Newfound Networks Case Studies

Atlantic Photo Supply

Newfound Networks helps Atlantic Photo Supply put out an urgent ‘network fire’ and move forward with a long term network plan. The end result was the elimination of network problems and the reduced need for network support. Atlantic Photo Supply and Newfound Networks developed a true client-consultant relationship as the project progressed from initial diagnostic to design to final technology integration.

The Client

Atlantic Photo Supply is a leader in professional photography services and products in Halifax Regional Municipality. The company had used other IT resources in the past, and it was evident that while they were strong on the ‘Windows/application’ side, they were weak on the ‘LAN networking’ side. Says consultant Vaughn Munden, “when the client called us, they basically said they were suffering from intermittent network black-outs. When we arrived on site, we did a couple of quick checks, and found multiple instances of incorrect network settings. “We quickly concluded that the fundamentals of LAN and IP networking were not understood by previous IT resources and we knew how to move forward” says Vaughn Munden.

The Solution

Rather than immediately apply short term fixes to the individual problems we decided to first get an idea of the ‘big picture’ . We informed the client up front that we were going to spend a couple of hours doing a diagnostic review, and document everything we had found. We then discussed the results, what it was they were trying to accomplish, and what we recommended. In Phase 1 we reconfigured the network settings of most of the PCs, and the router. This put out the network fire immediately. Says Allen Sutherland, manager, “The network became very stable immediately afterwards.” Since Allen had some other concerns, we then proposed a ‘Phase 2'. About a week later, the proposal was accepted. The final outcome of Phase 2 was to create a ‘network solution map’ for the immediate and long term needs of the business and the technologies necessary to create these solutions.

The Benefit

There was an immediate and long term benefit for Atlantic Photo Supply. The immediate benefit was the elimination of network outages and increased productivity as the staff could focus on getting their work done. As well, a part of our solution was to work with Allen, and help him obtain the tools necessary to do the small chores himself. Says consultant Vaughn Munden “we quickly realized that Allen was very capable of handling the small IT tasks, saving the company external IT expenses. The long term benefit is that we produced a ‘network health’ report based on their current equipment and their business needs. This reports identifies where the network is in great shape, and where it could use some immediate attention. This will enable them to spend money only where it is needs to be spent, knowing that the ‘other thing’ is good for another six months.

We also acted as a ‘shop talk translator’ when talking to their ISP technical support, which saved even more time. While working with the client, a sales person came in to talk about a new ‘whiz bang product’ that they should consider. After demonstrating our expertise, Allen and the president asked us “Do we need this? Will this work for us?” After a quick review of the product, and our explanation of what it does and how it works, they concluded that it would not be an effective solution, and likely would not provide any Return On Investment. We then introduced the client to some other technologies and service providers in the market, that we felt would be more appropriate, and when the time is right we will help them further with this.

When we were finished and saying goodbye, Allen said “See you soon” and we said with a smile “We hope not...not if we did our job right!”.

Atlantic Photo Supply Web site

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