Background
Norfolk Iron & Metal (NIM Group) has been a family-run company since 1908. It has remained dedicated to the consistent delivery of high-quality carbon steel products and subsequently grown to 20 locations, one of the country’s largest and most technologically advanced providers.
“Before you sign a long-term contract with somebody, talk to vCom.” Jason King , VP of Information Technology
Challenge
To unify IT services across their 20 US locations, NIM Group had signed a long-term contract with a single carrier to provide network, telecom, and internet services across their locations. The relationship began to degrade following changes in personnel and technologies, and the IT leadership team at NIM became frustrated by constantly shifting installation timelines, degrading customer service, and a provider they viewed as less interested in their needs than in profits. Leading a small IT team, VP of Information Technology, Jason King, found himself with too many carrier-related administrative duties on his to-do list, spending 3-4 hours each day handling orders, service tickets, billing issues, and other time-consuming tasks. On the heels of multiple acquisitions, his team found themselves juggling additional telecom providers, managing disparate inventories via spreadsheets, and trapped in an overarching contract that didn’t deliver what was needed.
Transformation
When NIM Group began working with vCom they realized they had found the service provider they’d been looking for. They teamed with vCom on an Asset Management project to identify IT inventory and load all accompanying data (location, CED, bandwidth speeds, etc.) into vCom’s vManager platform. This visibility into the NIM Group environment gave vCom the ability to proactively gather and articulate the data NIM required to ultimately identify a new partner provider. vCom worked with NIM on a strategy to “break up” with their carrier and begin migrating services with minimal financial or technology disruption. “I wish I discovered vCom six months earlier,” says Jason King. “We wouldn’t have gotten into the situation we were in previously,” adding, “Before you sign a long-term contract with somebody, talk to vCom.”
Clear understanding of NIM’s challenges and goals enabled vCom to work with King’s team on a plan focused on providing: 1. A clear view of assets and spend; 2. Greater control over the management of assets; and 3. Time and cost savings.
In addition to improving operational management of Assets, NIM implemented vCom’s Expense Management solution. Through vManager, they were able to replace all IT spreadsheets with a single, centralized repository of asset information and associated spend for the entire organization across multiple categories including Network and Mobile assets.
Results
Utilizing vCom’s expertise has been a game changer for NIM Group, particularly when it came to the time-consuming day-to-day management of orders and projects. “I sign the agreement, and vCom manages the installs and makes sure it gets done,” says Jason King. Since he’s no longer handling time consuming admin tasks, King estimates he’s returned 20 hours a month back into his schedule. vCom’s proactive approach has brought visibility to issues that might have previously gone unrecognized. “Before vCom, if I didn’t actively reach out, nothing got done. I can count on vCom’s team to manage projects and reach out to me as needed.”
That’s continued to be the case as NIM Group has grown through M&A and focused on creating a single network to support the entire organization. Being able to turn to vCom for quick and easy resolution on problems has been transformative. For example, King identified bandwidth issues at a newly acquired company, and “instead of me reaching out to multiple carriers, I made one call to vCom and had a contract ready to go by the end of the day,” he says. “Before vCom, I would be spending significantly more time trying to get these circuits going, and now I can focus on other things, while getting better quality network and bandwidth across our sites.”
Further enabling the fulfillment of a primary service provider goal—time savings—is NIM’s utilization of vCom’s Managed Pay service, which significantly reduced the workload of NIM Group’s AP team. It now gets one invoice, with one set of payment terms instead of ten, and has full visibility through vManager. The centralized dashboard enables King to view IT cost breakdowns easily to see and report on service costs for each location.
King credits the success of this partnership to vCom’s stability, industry knowledge, and white glove approach to service. He says, “We’ve built a great relationship the last few years. They understand our struggles and we know who to call. They’re available when I need them.”
This case study is provided by the ETMA member company, who is solely responsible for the content.
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