Summit IT Solutions transformed Journey Financial’s outdated and unreliable IT system into a secure, efficient, and future-ready infrastructure. This case study highlights how this partnership led to:
- Predictable Costs
- Stronger Cybersecurity
- Improved Productivity
- Reliable IT Support
- Enhanced Compliance
Executive Summary
Journey Financial Solutions Group struggled with ongoing IT issues that disrupted daily operations. Their existing IT support for financial services followed a break-fix model, leading to frequent downtime, unexpected costs, and compliance concerns. Journey Financial sought an IT solution company that could provide expert IT solutions tailored to the financial industry. After evaluating multiple providers, they chose Summit IT Solutions, a managed IT service provider, to implement managed IT solutions that stabilized operations, improved security, and ensured compliance.
IT Solutions That Work
“What I think they were trying to do was get us what we needed for the least amount of money.” – Operations Manager of Journey Financial
Client Background
Journey Financial Solutions Group is an independent insurance and financial services firm offering consumer and business insurance, investments, and retirement planning. Founded in 1995, the firm has grown from three employees to a team of 15 advisors, agents, and staff, serving clients from its office in Tiffin, Ohio. Their commitment to personalized service requires reliable IT managed services to support operations and compliance needs.
The Challenge
Journey’s Operations Manager was frustrated. Their network-attached storage (NAS) device was acting up… again. Instead of getting straight to work on the task-list-of-the-day, they would be pulled into explaining this intermittent but ongoing problem with the technician from their IT provider. This had become a weekly occurrence, and it was getting old. It would be another day of interruptions, downtime, and lost productivity.
Journey Financial had outgrown its IT partner. The break-fix service model was no longer working, and it needed more robust systems to match its business volume and requirements.
They also needed to be confident that their technology practices met the stringent compliance requirements mandated by regulators. With cybercrime becoming a greater threat year after year, they weren’t 100% sure their cybersecurity efforts were keeping up. And it made no sense to dedicate internal staff to this very specific responsibility.
The technology they had in place had served its purpose when the company was smaller. As Journey Financial grew, the increasing demand on equipment and resources strained the system. And there was no maintenance plan in place to make sure network and storage systems were up-to-date and functioning correctly. This created frequent outages, which resulted in support calls. Because no managed services agreement existed with the provider, these service calls were billed – and costs added up. Journey Financial asked for a more robust solution. The IT vendor continued in fire-fighting mode instead of offering upgraded, modern services to meet the demands. “What I think they were trying to do was get us what we needed for the least amount of money,” says the Operations Manager of Journey Financial.
Another source of pain was software. For example, the Operations Manager had to keep track of licensing for every individual user of Microsoft Office. Although managing individual licenses might not seem like a big effort, it added to their already long list of administrative tasks. Plus, this busy task did nothing to help the business grow. The Operations Manager finally delegated this licensing management to the IT vendor, but Journey Financial didn’t have full use of the features they were paying for. For example, they didn’t have access to SharePoint, which would have eliminated the NAS issues.
If Journey Financial hadn’t truly enjoyed working with their IT vendor, seeking another provider would be an easy decision. But the two companies had a great working relationship. Responsiveness was never an issue, and they were local to each other, which continues to be important for Journey Financial. But they weren’t getting the expected results from their IT investment, so Journey Financial had to do what’s best for the business and seek better IT solutions.
How Summit IT Found Solutions
Journey Financial needed to assess the services offered by other solution providers. Management interviewed four IT services companies – three new ones in addition to their existing provider. They sought a proactive partner to:
- Stabilize their IT environment with solid, proven technologies
- Proactively recommend necessary improvements
- Ensure security and compliance
- Be a local provider (but Journey Financial would remain open to the right fit outside the area)
Finding the Right Fit
As an independent agent of Wayne Mutual Insurance Company (WMIC), Journey Financial first became aware of Summit IT Solutions while attending a cybersecurity presentation given at the WMIC Annual Agent meeting. Summit IT Solutions is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wayne Mutual Insurance Company. Summit IT assessed Journey Financial’s needs and submitted a proposal. Ultimately, Journey Financial selected Summit IT to resolve the discrepancies and modernize its technology environment.
The Plan
Summit IT’s plan for Journey Financial included:
- Migrating from the current limited and outdated local storage to their Office 365 Sharepoint instance
- Enhancing cybersecurity monitoring and proactive support
- Ensuring compliance with industry regulations
This would complete the Microsoft Office 365 implementation and allow easy access for workers at the home office and remotely. Easy, secure access meant better service to their clients and prospects. It would also solve the reliability issue and give everyone the flexibility they needed to focus on their work rather than suffer through tech problems.
Staying on top of security vulnerabilities and ensuring the company is protected is extremely important. Cybersecurity and monitoring services would be enhanced, and active monitoring by tech support would identify concerns before they became a problem for Journey Financial.
Passing industry compliance audits was also a must, and they needed a partner that could ensure that. Journey Financial would benefit from Summit IT’s experience successfully managing IT for WMIC.
The Results
Step 1: Migrating to SharePoint
Summit IT’s priority was to migrate company data from the NAS to SharePoint in the Office 365 cloud. This solved two immediate problems:
- Eliminated Downtime: The unreliable NAS was causing weekly outages. SharePoint provided stable, always-on access to business-critical files.
- Improved Accessibility: Employees could securely access work files from anywhere, enhancing flexibility and productivity
Step 2: Establishing Trust in Remote Support
Journey Financial was accustomed to in-person IT support, making the shift to remote support an adjustment. However, Summit IT quickly proved its value with:
- Fast Issue Resolution: Secure remote connections allowed Summit IT to address most problems on the fly.
- Proactive Monitoring: Enhanced log monitoring identified and resolved potential issues before they could impact operations.
Step 3: Optimizing Onboarding Processes
The real test came when Journey Financial hired a new employee. Here’s what happened: Summit IT had its established processes in place. But every environment has its unique conditions to test those processes. Unexpected technical challenges emerged during the onboarding of Journey Financial’s new employee, regarding the integration of new equipment. In response to these technical challenges, Summit IT:
- Worked through the issues in real-time
- Fully documented the process for future deployments
- Ensured a smoother experience for all future equipment rollouts
Step 4: Proactive IT Management & Security
Behind the scenes, Summit IT’s monitoring systems alert for problems as they appear in logs. This allows Summit IT to identify and repair many issues before they affect the user or network. Their ongoing efforts ensure that:
- Systems run efficiently and securely
- Security best practices are met
- Journey Financial can focus on its core business without IT distractions
The Bottom Line
Summit IT Solutions offers the expertise to keep your data protected and technology serving you with efficiency.
Find the Summit IT Solutions That Work For You
Are you:
- Struggling with unpredictable IT costs?
- Frustrated with downtime and slow tech support?
- Looking for expert IT solutions to protect your business?
Summit IT can help. Find the IT service that fits your organization’s needs – Contact our experts for a FREE consultation today!
About Summit IT Solutions
Founded in 2000, Summit IT Solutions is a leading information technology firm and provider of IT services for the financial industry in Northeast Ohio. As a managed service provider, Summit IT partners with Fortinet, 8×8 Phone Systems, KnowBe4, Lenovo, Dell, and more to deliver expert IT solutions for businesses of all sizes.
Contact Summit IT Solutions
To learn more about how Summit IT Solutions can help you get the most out of your IT resources, reducing costs and improving productivity, reach out to our experts online or call 330-785-9467.