Clear Logistical Plan Crucial To Seamless Server Upgrade

By Gennifer Biggs, Business Solutions magazine.

One advantage of developing a managed services business model is the ability to proactively plan for the needs of your customers. MSP Dynamic Network Support (DNS) recently discovered how valuable that insight can be when one of its managed services customers, a specialty wine distributor, started to push the limits of its IT infrastructure, potentially needed a server upgrade. "Our customer was experiencing a tremendous amount of growth, so the challenge was the limitations they were facing in terms of hardware, licensing, and infrastructure," explains Bryant Smallwood, CEO of DNS. Because the wine distributor was on DynamiCare, the self-branded Kaseya solution used by DNS for remote monitoring and management of its managed services customers, DNS could proactively discuss options with its client, overcoming most objections before they even formed. "It was our managed services relationship that alerted us to their needs, and it allowed us to be proactive," says Smallwood.

DNS proposed that the customer migrate from its Small Business Server 2003 to a Windows 2008 R2 server that was capable of handling the customer's growing number of on-site and remote users. While the investment was significant — $18,000 — Smallwood says the business owner understood that it was a necessary reinvestment into her business to do a server upgrade.

Because of the nature of a server upgrade, the project required coordination around the migration of data, a plan to handle software compatibility issues, a schedule for after-hours testing, and an overall focus on minimal downtime. The DNS team also had to handle integrating the customer's scanning and document management server and its desktop equipment.

With the planning and deployment complete at the wine distribution company, Smallwood says the customer has seen increased productivity throughout its operations, but especially in terms of the time needed to manage and optimize its IT infrastructure.