Technology Assurance Group (TAG) is an international organization of leading independently-owned unified communications companies located in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1998, TAG provides its Members with competitive advantages necessary to achieve a dominant position in their marketplace.
TAG Members benefit from programs including strategic partnerships with communication solution providers, best business and management practices, and advanced sales training programs. TAG’s mission is to increase its Members' sales and profits through education and to ease their introduction of new technology to the marketplace by leveraging their combined intellect and purchasing power.
Being a technology-focused organization, TAG’s IT network was built and supported by internal resources. The internal resources were not 100% focused on IT support. They had job duties focused primarily on improving their Members’ businesses. However, lacking a sufficient support model, the internal resources were often pulled away from their primary job responsibilities to “fight fires” associated with support requirements caused by their IT network. The constant requests for IT support resulted in reduced productivity for the internal resources. The lack of a stable and secure network caused a periodic inability to access business applications; this resulted in reduced productivity for all employees. It was evident to the executive team that in order to maximize productivity for all employees, TAG required an alternative approach to IT support. However, they didn’t have the need for a dedicated, full time IT resource. They needed expertise to provide a comprehensive support plan in a cost-effective manner.
TAG engaged Do IT Smarter for IT support. Do IT Smarter began by providing a complementary Best Practice Assessment (BPA) of the TAG network. The assessment identifies areas of vulnerability and ensures that the network is stable and secure based on Do IT Smarter best practices. Upon completion of the BPA, Do IT Smarter delivered their findings report and proposal. The proposal indentified areas of opportunity for TAG to ensure their network is stable and secure prior to Do IT Smarter commencing IT support. Once the recommendations were implemented, Do IT Smarter developed and implemented a comprehensive support solution for TAG’s employees. The solution includes Help Desk services, remote monitoring of mission-critical devices, and management of TAG’s network infrastructure. This total solution has resulted in many benefits to TAG.
- Stable and Secure Network – By adhering to Do IT Smarter best practice standards, TAG’s network experiences zero downtime and maximum performance. Remote workers can connect in at anytime with no problems. A foundation has been established to ensure the network is prepared for the rapid growth that TAG is experiencing.
- Increased focus on business – “I am now almost entirely free to address projects that advance our mission, and all of our staff is more productive. Overall, we experience less downtime and are able to have incidents resolved much sooner”, states Sr. Technical Specialist, Andrew Courser.
- Increased employee productivity – TAG employees travel a large percentage of the time. They require support from anywhere in North America at any time of the day or night. The 24X7 help desk is there when employees need help, regardless of their location.
“Partnering with Do IT Smarter has changed our business tremendously. Ever since we engaged with Do IT Smarter our network is sound, stable, secure, and efficient. It has enabled one of our key employees to spend 90% of his time servicing our customer base. We have reaped the benefits of outsourcing our NOC and leveraged Do IT Smarter's highly skilled help desk. Our productivity as an organization has significantly increased,” says Executive Vice President, Brian Suerth.