A Case Study / Point-N-Click

thrown into this task with a small window to complete this project. Messenger Post has an IT manager who was familiar with their network and Adnet outsourced their IT support to Point-N-Click. The CIO asked Point-N-Click to provide him with all the documentation we had created for the network at Adnet Community News. The CIO then compared it to the information provided by Messenger Post and came up with a design for the migration of these two companies. The CIO asked that Point-N-Click stay on board to help execute the merger of these networks because he was short on staff and we knew the design of Adnet’s network. The CIO shared his plan with our engineer and asked for our advice before we move ahead with his plan. His plan included a purchase of a new server, reconfiguration of about 70+ desktops, and network connection between the two facilities. Working together we came up with an alternative idea that used his new server and accomplished the goals with less time. The new solution included migrating the existing settings and data from the old server to the new one. Then we installed the old server at Adnet and join it to the network at Messenger Post since it already had the right settings. Lastly we created a network connection between the two facilities allowing the flow of data between them real-time. The new solution ended up saving them about 100 hours of IT consulting and reduced the downtime allowing them to meet their newspaper deadlines. The estimated savings was about $10,000 and their cost was about $3,000 for this project.

Most companies experience a project like this every 5-8 years and usually their staff won’t remember what they did last time. Hiring an outside consultant for a project that includes upgrades and a new design is typically a good business decision for the following reasons. Outside consultants are usually doing projects like this on a monthly bases and familiar with the proper steps for success. Secondly, most companies don’t have the capacity with their internal staff and if they do then they are probably over staffed. Lastly, it comes down to the impact to your company and the cost of the consultant. A consultant should be more efficient at these kinds of projects which will allow them to finish in less time then an employee of the company.

If you are considering a hardware or software upgrade consider using an outside consultant. Also, getting them to commit to a quote with a fixed limit will help control the cost.