The Client
A Canadian-based, privately owned conglomerate with interests in land management, supply chain distribution and logistics, finance, international import/export, golf properties and philanthropy.
The Challenge
The existing network infrastructure was aging and overdue for replacement. The contracts with telecommunication providers were also based on old services which were expensive and no longer meet the needs of the company. The cabling and IT facilities for each location were also non-standard, and in many cases past end of life. Finally, the IT data centre was hosted at one of the company’s warehouse facilities on a dead end street between a busy train track and major highway, posing a significant business continuity risk. As a result of these issues, the company was unable to proceed with a number of initiatives to modernize their critical business systems.
The Approach
An Osborne Senior Technology Advisor, who had been previously been contracted to assist with aligning IT to the business goals and objectives and restaffing the team after turnover, was retained to assist as project manager, vendor management, technical design and implementation for this important initiative. Through a series of formal RFI and RFP exercises the Senior Advisor engaged with Tier 1 service providers to ensure the company was supported by the best partners available.
The Result
Working directly with the IT team, partners and individual business units, the Osborne Senior Technology Advisor managed the roll-out project from start to finish over a two year period. Significant upgrades were made to all facilities across the nation, and network availability and performance were increased significantly. The Data Center was relocated to a modern, secure, Tier 3 facility. Contracts were put in place to ensure maximum value for the company’s investment and to ensure cost certainty over the life of the new infrastructure. Knowing their Wide Area Network is secure, highly available, and able to scale has allowed the company to focus on modernizing other critical business applications leveraging modern technology that relies on a robust network.