In-House IT Substitute

Klein and Schonblum Associates (KSA) is a midsized law firm based in the GTA with offices in the same location as our midtown Network Operating Center (2300 Yonge Street).

The growing pains they faced were the same as any other small business Quartet has encountered. Like most of Quartet’s customers, KSA needed an IT department that acted with the same trust, transparency, security and response as their own employees.

This type of relationship yields real results, ensuring problems are solved in short order. An engagement of this nature is where Quartet Service truly shines.

Situation

KSA’s systems were not performing as efficiently as promised and they were not meeting their needs. The previous support provider put KSA in a position of blind trust which did not provide the transparency desired.

KSA needed to outsource IT management in order to mitigate all related risks, as they had no in-house IT resources.

Quartet was brought on board with KSA following poor service with their previous IT provider. KSA was regularly paying upwards of $800 for simple tasks like hard drive replacements. Costs did not equal benefits. The law firm needed a support partner that they could trust with procurement and for advice.

KSA issues encountered:

• Workstations: Older workstations weren’t reliable. They were impeding staff productivity.
• Server: Constantly being slowed to a crawl due to insufficient memory. This was an identified issue that was not resolved with the previous support provider.
• Backups: Existing backup solution was out-of-date and not performing as needed.
• Antivirus: Badly needed upgrading to counter new threats and security concerns, including network downtime and preservation of confidential documents.

Solution

Following the creation of a needs-sensitive action plan, we immediately implemented the following projects:

• Network Backup: Reconfigured backup tasks to match capacity and required redundancy.
• Antivirus: Installed server-based corporate antivirus platform and antivirus clients on all workstations.
• Workstation Updates: Upgraded all workstations with the most recent Microsoft personal productivity tools.
• New File Server: Retired existing file server and upgraded the infrastructure to match new data capacity needs. This project was completed during business downtime and KSA experienced a seamless transition.

Quartet’s reconfiguring of existing systems and infrastructure offered KSA immediate results in:

• System Reliability: System crashes were minimized.
• Growth-Sensitive Technology Platform: Our capabilities allow KSA to plan for ongoing improvements and upgrades.
• Productivity Gains: Slowdowns attributed to technology were eliminated.
• Sound Support Structure: Delineated escalation procedures ensured thorough resolution of IT issues.