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Business
Asset management and debt collection
Challenge
Rapidly implementing an affordable but comprehensive IT infrastructure that would enable a new business to get off the ground fast
Solution
- Warner Connect’s pre-designed IT architecture for small businesses, implemented in just 30 days
- Hands-on and responsive support
- Centralized managed IT services in Warner Connect’s data center
How Warner Connect helped a start-up hit the ground running.
When Tina Mallan, John Sheldon and William Haugen started Teton Asset Management in 2007, they had no illusions about what they needed to succeed.
Teton Assessment Management buys and collects debt. Getting the business going required strong financial backing, intricate knowledge of the collection industry, a solid IT infrastructure and strong IT support.
The first two challenges were easy. The three were senior executives at a large debt collection firm and had years of experience, so they had no trouble securing financial backing and developing a bullet-proof business plan. The IT challenge was an entirely different matter.
Debt collectors depend on computers and highly specialized call center applications, like automated dialing, to do their jobs. There is no way to even start such a businesses without a strong IT infrastructure already in place.
“We weren’t looking forward to the hassle of managing IT and phones on our own; but we figured that at a minimum, we’d have to immediately staff an IT director position,” recalls Mallan, now Vice President of Operations. “But when we reached out to find such a person, it really opened our eyes.”
Mallan and her partners found that finding one person with the multiple skill sets they needed would probably be impossible and certainly unaffordable. The additional cost of a secure facility to house equipment put the prospect of doing IT on their own even further out of reach.
Luckily, Mallan and her partners got a referral to Warner Connect, a company that specializes in working with start-ups and small companies who need an easy, reliable and hassle-free single source for buying and managing computers, networks and phones. Warner Connect’s approach includes predictable pricing, easy-to-implement standardized packages based on pre-designed IT architectures, and all the pre-installed software and 24/7 managed services small companies need.
“Managed services wasn’t the direction we originally intended to take,” Mallan says. “But after we evaluated our options, it became obvious the solution to our problem was Warner Connect. We signed up over eight months ago, and we’re still talking today about easy it was and how smart we were for making the choice.”
Not an easy decision
Mallen’s former company had an IT staff of 10. Support was available immediately any time employees needed it. And the internal IT staff knew the business intimately, so they could fix problems or solve new business challenges easily. Mallen wanted both of these qualities in Teton’s new IT function.
Teton also had an aggressive time-table for establishing the business and becoming profitable. “We had a lot of IT infrastructure we needed to establish quickly and a lot of IT functions that had to be supported right from the start,” Mallen says. “We couldn’t afford to spend months working with an outside vendor to get it all going.”
Teton had reservations that any managed services companies could meet these rather demanding requirements, but Warner Connect quickly calmed the company’s fears.
Warner Connect has created three pre-designed enterprise-class IT architectures for small businesses based on their size and anticipated growth. For Teton, Warner implemented its architecture for small businesses with 20 to 50 employees, since Teton anticipated it would grow this big within a couple of years.
Less than 30 days elapsed from the time the contract was signed to the day Teton’s IT infrastructure was essentially “delivered” in full working order. Most other managed services firms would have needed a minimum of several months.
“Warner Connect has turned out to be the complete package,” Mallan says. “There’s almost no difference between them and having our own IT department, except the price. Think of a much bigger organization and all the things their IT department does for them – that’s what Warner Connect does for us.”
Extended honeymoon
Mallen and her partners realize that no managed services company can do everything. “The difference with Warner Connect,” she says, “is that they’re not afraid to go the extra mile and jump into new technology areas. If they don’t have the answers on the spot, they’ll do the research and find them for you.”
The three also never expected the honeymoon with Warner Connect to last so long. “Because of the initial concerns we had, the people at Warner Connect really went out their way to make us feel comfortable,” Mallen says. “They were always available, always hands-on. Their level of service was fantastic. I thought it would last for 30 or 60 days, and then we would become just another client. But here we are, eight months into the relationship, and we still get the same great service we got on day one.”