment as an extension of the client’s IT team
This was a managed network services case.
Case Study: Managed Network Services – The Problem
Our client built their network organically over time. Since the 90s, a new component or feature would be added piecemeal whenever a need arose. While this may have been effective into the mid 2000s, technology has advanced at such a rapid rate in such a short amount of time that a massive overhaul was necessary. The client even described their old network in a few colorful ways, “You could say it’s a step above hobbyist level.”
It simply grew beyond their capabilities to manage.
The Solution
Our engineers assessed their environment and set to work designing a new solution. First, we upgraded local portions of the network but found that many of the routers and other equipment to be well-suited to their needs.
The main issue in play was the servers. For cost-effectiveness and data protection considerations, the servers were all removed from the premises and moved to our data center in Chicago where they can be managed by Mindsight.
However, this was only the first phase of the ongoing project. With the network and data center solution deployed and in use, the next step was management. The client contacted Mindsight to provide support and management of the data center, file servers, and everything else save for the physical on-premise connections, which were to be handled by the client’s in-house team.
From there, Mindsight will also serve as primary consultants for their data center and network needs. Once a quarter, the client will meet with Mindsight engineers to discuss the environment. At these meetings, we provide a report on the following:
- Current management responsibilities and outstanding issues
- A review of the environment and upcoming technologies
- A cost analysis of upgrading to cutting-edge equipment
- Recommendations as to how to improve the network and data center
The Result
At Mindsight, we believe our culture of honesty, integrity, and quality service is something that cannot be explained. Every company is going to tout the depth of their customer’s satisfaction, but we understand that integrity and quality is something that needs to be experienced. With that in mind, our client provided a few quotes as to illustrate this point:
“They maintain very open communication and provide administrative support when needed. It’s important that we’re never left in the dark, and Mindsight would not let that happen, which is the support reliability we need.”
“They’ve done a superb job. I’ve dealt with many contractors, and Mindsight stand out as being very responsive.”
“Mindsight have been terrific to work with. They’re very efficient in terms of responding to the issues we gave them. Having watched the transition, I can say that we’ve gone from trying to manage it internally, and having them support us, to almost reversing the roles and having them manage it. The more we had them do, the faster the pace went and, I think, the higher the quality, too.”
Read More Mindsight Success Stories on Clutch.co
Mindsight was recently named a Top Technology Firm by Clutch.co. To earn the title, Clutch reached out to several of our past clients for feedback on the quality of our services. Check out more stories like this one on our Clutch Profile Page and see why Mindsight is a trusted source for IT consultancy in Chicago.
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About Mindsight
Mindsight, a Chicago IT consultancy and services provider, is an extension of your team. Our culture is built on transparency and trust, and our team is made up of extraordinary people – the kinds of people you would hire. We’ve always prided ourselves in delivering the full spectrum of IT services and solutions, from design and implementation to support and management. Our highly-certified engineers and process-oriented excellence have certainly been key to our success. But what really sets us apart is our straightforward and honest approach to every conversation, whether it is for a local business or global enterprise. Our customers rely on our thought leadership, responsiveness, and dedication to solving their toughest technology challenges.
For Further Reading:
Clutch.co Names Mindsight a Leader in Cloud Computing Consulting