EXECUTIVE BRIEFING CONSULTING Submitted By: 4110 North Scottsdale Road, Suite 300 Scottsdale, AZ 85251
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY it1 has developed a set of programs designed to meet the complex needs of organizations that are looking to reduce the burden on internal IT resources, while ensuring the protection of technology investments and maintaining peak efficiency. it1 has the national resources and experience to provide support at any level required to help plan, manage and implement technology strategies; whether it is acquisition, installation and maintenance of systems or an enterprise-wide technology initiative. We pride ourselves on the diverse technical skills within our professional services group with many of our engineers having begun their careers within top Fortune 500 companies throughout the United States. Coupled with the continuous desire to remain on the brink of the latest technology, this experience gives our engineers the best perspective into the challenges faced by many IT organizations. It also provides them with the tools necessary to produce creative solutions that address not just the issues at hand, but also the budget constraints placed on any IT organization. It is our mission to provide our customers with solutions that provide true value and build strong, trusted business relationships. Online services, such as procurement and asset tracking, as well as management reporting systems that enable our clients to monitor procurement activity and our performance on a daily basis, are key elements in implementing a technology management strategy and providing a catalyst for controlling total cost of ownership. The dedication to our key factors is what separates us from the typical IT reseller and allows us steadfast devotion to every aspect of customer interaction and deployment; positioning us to meet your requirements for complete and comprehensive quality assurance. SERVICE METHODOLOGY With the restructuring of our consulting division, it1 decided to take a much more in-depth look at the metrics used and the processes leveraged to become a truly successful service organization. As a result, we determined that there appeared to be a lack of structured methodologies to encompass all aspects of the functionality that it1 can provide to our customers. It was this realization that prompted us to create our own process: ACDIOO. Assess Most service organizations begin their customer interaction by simply reviewing the information provided, without obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the entire environment. By approaching an issue in this manner, they never see the potential issues that are caused as a result of lack of interoperability. it1 believes that in order to fully understand the problem and provide the best possible solution, you must assess the entire situation. Collaborate The idea for increased collaboration stems from the very beginning of our organization. Too often, companies attempt to take on all aspects of support, only to find that their capabilities may not match the requirement. Page 2 of 10 6/20/14
it1 relies on complete collaboration. We bring all facets of support into the conversation; engineering, sales, support, management, even leveraging the direct manufacturer to ensure that any issue that may arise has a resource that can properly understand it and create a solution. Design it1 engineers and sales staff work closely with our clients and manufacturers to ensure that proper configurations are being developed and to take steps to increase interoperability of existing infrastructure. Implement One of the most important aspects of a solution is the roll-out. it1 stays with our customers throughout every step of the process to ensure that we minimize the occurrences of errors and to provide on the spot solutions to unforeseen problems. Operate It is our desire to be a trusted advisor to you and your organization. Only through assisting you in the day-to-day operation of your environment can we truly provide that function. it1 believes that the minute following implementation is one of the greatest moments in a relationship, as it is the moment that each event becomes a joint effort - it is the moment in which we can truly become a team. Optimize An often forgotten component in nearly all methodologies is the optimization of process. it1 does not take this function for granted and is continuously striving to improve upon all areas of our organization, including those services that we have already provided. Page 3 of 10 6/20/14
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES ONECARE Through our extensive relationship with Cisco, it1 was chosen to represent Cisco directly through the application of their SmartCare service. it1 then took this process one step farther to provide additional services and OneCare was born. The OneCare Service verifies that the network is secure, reliable, and functioning optimally, helping to improve employee productivity and customer responsiveness. OneCare Service is an innovative offering that combines network-wide technical support with ongoing network monitoring and proactive maintenance to deliver a comprehensive approach to the care and continuous improvement of your network. With OneCare Service, you can increase the visibility into the health and security of your network, improve network reliability and performance, identify potential problems before they affect your business, and reduce the time and effort necessary to maintain the network. The OneCare Service provides: Peace of mind it1 will verify that your network is secure, reliable, and functioning optimally at all times. Additionally, it1 offers Service Level Agreements for help desk call-backs times, web portal availability, reporting, disaster recovery backups, and security monitoring. Network visibility OneCare Service delivers visibility into the health and security of your network, giving it1 the information needed to improve performance and increase your operational efficiency. Through a secure web portal, you can view the status of your overall network health, security, and voice performance anywhere, anytime. it1 maintains a clear, continuously updated picture of each device in your network to provide you with up-to-date status reports and identify potential problems. Continuous improvement it1 will perform periodic assessments of your network health and availability to proactively identify potential issues and help ensure that all of your Cisco devices are configured optimally, according to Cisco best practices. Depending on the technologies in your network, assessments also can include in-depth reviews of your network security systems and the performance and availability of your Cisco Unified Communications IP voice solutions. it1 will notify you if there is an issue with any Cisco device in your network and recommend how to address problems before they affect your employees and your business profitability. To accomplish this, as detailed in 4.1, it1 will perform a comprehensive analysis of your network to assess its readiness to support advanced IP voice communications solutions. Page 4 of 10 6/20/14
A simple, complete solution OneCare Service provides technical support for your entire business network (including advanced security and IP voice solutions) with a single support contract. You receive expert technical support directly from it1, ongoing operating system and application software updates for all covered devices and applications, next-business day hardware replacement with an option to upgrade to four-hour advance replacement in the event of a failure, and a wealth of Cisco tools and resources through registered access to Cisco.com. As a result, you can take a comprehensive approach to the care and continuous improvement of your network for a single price, with a single point of contact. Customized support and maintenance OneCare Service is customized specifically for it1, to give you just the right level of network service to support the size and complexity of your business. OneCare Service brings together the complementary strengths of it1 and Cisco. This joint service offering combines it1 s knowledge of your business with Cisco s networking expertise and best practices. Core capabilities of the OneCare Service include: Remote monitoring and repair of Cisco devices and software applications Proactive health checks and periodic assessments of Cisco network foundation, voice, and security technologies to identify potential issues Technical support for all supported Cisco hardware and software in the network with a single network-wide maintenance contract Software updates and maintenance releases for qualified Cisco applications Cisco IOS Software support, including maintenance releases and patches, minor releases, and major releases Next-business-day standard and Premium (4hr) advance replacement for select Cisco devices advance replacement of Cisco devices Proactive notifications to simplify the updating of Cisco devices Assessment and preparation services to simplify the addition of new technologies and applications over time Page 5 of 10 6/20/14
VIRTUALIZATION As the components of the information technology framework, namely storage, processing power, memory capacity, and network throughput, drastically expanded through the early part of the 21 st century, it seemed a natural transition to develop methods that could reduce administrative requirements, while increasing functionality and security. Virtualization can dramatically improve the efficiency and availability of resources and applications in your organization. By consolidating resources pools and delivering highly available machines, you can save 50-70% of your overall IT costs. Another significant benefit is allowing IT administrators to focus on their core business goals rather than on managing servers. Our expertise in virtualization services includes: Server consolidation Business continuity Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) Energy efficiency Database virtualization Application virtualization Storage virtualization Network virtualization Illustration: Beginning in 2009, our customer began the process of evaluating their existing infrastructure, as well as current and estimated server and storage demands, to determine the best method of adaptation that would ensure the highest levels of up-time, while improving operational efficiency and cross-platform availability. As a result of our previous relationship, it1 was engaged to assist in the formulation of a solution to virtualize the majority of the existing server and storage infrastructure. In an attempt to ascertain the best strategy for implementation, together, we compared and tested several available platforms, based largely upon the strengths that they would provide to the infrastructure, for potential vulnerabilities that could undermine the environment. Following a rigorous analysis, involving, but not limited to, overall functionality, ease of implementation, and cost to procure, it was determined that both HP and Cisco provided adequate systems. While both overall solutions were very similar, after a significant competitive evaluation, it1 and HP were selected, as the solution of choice based upon high impact variables, such as time to deliver, most effective solution, and overall price. Following selection of the overall solution, the customer relied heavily upon both their relationship with it1, as well as it1 s relationship with HP in an effort to reduce the total cost to procure. As a result, it1 was able to further reduce the cost, allowing them to complete the project substantially under-budget. Page 6 of 10 6/20/14
CONNECTIVITY At it1, we are dedicated to providing you with best-of-breed networking services tailored to the specific requirements and needs of your organization no matter how large or complex your IT environment may be. Our extensive experience, along with our advanced manufacturer certifications, enables us to effectively consult, sell, install and support a wide array of network hardware and operating systems. Planning - Initial consultation of your requirements and goals includes a thorough Needs Analysis. We offer a comprehensive selection of options when implementing or expanding a network, or preparing for a specific application such as Voice over IP (VoIP). Implementation - We are your single source for coordinating equipment, cabling, consulting and integration. Performance Audit and Monitoring - Starting with a site survey and network performance analysis, our engineers generate detailed reports that allow our engineers to work with you to identify any concerns and issues and then recommend sound solutions. Optimization - With the help of a detailed analysis, we work with your IT staff to devise solid optimization plans and to implement corrective actions with maximum productivity and minimal disruptions. Re-engineering - As technology evolves and advances, it is important to periodically stop and rethink your network. Our engineers are available to ensure that your crucial network applications remain available and functioning to increase end user satisfaction. Illustration: Our customer independently identified an ongoing cost issue that was being caused as a result of their need for a redundant internet connection. The majority of their retail base, roughly 3,000 stores, had two dedicated, hard-wired internet cable connections. These lines were established to provide a primary and secondary function to ensure fail-over in the event that a single line lost connectivity. The secondary was to be utilized to continuously transact communications deemed necessary to operate the business and report daily functions; however, as they ascertained, the costs to maintain this duplicate line across their retail base was extremely high, given that it was rarely used. As a result of their history with it1, we were approached to develop a cost-saving solution to this problem, while maintaining the redundant functionality that was required for operational continuity. With the advent of a maturing cellular wireless communications market, it became feasible to consider replacing the back-up hard-wired solution with a full wireless system. Upon final review, it1 determined that a transition to wireless would produce a savings of $1.2M annually. Page 7 of 10 6/20/14
COMMUNICATIONS The methods that we use to communicate within a business must be approached in a holistic manner. As the worlds of general communication and IT merge, policies and procedures must be developed around Voice over IP (VOIP), Email, Instant Messaging, and Video Conferencing to better enable each other to more effectively and efficiently exchange ideas. it1 provides services to assist you in determining the best plan of action to implement these systems, as well as the necessary security and archiving required. Each day, employees, partners and customers demand more collaboration through highly integrated communications applications. They want access while they are in the office, at their home or traveling remotely. As a result, many forms of communication are making their way onto the corporate network, including Voice, Video, Data and Mobility Applications. Creating an integrated and unified workplace allows you to clear roadblocks and empower people to choose how, when, where and with whom they wish to communicate. IP telephony allows you to extend consistent communications services to all of your employees in their workspaces whether they are in the main campus, at branch offices, working remotely, or mobile. Voice communications are transmitted over the network using open-standards based protocols. As it becomes more and more expensive to travel for face-to-face meetings, demands grow for virtual meetings with coworkers, business partners, and customers. it1 can help develop a multimedia conferencing solution for meetings, training sessions and presentations. This allows clients to be more productive while tapping the appropriate resources, regardless of location. Illustration: In an effort to bring their legacy phone system up-to-date, our customer planned to build and implement a next generation voice network. This implementation included the installation and configuration of a Cisco Unified Communications Manager VOIP system and Contact Center Express within their site at Data center and Remote office. Once the VOIP system was operational, their existing legacy TDM PBX services were migrated to the Cisco UC platform. IT1 proposed providing professional services to handle the configuration of the Cisco VOIP System and to work in conjunction with smarthands employees to fully accomplish the migration to the new voice system. Page 8 of 10 6/20/14
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Threats can come from anywhere. As we have recently seen, while risk mitigation is often only viewed as malicious attacks against your environment, environmental events often present a much more problematic and detrimental scenario to the continuity of your business. At it1, we take your data seriously. Our end-to-end enterprise storage solutions and our Tier 1- to-tier 3 Data Management services are centered on delivering the highest level, Best-of- Practice, data quality possible. We understand how accurate and accessible data drives all of your decisions from sales, to operations, to finance and more. We also share your fears of how bad or compromised data can affect all of your decisions. Therefore, we offer the kind of thorough strategic data management planning, engineering, backup, and disaster recovery you expect from a recognized leader in protecting one of your most valuable assets. Illustration: With schools looking to maximize their environments to meet the increasing user demands, as well as the myriad of mandates around technology, our customer developed a strategic plan around the implementation of VDI in order to cope. They believed that they had all pieces in place, but grew concerned over the amount and structure of their storage environment. As it1 was already a trusted advisor, they brought in our engineers to perform a full assessment of their storage, networking, power, and server platforms to determine their viability for implementing such a robust system. It was determined that the condition of their existing storage would not support the demand that it would undergo. Therefore, it1 engineers, working alongside customer engineers, as well as manufacturer Subject Matter Experts, recommended a shift to a system that would utilize a completely new, custom-designed array for high-priority tasks and would use their existing array as both disaster recovery and lower-priority tasks. Through this team effort, the customer was able to realize their goals of shifting their teachers and student to a new system that would provide them with the centralized management that their IT department wanted, while still providing the agility and security that would satisfy Federal mandates. Page 9 of 10 6/20/14
TECHNICAL SERVICES Within the current economic climate, IT departments are continuously being asked to provide more with fewer and fewer resources. Coupled with the expanding demand to increase the functionality and breadth of existing technology investments, a significant burden is being placed upon these departments to develop strategic plans to overcome existing limitations. it1 fully understands these hardships and has designed managed service offerings to allow your IT staff to focus on your core business, while permitting our engineers and technicians to handle the more routine tasks. it1 has provided a wide variety of additional services to our clients as needed. These services have included performance assessments, security audits, equipment maintenance agreements, old equipment decommissioning, as well as a host of other services. Since it1 provides technology support to clients on a nationwide basis, it is necessary to form relationships with several national technical service delivery organizations. Over the years, it1 has developed specific and deep relationships with several national providers where we are able to specify which engineer we need to perform a specific service. it1 maintains a listing of these qualified and screened engineers with the necessary skills we require. This allows us to offer the benefits of a familiar face to the accounts with field services requirements. Illustration: In an ongoing effort to maximize operating efficiencies to stay ahead of ever-expanding regulations, our customer, a very large financial institution, reviewed their existing server infrastructure and determined that there existed a very high level of redundancy. As a result, they sought out assistance from a services organization to provide server decommissioning. While this organization provided the requisite services, the customer felt as though their methodology was lacking in structure and their process took far too long to complete. it1 was brought in to fill this gap. it1 provided a single Project Manager and the primary point of contact for 40 technicians who were assigned to data centers throughout the country. These technicians were tasked with decommissioning 30,000 servers so that the customer could realize their initial goals of data center efficiency, total energy savings, and overall reduction in footprint, among many others. it1 further increased efficiency of the project through the custom development of an offline HTML5 application that was to be used on an ipad to allow the engineers to synchronize all information with a centralized server and allow the Project Manager to more effectively assign certain technicians to jobs that were more in-line with their capabilities, as well as to ensure that each job was being completed in accordance with the exact specifications of the client. Through the use of a single point of contact and the implementation of the ipad application, it1 was able to provide a process that operated four times faster than the previous vendor. Page 10 of 10 6/20/14