Mitch is a seasoned IT professional. He’s been around the block, so much so that he remembers vividly the nightmare that Windows ME was. He’s seen operating systems come and go, he’s seen hardware rapidly change and evolve. Mitch has seen it all.
Mitch was a company man, he had served as Head of Technology at the ACME Anvil company for over 18 years. He accomplished so much by creating systems, processes, and best IT practices to keep the company running safely, efficiently, and profitably. But, it was time. Mitch had an itch. It was time for a bigger challenge, he wanted to get his hands dirty one more time before retirement, and he set out to find something a bit younger, a bit more hip, a bit more LIT as the kids say these days.
After interviewing at a few smaller sized companies, Mitch received the call. The call that would change everything in his life, the call that would give him the “EXCITEMENT” that he was craving. It was a young startup. A company that had introduced a whole new-fandangled, ecologically friendly approach to harvesting maple syrup. The company was growing rapidly, they had seed money, they had investors craving to get a part of the sticky action, they were growing their team and wow, it was ALIVE. Mitch was sold. He put in his two weeks notice, packed up his office and all of his Deadpool and Wolverine figurines, and headed on over to the Quick Pour Maple Syrup Company.
Ryan, the CEO of Quick Pour met Mitch at the front door on his first day. “ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?” he asked Mitch. Mitch, beyond excited, exclaimed, “Let’s DO THIS.” He settled into his office with the shiny plaque reading Mitch Wilson, CTO. After digging into their existing infrastructure, Mitch took a few days to get to understand the business, the economic engine, the sales process, the marketing process, and the business logistics of how to move Maple Syrup from Canada to the United States. As he got deeper and deeper into the syrup, he began to notice the challenges that this fast paced, rapidly flowing company was facing. They were running multiple systems, a CRM, A Back Office Accounting Software, Marketing Tools and Software on different platforms, 3 different document management systems, 4 different operating system versions, unmatched hardware, and so much more. One of the most glaring things Mitch noticed was several security challenges, several open ports, several opportunities for cyber threats, and most worrisome, some very loose security practices from the team.
After taking it all in, Mitch scheduled a meeting with Ryan, the CEO. Ryan was always pumped, always jacked, and quite possibly, consumes way too much of his own product on the daily. He was always a breath of fresh air with tons of enthusiasm and energy, but he moved at the speed of sound. Mitch sat down with Ryan and laid out his findings. In a nutshell, the company could become WAY more efficient, way safer, and way more profitable if Ryan just followed Mitch’s plan. He pushed back a bit, exclaiming, “We just put that new CRM into place, the sales team loves it.” and “That new switch cost us thousands of dollars and you’re saying it’s the wrong piece?” Ryan was seeing dollar signs and how much Mitch’s plan was going to cost the company. Mitch continued to lay out his plan despite Mitch’s concerns. At one point Mitch said “We can pay now, or we can pay later.” This got Ryan’s attention. He questioned Mitch a bit more “What do you mean by that? How could it cost us more down the road if we just laid out all of the capital for the existing stuff?” Mitch explained: “When you have multiple systems, not talking to each other, you have built in confusion. The more systems that we continue to add on, we face security risks. The more employees that we add that are not educated on cybersecurity, our risks jump exponentially. I’m proposing that we integrate all of our systems. Devise a data backup plan that can grab every piece of data that this company generates and store it in multiple places. I’m proposing that we invest in education for our team so that they become warriors to keep us safe. I’m proposing that we ensure that all of our hardware is patched, current, and has a proactive plan to replace it when it becomes antiquated.” Ryan stood up from his desk, walked around his office at a fast pace, paused, turned to Mitch and said, “Make it happen.”
On the way home that evening, Mitch blasted his favorite soundtrack from Deadpool 2 in the car. He was grinning from ear to ear, was excited, was energized, and couldn’t stop thinking about putting his plan into motion. He got excited thinking about how his work was cut out for him, but how it was going to make such a lasting impact on the company. This was what he craved and his victory was sweeter than any maple syrup on the planet.
If your company is running in chaos due to outdated software, multiple, unconnected systems, a lack of backup, a lack of cybersecurity education, we need to talk. Sure, everything is an investment, but like Mitch, we look down the road and see the challenges with always doing it the way that you used to. Reach out to ASSI for a free chit chat about your growing business. We’d love to help you grow, thrive, and prosper. Call 407-414-6626 to chat, or visit our website https://advancedsystemssolutions.com/contact-us/. Relax, We’re on IT.
