Assessment and Management Consulting Firm with a Strong Focus on Technology

IT Department Overhaul

Overview

Title: IT Director
Area of Specialization: Technology
Location: Ohio
Term: 6 Months

Background

A major distribution company in Ohio had recently went through an acquisition process. With the acquisition there was a major effort toward reshaping the business. Considerable effort was placed on modernizing the business and upgrading the staff, overall.

Project Plan

  1. Evaluate Hardware (Servers, Workstations, Phones, Printers, Copiers, Fax Machines, AV Equipment, Time Clocks, Security System, Wiring, etc.)
  2. Evaluate Software (ERP, Office 365, Cyber Security, Commercial Applications, Custom Applications, etc.)
  3. Evaluate Websites
  4. Evaluate Corporate Communication Lines
  5. Evaluate Phone and Fax Systems
  6. Evaluate Cyber Security Practices
  7. Evaluate IT Staff
  8. Evaluate IT Vendors
  9. Build Project List Based on Findings of Evaluations
  10. Standardize and Consolidate Vendors
  11. Introduction of MSP (Managed Services Provider) Vendor
  12. Introduction of MSSP (Managed Security Services Provider) Vendor
  13. Implement IT Help Desk
  14. Implement IT Alert Management Solution
  15. Upgrade to Cyber Security Protection
  16. Implement Advanced Security Solution
  17. Standardize and Upgrade Network (Routers/Firewalls/Switches/Access Points)
  18. Consolidate Servers
  19. Standardize and Upgrade End User Hardware
  20. Move to Terminal Services (in lieu of individually installed applications on all workstations)
  21. Upgrade Phone System
  22. Upgrade Communication Lines
  23. Standardize and Upgrade Copiers and Printers
  24. Eliminate Unsupported Operating Systems
  25. Upgrade Software
  26. Data Consolidation and Cleanup
  27. Office 365 Cleanup
  28. Active Directory Cleanup
  29. Consolidate IT Inventory
  30. Expand Physical Servers
  31. Upgrade and Expand Coverage of Physical Security System
  32. Expand Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Capabilities
  33. Implement Standardized Data Analytics Platform
  34. Implementation of IT Policies and Procedures
  35. Hire Internal IT Staff
  36. Hire Permanent Chief Information Officer (CIO) / IT Director

Length of Engagement

The original term of this engagement was scheduled to be 24 - 36 months. A major overturn in staff and many unknowns when it came to the corporate technology platform necessitated the lengthy engagement. In the end we made significant progress in a short period and was able to limit the engagement to approximately 6 months.

Outcome

Initial efforts at this organization saw extended downtime on a daily basis due, in large part, to hardware issues. Previously staffing IT with inexperienced and misrepresented staff largely complicated long term efforts. In lieu of fixing existing solutions the approach was to implement new solutions. Within 6 months we completed approximately 80% of the tasks identified. The decision was made to have a long term CIO / IT Director complete the remaining 20%. Although we finished significantly ahead of schedule we left the organization in a position to complete an entire Technology Overhaul in less than 12 months. Rare for an understaffed organization who ignored technology for almost 20 years.