Industry
Business Consulting
Company HQ
Massachusetts
Number of Employees
25-50 employees
Client Since
2019
Ensuring a consulting group’s employee productivity and cybersecurity with streamlined IT management
Even if your business is so successful it has helped clients grow their companies by millions to billions of dollars, you can still find yourself in need of professional IT services. For one specialized management consulting company, the issue wasn’t inadequate IT infrastructure but a need to improve processes and offload day-to-day IT management and support.
This firm works with B2B technology companies and innovative businesses to inform market strategy, customer experience, and investor diligence using insights driven by primary research. Everything they do is tech-dependent.
Teaming up with our IT experts at Davin Technology Group has given this consulting group the ability to use their tech and their own time more efficiently, with enhanced security, and a system that virtually eliminates employee downtime related to tech issues.
The challenge
Make better use of existing technology and bolster cybersecurity
The consulting firm has grown steadily since its founding in 2001. One of their early hires was not an IT person by training, but a tech-savvy team player. He became the de facto internal IT person in addition to his client consulting work. As the company continued to expand, “it really started to chew up a ton of my time and made it harder for me to actually focus on my other responsibilities,” says Dylan, now the firm’s vice president of consulting technology.
Meanwhile, more prospective clients were asking questions about data protection. So Dylan was also spending increasing time thinking about security — the company’s security posture, networks, etc. He tried using Microsoft Intune to configure and manage things, but found it frustratingly complicated and slow going.
“We handle a fair amount of sensitive data of our clients including customer revenue, phone numbers, emails, and so on,” notes Jon, the firm’s founder and president. “There is a real need to keep that secure.”
It was time to find a solution that could free up staff time and address security concerns. The firm didn’t need to rethink IT completely, but they needed better processes that would enable them to work smarter with what they already had.
“The more you grow, the more critical it is to put in place better procedures.”
Dylan, VP of Consulting Technology
The goals
Streamline processes and strengthen data security
The consulting firm had no need to change the way they handled their daily work. They already had the tech stack they needed. But they did want to find outsourced IT services that could improve day-to-day tech management and beef up IT security risk management so employees could refocus their time on the work at hand.
They wanted their tools to be configured for the way they work.
“We have a small team of highly trained professionals,” states Jon. “We want to make them as productive as possible.”
“The last thing I ever want is for somebody to run into a bottleneck with their work, whether it’s a glitch or a hardware problem or a software problem or a configuration problem, or even just the machine getting slow.”
Jon, Founder
In addition to smooth sailing on the tech management side, the team was looking for support in establishing airtight security policies that would hold up when taking on larger, more sensitive data projects with their clients.
The solution
Partner with professionals for IT process improvements, management and support
The firm invested “a whole bunch of planning” with an IT services vendor but ended the relationship in just 30 days. The company didn’t listen, insisting that everything be done their way. And, there were serious issues with response times on support requests. Dylan once again took over the work but quickly asked that it be taken off his plate again. So they put out bids and connected with Corey and Davin Technology Group via LinkedIn.
At Davin Tech, we listen and adapt because every client’s needs are different. We knew we could deliver exactly what the consulting group wanted — to keep their existing technology and hardware but improve all the processes and systems, including data security.
“Their team adapted to truly care for us.”
The process
Work together to pinpoint and implement productivity improvements
The consulting firm’s technology was 100% in the cloud, with no servers or other technology on site. They used SaaS applications and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for infrastructure. So, when the pandemic hit, it was business as usual because it was easy for everyone to seamlessly work from home.
With that robust infrastructure in place, it was a matter of transferring all the firm’s knowledge over to Corey’s team. “We felt much more comfortable doing that this time,” Dylan acknowledges. “The transition was pretty easy and straightforward, including making sure all of our security policies and everything were up to snuff.”
“We always had the right technology. All the processes around it just became much easier to manage.”
The outcome
Handing off IT management and support to experts spells big relief
Successfully partnering with an IT services company comes down to a symbiotic relationship. At Davin Tech we understand that you have to trust your vendor as well as your people. So we especially appreciate that this firm’s trust in us provided a huge leg up in getting to solving problems quickly.
Dylan agrees. “Knowing DTG had experience managing our kind of system made me much more comfortable that it was in somebody else’s hands when I handed it off.” He says it was a big relief knowing Corey’s team has what it takes to competently manage the firm’s IT program.
This firm’s team members are hyper-autonomous. Each person is trusted to make the right decisions for the business, which facilitated greater efficiencies and automation on our side. For their side, we created checklists to make it easy and consistent for everyone to onboard new client accounts.
All businesses care about costs, but for this firm, productivity was the top priority. Not many businesses appreciate that spending a little bit more to fix a problem more quickly or more easily can be the best option because it supports productivity, work quality, and employee satisfaction.
Jon sums up their experience: “We had this really great infrastructure technologically, and they put a management program around it that is just as strong. Corey and the DTG team have been incredibly adaptive and responsive to ensure we achieve our most important goal – that people can be productive all the time.”
Toward that end, there are now spare PCs, ready to go, sitting in the office. If someone’s PC goes out, they can go grab one of the spares. With everything in the cloud, they can easily keep working. The problem computer goes to DTG to be fixed as soon as possible, but no one’s work suffers due to downtime.
“All our processes became really easy, and we have tech support that just couldn’t be any better. They make sure every ticket is closed and also follow through on things to be sure that everything’s working.”
Jon, Founder
The results
“They’re going the extra mile. It’s just been amazing.”
Specifically, how has the consulting group benefited from our process improvements? Here’s what they told us.
- Fast, professional support
With the previous vendor they tried, response time was so slow that people simply continued to look for help internally even though the company was paying for outsourced support. Now, Dylan says, “It’s nice that I have somebody I can ask for support.”
- Robust security
The firm can confidently assure clients their data is secure and compliant with GDPR and other requirements. When clients ask security questions, our team steps in to provide, correct, thorough answers.
- Making the best use of time
Instead of spending time troubleshooting and trying to figure things out for themselves, team members can focus on client-facing work and achieving business goals.
- True employee satisfaction
Happy employees positively impact client work and relationships. And they stick around. “We have very, very low voluntary turnover,” shares Jon. “We have people who invest a ton in training, who are hard to replace. We want them to stay. We are constantly looking at ways we can make their lives easier — all the little things we can do to make that happen.”
What makes his people happier? Not wrestling with technology, says Jon, and not working late in the night because they had a computer problem. “Making our team successful and happy in our jobs is critical. I think we’re better at it now than we’ve ever been.”
- Peace of mind
This firm no longer worries about technology. Jon says he doesn’t even give it a thought. “It’s just done. And it’s right. And it works.”
Eliminating IT as an issue or concern for your employees is a real driver in terms of productivity and satisfaction, he adds. That requires having the right team behind it and making the right investments.
At Davin Tech Group, we’re happy to be that “right team” and look forward to continuing our working relationship with this consulting firm as they serve customers and grow.
