A Trade Association Gains Expertise to Achieve Best IT Practices in Performance and Security

A new Chief Operating Officer joined the association and sought an independent evaluation of the IT environment before selecting a support provider. Their goals for the ITA were to comprehensively evaluate existing resources and operations and gather recommendations to achieve best practices in performance and security.

The Dataprise Information Technology Assessment (ITA) is a standardized, structured approach to evaluating business technology. We conduct  a comprehensive assessment of network policies, technology management, infrastructure, and security. The client’s network is compared to a standardized set of best practices, and we produce an extensive report document containing findings, recommendations, and health ratings for each technology area. This document serves as a structured guide for improving the condition of business technology

Dataprise Delivers Solutions to Client’s Challenges

CHALLENGE

A major project not included in the ITA came up when the client’s telephony vendor unexpectedly ceased operations. It was vital to establish a new telephony solution for the organization as quickly as possible, without sacrificing utility.

SOLUTION

Dataprise was able to immediately assist with the client’s emergency. Thanks to Dataprise’s in-house ShoreTel telephony team, a new solution was quickly scoped and implemented. Once the critical situation was resolved, work on the ITA roadmap resumed.

CHALLENGE

A new client CEO came onboard and wanted to know the state of company IT and the team’s plans going forward. Budgetary or priority changes were possible if the plan and work to date were not acceptable.

SOLUTION

Using the clearly documented report and work completed to date, Dataprise and the rest of the client leadership team were able to brief the new executive and fully engage them quickly and efficiently. The high-quality completed work and detailed ongoing plan reassured the CEO that Dataprise is a partner who can help them win with IT.

After an in-depth evaluation, we delivered recommendations that included stabilizing and upgrading their network, streamlining functionality, enhancing security and reliability, and developing a roadmap for strategically planning investments to support organizational growth.

The report provided to the client covered all of the topics in our standard ITA, along with a high-level look at the client’s network and suggestions for strategic direction. To help implement the plan’s recommendations and carry out further strategic consulting, we provided a tailored managed IT services plan with ongoing Virtual CIO (vCIO) strategic consulting.

Our vCIO and the client’s leadership team have worked together to implement the recommendations of the ITA report, using it as a road map for their planning and budgeting. By having a concrete document that both Dataprise and our client’s leadership can reference, both sides of the partnership are equally informed and kept up-to-date on current and upcoming steps.

Since issuing the ITA report and using it to drive project planning, we have completed the following projects:

• Virtualized three physical servers, reducing hardware spent and physical footprint
• Implemented Dataprise’s Managed Remote Backup service
• Drafted a backup and disaster recovery plan for the member databases, a key business driver for the client; this document is evolving as work on the IT environment continues, growing and changing along with the client’s needs