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Managed Services vs. Break-Fix IT

Managed Services vs. Break-Fix IT

by | Apr 5, 2021 | Backup, Cloud, Disaster Recovery, Managed IT Services

What happens when break-fix IT breaks?

As a business owner, you make daily decisions on how to serve your customers and how to improve your company. As part of this, you choose partners and solutions to create a support system that guarantees the quality of your work. A business process review is a popular step in the direction of improvement. For IT support services, small and medium-sized companies often fall into a costly “break-fix” cycle. Business owners can quickly end this break-fix madness by partnering with a managed services provider for affordable, reliable IT plans that are based on unique needs.

Managed Services IT Backup Cloud on Desktop

What is “break-fix” IT?

If a computer or a phone breaks or a server goes down, do you call around until you find someone who can fix the problem? This is break-fix IT. You go about your business, and when something breaks, you pay someone to fix it.

Large companies often have an in-house break-fix team that can manage everything from mobile phones to on-site servers, but these tasks need to be balanced with more complicated demands. No matter what your company size, break-fix IT is expensive and stressful. Managed IT services provide a way for you to break the break-fix cycle while lowering both risks and costs. You can even move to a more competitive managed cloud environment via new cutting-edge hosting solutions.

Signs you’re in a break-fix IT model:

  • Unpredictability across departments: Your technology fails, and all departments spin into chaos.
  • Downtime: Unexpected software and hardware failures reduce productivity and increase costs.
  • Lost revenue: Downtime is only one part of the problem, especially when a security breach is the cause of shutdown.
  • Outages: If the network is down, how can your employees support your customers?
  • Stress: The inherent stress of a break-fix IT strategy can result in high turnover and toxic work culture.

Managed IT Services that End Break-Fix IT Unpredictability

Managed Services Provide Unbreakable IT Solutions

While the break-fix model may work for a time, it ends up costing more than you plan for. This might lead you to consider hiring new in-house IT staff. However, a managed service provider can give you the same talent at lowers costs, and the services are 24/7/365 — and you don’t have to pay for benefits, vacation days, sick days, training, and everything else that supports an in-house IT department.

EstesGroup wants you to find the best IT services for your business. Learn more about our flexible IT solutions today.

Ready for a managed cloud solution that lets you completely focus on your business while EstesGroup IT & ERP specialists manage your infrastructure? Get a free demo of ECHO, our EstesCloud hosting solution. Learn more about SYSPRO hosting, Sage hosting, Epicor hosting, and Prophet 21 hosting today.

Catching up with the Competition

Catching up with the Competition

by | Apr 2, 2021 | Success Stories

Catching up with the Competition

Knowing Cost Leads To Cost Reduction.

This custom sheet metal company didn’t know the costs associated with producing their products and therefore didn’t know where they were losing money. By implementing ERP software, they were able to learn their costs and discover areas for cost reduction.

 

As they became more efficient, they were actually able to lower their price and become more competitive in the market. This drove up production, which they were able to better handle, and make more profit.

Location

Western US

 

Industry

Manufacturing

 

Solution

  • Business Process Review
  • ERP Implementation
  • Tailoring the ERP solution to fit their needs

From Business Process Review to ERP Excellence

A business process review allowed this company to obtain vital insights into current IT systems, performance, and risk. Key performance indicators (KPIs) were determined so that the ERP consulting services could be tracked and optimized across the company. EstesGroup’s consulting methodology increased management control, lowering both risks and costs by achieving a lean approach that would keep the company competitive with optimized resources.

Are you ready to catch up with the competition?

Contact EstesGroup today to learn about business process reviews, ERP consulting services, managed IT options, and managed application hosting for Epicor, Prophet 21, SYSPRO, QuickBooks, Sage, and more!

Filling the technical gaps

Filling the technical gaps

by | Apr 2, 2021 | Success Stories

Filling the technical gaps

A Case Study for IT Expertise Support

A company located in Charlotte, North Carolina publishes 40 business publications and has over 3.6 million readers. Their focus on high quality journalism and heavy involvement in the community draws hundreds of thousands of participants to their events annually.

 

This company of 1,600 needed our help to bridge the gap between their current software interface and their Epicor program. They were aware they had areas of redundancy and waste that they wanted to automate and fix. They had the solution, but needed our expertise to pull the gap closed.

Location

Charlotte, NC

 

Industry

Print Publication

 

Solution

  • Our ERP experts augmenting an already talented team.

Estes Group worked hand in hand with their IT department to make the fix. We were, and continue to be, and extension of the technical team. We have worked with them as needed for technical support for the last 4 years, including assisting get with upgrades and implementations where they needed a Project Manager who could see all the moving parts and pull in the right people that needed to contribute to the respective projects.

 

As a result of our work with this company, they were able to eliminate wasteful redundancies and human error by implementing automation tools so that they could run more efficiently than ever before.

What wasteful processes do you have in place that could be automated?

Where could your IT department use technical support, expertise or project management and implementation strategies?

Tell us what processes you wish could be automated.

Merging Two Systems Into One

Merging Two Systems Into One

by | Apr 2, 2021 | Success Stories

Merging Two Systems Into One

Combining Two Redundant ERP Systems into One

Founded in 1954, this electronics company was one of the oldest manufacturing service providers in their industry. An award winning circuit board engineer, prototype designer and production service, they were looking for a solution to be as up to date and in sync with their customer demands, which required communication with a sister company that wasn’t using the same data silo.

While the circuit boards were lightning fast, filling customer orders was tortoise slow. When a customer would call, the phone representative would actually need to get up and walk to the different department to get the information requested because she couldn’t access it where she was.

Location

Milwaukee, WI

 

Industry

Technology Manufacturing

 

Solution

  • Business Process Review
  • ERP Implementation
  • Tailoring the ERP solution to fit their needs

EstesGroup began with a Business Process Review (BPR), a 3 day process to really learn and understand the business by interviewing key people such as department Subject Matter Experts, the CEO and others. Once we agreed on a solution, we were able to put in a team that serves as the Project Architect who oversees everything and keeps communication flowing, pulling in people as needed to keep the entire plan moving forward.

 

Estes Group helped to get both companies in sync by moving the electronics company from an old ERP software while at the same time upgrading the circuit board sister company to the same system. We also made sure both company’s financial data was lined up and matched, so the right people could see the real time job status, inventory status and see if the projects were on time and on budget. Operationally, they were able to utilize a function called ‘Capable to Promise’ to better service their customers by delivering real expectations based on real schedule data for product delivery.

 

By doing this and having this synchronization, their quoting process was reduced from a multiple day process to being able to offer a 24 hour turn around.

ERP Recovery Project

ERP Recovery Project

by | Apr 2, 2021 | Success Stories

ERP Recovery Project

An ERP Recovery Project

This company, who is remaining anonymous, contacted us in the middle of an implementation they were doing with another company, because they had hit the end of their budget and they were far from complete. The company they were working with was pointing them in directions that sounded like more money and more time, leaving the client wondering if they would ever have a solution. The client didn’t understand what was going on and felt unable to make a decision between the complicated options they were given. They were even beginning to doubt they had purchased the right product.

Location

Plano, Texas

 

Industry

Control Systems Integration and Manufacturing

 

Solution

  • Business Process Review
  • Reset of the ERP project
  • ERP Implementation done right

EstesGroup began with a Business Process Review (BPR) to discover the problems they were looking to resolve and learn more about the company so we could offer them the best solutions. Basically, they had no foundation, and really no progress, so we took over the implementation, because the Epicor Product they got was a good choice for their needs. They were told they needed elaborate customization, but we simplified it.

 

The client had spent nine months of time and over $220,000 and got nowhere. We were able to do the entire project, including setting a firm foundation with the BPR, undoing what had gone awry and complete the implementation and training for $141,000. We optimized their financial structure and eliminated the need for complex configurations suggested by the other firm. EstesGroup was able to save a failed implementation, that after 9 months was still not complete, and we were able to do it in just 6 months. And we did it all for less than their original budget.

 

How much time and money would have been saved if they started with us?

Are you stuck working with another ERP implementation and consulting firm who is not delivering?

Are you being charged too many fees for too little results?

Tell Us Your Story And We Will Find A Solution Together.