Two

A San Diego food production company was migrating from an older campus to a brand-new facility. Their IT staff was unfamiliar with how to plan and execute on such a large and detailed project and teamed with us. We helped develop a plan, budget and timetable with senior management to manage the process of preparing the new location's server room and infrastructure as well as managing the process of moving IT assets to the new location. Operational staff were integral to the decision-making process, minimizing the normal reluctance inherent in most improvement efforts.

Our involvement kept the IT department on schedule while managing their senior officers' expectations, with significant spending on new phone and server hardware obtained with minimal objections. We helped select IBM BladeCenter hardware to replace their old server equipment and are deeply involved with their plans to virtualize their servers to reduce their management complexity and environmental footprint. We helped them with the selection of a Cisco phone system, citing advantages such as easy integration with a sister company's existing Cisco implementation and simplified future internal dialing plans using their WAN for connectivity. We also managed a subsequent project improving site-to-site communications using MPLS services to replace Internet-based VPNs, enabling the company to connect their VoIP systems to reduce costs and improve service. Both projects were turn-key, with documentation delivered upon completion in the form of a run book for use by internal IT staff from that point forward.

We cross-trained internal IT staff members as we progressed, allowing them to get up to speed more quickly and take ownership of the new servers and network once more. We still serve as their point of escalation for complex or time-sensitive issues.