You’re the CFO of a best-in-class audio equipment company, you’re at a perfunctory Chamber of Commerce breakfast, and you find yourself seated next to a guy with the answers to all your IT issues. Call it fate or coincidence, depending on your outlook. On a morning in 2010, Audio Research‘s David Onan spoke with Tech Guru’s Micah Thor about the tech environment in David’s company (or lack thereof). Who says networking events don’t work?
The Lay of the Land
David, who had joined Audio Research in 2009, was ready to implement a more comprehensive technology solution that could carry the company into the next phase of development. Dan Moshe, CEO of Tech Guru, was asked to create an IT analysis of Audio Research to establish the current technology landscape. David says, “It amounted to a minor amount of money spent to identify and document weaknesses, and to make recommendations about things such as security, data protection, and productivity.” The analysis also addressed the company’s current IT strategy.
The technology at Audio Research was fragile, disconnected, and without competent personnel. Equipment was 5 or more years old. When the need arose for a new computer, the Director or Operations would head to Best Buy and pick up whatever was on sale. Indeed, the findings were bleak.
The IT report read, “A strategic IT plan does not exist. IT is an afterthought… haphazard… and inconsistent.” Prior to partnering with Tech Guru, Audio Research’s IT department “didn’t exist,” according to David. They had an employee who was more technologically inclined than the others who did his best to help, but when a problem occurred people were mostly found standing around wondering what to do next. The company was lucky to not have experienced a server or disk failure, David says, because “we weren’t equipped to handle that.”
Using the Stack
Prospects of Tech Guru love to see The Stack in action. In IT, a stack is a group of essential technology pieces that depend on each other. It’s a clear-as-day and personalized presentation of what your office needs to function. Some examples are hardware, business and financial software, voice, email, and backup and disaster recovery. “The key,” reminds Dan Moshe, “is that everything has to be working harmoniously. You want the apps to talk to each other, and you want your internet connection to support your apps.” Dan likes to call the Tech Stack conversation “Collaborative Quoting.” Just as he does with all Tech Guru clients, Dan and David talked about what an ideal stack would be for Audio Research, versus what currently existed, and the financial differences – or “gap analysis” – between the two.
Then What?
Did Tech Guru find the job too daunting? Did Audio Research opt to keep things the way they were, risks and all? Keep reading the next part of the Audio Research story.
Or are you thinking about the IT analysis your company sorely needs? Schedule one now!
Dan Moshe helps business owners in the Minneapolis area with all things tech, and is the CEO of the Caring IT company Tech Guru. He cares about your business as much as you do!