SDI Consulting, Inc.

When SDI Consulting’s Shawn Merritt decided his organization needed a more effective way to gain insight into their ongoing client engagements and projects, he knew that he needed to find a trusted technology partner that would enable his organization to streamline their existing processes and bring heightened levels of reliability to the organization. When looking for a premium partner, SDI chose ISI for it’s commitment to service, it’s professionalism, and it’s wide array of skills and competencies.

The Challenge:

SDI stored and worked with their information using a very high number of Excel spreadsheets which didn’t link data to each-other or present a holistic picture of what was going on with the organization. SDI also had many problems with their IT network, as their server was constantly plagued with viruses, spyware, and other problems that prevented SDI team members from completing their work in the most efficient way possible. Also, SDI’s aging phone system prevented them from connecting employees where they worked. In addition to all this SDI employees had no mobile capabilities, and were forced to work on SDI’s systems either locally or via a VPN. Finally, SDI’s existing accounting system was inefficient and didn’t link to any existing data within the network.

The Solution:

When first engaged, ISI recommended a complete audit of SDI’s complete business system, and found major deficiencies in a lot of areas. Also, in virtually all areas, ISI found evidence of features that were available but had not been enabled or configured, essentially limiting SDI’s potential.

Per the recommendations of the Audit, ISI rebuilt SDI’s network using Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition, an all-in one package that includes Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server, ISA Server, and Sharepoint Team Services. This enabled the following advanced features:

• Shadow Copying – Enabled SDI’s server to make point in time backups of their critical data
• RPC over HTTP – Enabled SDI’s employees to hold real-time connections to their critical Exchange Server data with any Microsoft Smartphone or Outlook 2003 laptop without a VPN
• Active Directory and Group Policy Implementation – Allowed SDI to consistently deliver standardized programs and administration policies to all workstations on the network
• Roaming Profiles and Roaming My Documents – Consolidates and centralizes ALL workstation based information on a central server, raising security and assurance levels that user’s data will be available when needed.

After cleaning up the network, ISI implemented a Watchguard Firebox to control perimeter security and prevent hack attacks, a Cisco Wireless Access Point with both SDI and guest access, and a Cisco Power over Ethernet Switch to power the access point and a number of VoIP phones.

ISI also implemented an Asterisk based VoIP phone system that not only allowed for calling within the office, but in conjunction with the PPC-6700 Smartphones ISI purchased for mobile Exchange capabilities, these same phones could be used to connect to the Asterisk VoIP phone system using any Internet connection. This essentially enabled SDI’s employees to work whenever and wherever they wanted as they were completely mobile.

ISI also implemented a Microsoft CRM 3.0 system that allowed SDI to track all of their customer projects easily and efficiently. ISI provided all of the customizations necessary to provide the type of insight needed by SDI’s management, including custom Excel reports with real-time chart graphs that provided visual insight into business intelligence. ISI also implemented the CRM for Outlook client which also enabled SDI to work with their important CRM information anywhere, even when they didn’t have an Internet connection.

Also, ISI implemented a new Quickbooks accounting solution that instituted new measures of internal control that served to provide extra assurances that all billable items and expenses were always reimbursed and invoiced, versus the old method that enabled mistakes to go unchecked and unnoticed. In the future, ISI will be coding a link between Quickbooks and Microsoft CRM, thereby completely automating the process of invoicing for billable activities.

Lastly, ISI implemented a comprehensive monitoring, reporting, and management engine through their ISICare service. This allows ISI to monitor in real-time existing network performance, availability of services, and total network security while also providing real-time updates to vital patches and comprehensive chart-filled reporting.

All in all, the improvements made effected a substantial improvement in the overall business process for SDI as they were now able to securely and effectively store and work on information no matter where they were, at any time. According to Shawn Merritt, “We now have substantially more insight into what’s going on with our systems and projects, and we’re confident that someone is watching our system and providing the expertise needed to keep things going. We don’t want to concentrate on IT, we want to outsource these type of functions to experts, just like our customers do with us. We’ve been very pleased with ISI and would recommend them to anyone looking for a professional group of IT business professionals.”