IT program for a 1,000-user utility contractor

This case study describes work Jake Nowyj, JFI’s founder, did as an employee before JFI existed. It isn’t a JFI client engagement, and the company isn’t named. It’s here because it’s where the approach behind JFI’s managed IT came from: documentation first, problems fixed at the cause, and every dollar of spend questioned.

A utility construction contractor with around 1,000 users, field crews and offices spread across 22 sites in Canada and the US. As the business grew, IT had grown by accretion: more sites, more licences, more vendors, and more bills, without a plan tying them together.

That meant the usual symptoms of IT without a roadmap: spend that was hard to explain, networks that each worked a little differently, and security and backups that depended on who had set each site up.

• Spread out. 22 sites across two countries, many of them far from anyone who could fix things in person.
• Field work never stops. Crews and job sites had to keep running while systems changed underneath them.
• Every change had to pay its way. The roadmap and budget were set directly with the CEO, so each project needed a clear case.
• A team to rebuild. The IT team itself needed rebuilding alongside the systems.

A roadmap and budget, agreed with the CEO

IT moved from reacting to requests to a written roadmap and budget, set directly with the CEO, so spending decisions had an owner and a reason.

The IT team, rebuilt

Starting on the help desk and finishing as IT Manager, Jake rebuilt the IT team around clear responsibilities and documented systems.

22 sites onto cloud-managed networks

Site networks were moved onto cloud-managed networking, so every location could be configured, monitored and fixed the same way, remotely.

A layered security and backup program

Security and backups were built up in layers rather than relying on any single tool, so one failure didn’t mean a lost day or lost data.

The bills, cut

Licensing, printing and outside services were reviewed line by line, keeping what people actually used and dropping or renegotiating the rest.

Most businesses JFI works with are far smaller than 1,000 users, but the habits carry over directly:

• Everything documented from day one, so support starts with your history in front of us.
• Licences and subscriptions matched to who actually uses them.
• Networks set up so they can be monitored and fixed remotely, with cabling that’s tested and labelled.
• Security and backups in layers, with restores tested rather than assumed.
• A short summary every quarter, so spending decisions have a reason.

And where the answer is software rather than settings, JFI builds it: see custom solutions and integrations.