Follow along in this presentation to see how a nationwide professional services firm decided that Outsourced IT was right for them.

1. Case Study:
Outsourcing IT Is the Only Way to Go
MACPA Technology Conference 2010
Kelly Jennings
QUINCY CFO LLC
kelly.jennings@quincycfo.com

2. AGENDA
Set the Stage
Immediate Actions Needed
Develop and Execute The Technology Strategy
Summary
Questions
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 2

3. SET THE STAGE
The Company
20+ year old Consulting firm
Headquarters in MD, but offices across US in major
metropolitan areas
Growth Plan is to expand to 2X revenues in 3 years
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 3

4. SET THE STAGE
Offices and Employee Count
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 4

5. SET THE STAGE
Offices and Hardware Devices
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 5

6. SET THE STAGE
IT Staff
IT Manager
– Generalist
– 15+ years of exp
Concerns
1. Company demands high touch service.
2. Investments in education were not
possible due to demands on time.
3. IT Manager had not honed skills for
planning and time management.
IT Manager
Salary $90K
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 6

7. SET THE STAGE
Facilities/Server Room at Each Office
Kitchen/Closet/File Room
– High rental rates
– Ideal office space is given to
staff members
Concerns
Cooling
Back up Power
Not locked or away from general
traffic
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 7

8. SET THE STAGE
Technology We Want to Explore
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 8

9. SET THE STAGE
Growth Staring Them in the Face: Offices & People
Growth From
72 Employees
and 3 offices
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 9

10. SET THE STAGE
Financial IT Commitment
Current Future
Annual Annual
($000) ($000)
IT Staff (1 staff) $115 IT Staff (3 staff) $325
(Salaries & Benefits) (Salaries & Benefits)
Laptop/Server Lease Fees $90 Laptop/Server Lease Fees $145
Facility (Server Room) $10 Facility (Server Room) $25
Total $143 Total $495
Costs will
increase over
300%
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 10

11. AGENDA
Set the Stage
Immediate Actions Needed
Develop and Execute The Technology Strategy
Summary
Questions
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 11

12. IMMEDIATE ACTIONS NEEDED
Hire Some More IT Personnel
IT Manager can’t manage the
network if too busy performing
Help Desk duties
Monitoring servers became
second to serving customers –
face time!
IT Manager is not able to be
proactive, only reactive IT Assistant
Salary $45K
Employee satisfaction can only
increase
IT Manager
Salary $90K
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 12

13. IMMEDIATE ACTIONS NEEDED
Develop a Technology Strategy
As a firm there was a strategy for many things other than
Technology.
– 5-Year Firm Strategy
– Business Development Strategy
– Strategy for Expansion into new metropolitan markets
Given the rapid change in Technology, a plan was
needed.
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 13

14. AGENDA
Set the Stage
Immediate Actions Needed
Develop and Execute The Technology Strategy
Summary
Questions
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 14

15. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 1: Who Is Internal Technical Leader
Before you kick off the strategy process, who is your
acting CTO.
Make sure they are interested in this role, it’s going to be
long road where continuity would be ideal.
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 15

16. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 2: Hire a Strategy Team
Find Consultant
Define deliverables (reference guide as takeaway)
Set timeline
Investment in Strategy for Back
Office Operations!
Didn’t have to hire F/T C-level
talent needed for this one
defined task.
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 16

17. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 3: Define the Strategy
Understand the business in order to:
– Set objectives (What is the goal of this process?)
– Set the Assumptions
– Set the Dependencies (What is this Strategy dependent on?)
– Define current issues (Derived from staff interviews)
– Define Technology Principals (Technology rules to live by)
– Provide Scenarios (Go forward options)
– Provide Recommendation
You now have a reference
manual to refer back to
regularly and report
against.
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 17

18. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 4: Adopt a Scenario
Each Scenario ranging from internal IT infrastructure to
Outsourced IT infrastructure was compared against our
principals as well as these factors:
– Facility/Space
– # IT staff
– # IT staff with new IT Skills
With Management’s
– Financial impact on firm buy in, you now
– Scalable and Flexible have a roadmap.
ADOPTED: Outsource what makes sense and centralize
the rest
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 18

19. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 5: Interview IT Vendors
There are tens and tens of vendors in the area that provide IT
services
Keeping in mind the full strategy and how deep it could end up,
search for vendors that you can grow into
Take the free audit of your network – but it can be time consuming,
choose only a finalist for this.
The selection process could take months. Don’t burn bridges, you
may need them next time.
Important factor for me, as the decision maker, was the request
tracking system (how are tickets generated, tracked, and resolved). I
wanted access to that system – my employees would hold me
You now have a partner with enormous
accountable as the one that manages our vendor!
expertise as a reference to you.
(This process took me 3 months – start early.)
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 19

20. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 6: Host Email
Email is our most important communication tool
Email is a tool for data storage (employees with 5GB to 15
GB), don’t let them tell you you’re alone!
Hosting email is a commodity. Some that host email are
getting out of the business.
The transition was painful and not seamless (either time!)
Finally, the IT Team sleeps at
night – we have redundancy!
(Implementation took 4-6 wks)
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 20

21. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 7: Outsource Server Monitoring
Economical to install monitoring agents on our servers to
communicate with a ticketing system about an issue
Who follows up on it can be costly (remember you still
have your IT Manager)
The system was PROACTIVE for us,
and told us what to look out for!
Proactive☺ , a new word in IT for us
(Up and running in 2 wks)
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 21

22. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 8: Outsource IT Manager
We could never afford the skill set available at IT firms;
plus a jack of all trades will get bored
IT is a deep and wide area (from engineers to designers),
we may assume they know more than have a staff of
Outsourced vendors they do.
system engineers, database
This can be done with dignity a few steps prior to this one,
administrators, exchange experts.
when the Scenario Their vendor are chosen. so they
and core competency is IT,
invested in the training of their staff.
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 22

23. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 9: Outsource IT Assistant
Now that IT Assistant reports to CTO, evaluate his/her
success with execution now that you’re teaming with IT
Partner
Decision much harder than IT Manager, this person on
front line day-to-day with employees
We now treat all employees the
Are all employees getting similar service? Or is IT
same with offsite assistance.
Assistant’s time off balance. is a ticketing system for me
There
to monitor.
Economics of outsourcing? Economical.
Employees became more self
Make sure there is a ticketing system, to keep your
employees informed of their issues sufficient.
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 23

24. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 10: Consolidate Servers/Break Silos
Assess the age of your machines?
Are you virtualizing and maximizing the use of your
machines?
What is your DR plan? You may be able to afford one in
this transition.
Remember it’s a utility, not rocket science
Our machines are 3-5 years old.
Virtualization ensures you’re using all of
the machines power.
We can have a DR plan that’s automated
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 24

25. THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
STEP 11: New Emerging Technology
Depending on your available
resources throughout this plan,
once your architecture is set, CRM Integrate
you can now start to implement Google CRM
Search and
these secondary IT needs Outlook
Internal Smart-
Wiki Phones
Technology
Social
Blogging
Media
Share-
Point SEO
The backbone is finally set for growth.
(These are things you should keep in mind
in the early stages and design for.)
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 25

26. AGENDA
Set the Stage
Immediate Actions Needed
Develop and Execute The Technology Strategy
Summary
Questions
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 26

27. OUTSOURCING IT
Is the Only Way to Go Because…
If your decision is building a strategy, you now have a roadmap.
Your core competency is not IT, get an IT Partner at a fraction of the
cost of full time staff.
IT Partner has best practices and all the tools.
IT Partner invests in the right staff and development of those staff.
Your partner will be proactive, not reactive
A fresh start allows you to take advantage of new technology (assume
it will change every 3 years; build with scalable and flexible solutions)
Make the right facility decisions to protect one of your most important
assets, your Data
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 27

28. OUTSOURCING IT
Important Considerations…
Who will own the equipment? You or the partner.
Would you like your IT Partner to be close to your
location?
Do you want presence on site at your locations on a
regular basis?
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 28

29. AGENDA
Set the Stage
Immediate Actions Needed
Develop and Execute The Technology Strategy
Summary
Questions
MACPA 2010 Technology Conference | 29