The Power of an IT Outsource Company: Case Study

Today, organization decision makers need to reassess how they’re doing IT by looking at their in-house capacity. Comparing that to the advantages provided by partnering with an IT outsource company will help guide a more successful solution. This case study details how a large non-profit organization improved the efficiency of their in-house IT team by supplementing some of the tasks out to itSynergy.

In an increasingly uncertain market, businesses need to rely on processes, on tried and tested strategies, to address their IT problems. When left unaddressed, IT challenges add up. Now, more than ever, you need to fix your IT problems so you can focus on the other key issues affecting your business.

Changing how you do IT doesn’t always imply radical, expensive change. Outsourcing IT to a managed service provider like itSynergy is a great option. But outsourcing doesn’t mean you have to dissolve your existing team. Sometimes, all you need to outsource is your IT vision and direction. Keep your IT team, but outsource your IT director. This is an approach that worked well for one of our clients. Here’s their story:

Transforming a Small, Ineffective Team into Agile IT Superheroes

The Beatitudes Campus is a nonprofit retirement community catering to residents in Phoenix, Arizona. The campus is home to over 600 residents and 450-plus employees. Meeting the IT needs of over 1,000 people in a 24/7-service environment is a monumental task for any organization. Beatitudes Campus found its three-person IT team – a director, a network administrator and a helpdesk resource person – wasn’t able to stay on top of challenges. The team was in a dangerous position: Between spotty software licensing and inadequate security measures, they didn’t know what they didn’t know in a rapidly changing tech environment. It was only a matter of time before a data breach or other catastrophic security incident struck. 

Beatitudes Campus received a business grant that enabled them to bring in experts. They reached out to itSynergy. As an initial step, we performed high-level assessments to identify areas of improvement in risk, governance and security. We then used our findings to create a plan to help Beatitudes meet their IT needs by fully utilizing their existing IT team. We transformed how Beatitudes did IT so that the small team wasn’t a liability. It became an agile, efficient asset. 

The Hybrid Model: Amplifying In-House Talent with an IT Outsource Company

itSynergy tailors each of our managed IT service solutions to meet individual client needs. For Beatitudes Campus, we deployed a hybrid model where the in-house team remained in place. The IT director role was outsourced to itSynergy. As the outsourced IT director, Michael Cocanower and his team were able to steer Beatitudes’ IT management at a strategic level. 

Leveraging in-house resources with an IT outsource company

Allen Bloch, Sr. Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Beatitudes Campus, identified uninterrupted coverage of its IT infrastructure as a key challenge for the organization. As a healthcare operation, the Beatitudes Campus staff works 24 hours, seven days a week. If an IT issue occurs in the middle of the night, it needs to be resolved quickly to avoid having to revert to manual systems for patient and resident care.

The strategy ensured the in-house team, the people most familiar with Beatitudes’ systems, was responsible for day-to-day operations. Complex issues were escalated to the itSynergy team of experts. To take care of additional IT staffing needs, 12 itSynergy team members were made available to Beatitudes Campus on an as-needed basis.

This hybrid approach added tremendous value while keeping costs manageable. With guaranteed access to high-level resources and a C-level IT director, itSynergy helped Beatitudes Campus address complex security, risk and governance challenges at a fraction of the cost of doing everything in-house.  

Better Governance, Less Downtime, Futureproofing: the itSynergy Difference

itSynergy’s hybrid model delivered tangible results for Beatitudes. Limited downtime meant HR costs came down substantially. The in-house IT team reported greater satisfaction because they were no longer overworked. Beatitude’s in-house staff escalates complex issues to itSynergy’s “IT SWAT Team,” with the promise that their issue will be resolved. Escalations are often handled off-site, which has been particularly helpful in the current environment. 

Scaling to meet tomorrow’s IT needs

At a strategic level, a better approach to backups, documentation and reporting meant IT systems became much more resilient. Looking forward itSynergy’s  leadership insights will become increasingly important as the retirement community expands operations to new facilities. The hybrid team approach gives the Campus the flexibility to scale their operations without running into IT roadblocks. 

itSynergy delivered exactly what Beatitudes needed: an agile, cost-effective outsourced IT solution that scales with their needs. With the uptick in data breaches and security incidents, now is the time to rethink how you’re doing IT. itSynergy can help you align your IT capabilities with your IT needs. Contact us to learn more.