Background
In early 2014, we were contacted by a Tampa-headquartered network of psychiatric health and addiction recovery centers. At that time, the company provided treatment for mental illnesses and addiction in five facilities around the state of Florida. In addition to providing support and guidance to numerous patients, they also specialized in breathing new life into failed or struggling recovery centers—including refreshing their IT infrastructures.
Back then, the company needed assistance with their phone system. They were steadily hiring new employees at various facilities, each with incongruous or aging equipment, and calls were dropping or failing to connect at all. NTG’s Chief Technical Officer and head systems architect, David Morris, answered the call to investigate further.
The Challenge
During the initial network discovery, David and the company’s in-house IT team determined that the phone system itself wasn’t the core issue. The problems with weak connectivity were more IP-related, exacerbated by unpatched servers, end-of-life legacy hardware, and switches that were barely handling the increased traffic in the company’s interconnected systems.
“Their network was essentially a hodge podge of outdated technology held together with duct tape and bubblegum, and they were running out of space for more bubblegum,” said David.
A modern tech refresh for a company of this size is (perhaps unsurprisingly) very expensive. The company’s internal IT team, in collaboration with NTG, presented the need for new hardware and equipment throughout the five facilities. That need was recognized, but the company wanted to approach the problem with a “cost conscious” mindset. NTG agreed to work with these parameters, embracing the philosophy “our customers’ success is our success.”
The Solution
NTG’s engineers determined the hardware that was in critical need of an update, carefully noting which servers and switches in the company’s infrastructure had a few months or years of effective life left. Cost-saving though it was, NTG discovered the process would be stretched over the course of a couple years. The company agreed it would be both parties’ best interest to station a permanent NTG employee at the company’s IT headquarters.
During this time the partnership between NTG and the company was strengthened significantly. At some point, the company was approached by another Managed Services company who questioned the methodology of avoiding a complete tech refresh, not necessarily understanding the full scope of the company’s needs. The IT director there relayed this information to NTG (they declined the discovery session with the other MSP), telling us “These people are trying to sell us a Toyota when we’ve got a Rolls Royce.”
The rest was history. This company specializing in psychiatric health now operates eighteen facilities across the continental United States with a sufficiently modern, and more importantly effective IT infrastructure. NTG continues to aid the company’s tech infrastructure consisting of 1,200 users using just under 400 PCs and VoIP phone systems. Today, they’re seeking further expansion as they continue to rehabilitate struggling psychiatric health centers.