Client: Copps Industries
Copps Industries is a leading supplier of epoxy resins. The Company sells over 500 epoxy products and serves over 400 customers across 27 countries.
Challenge
Copps Industries was preparing to move to a new facility, and much of its core IT infrastructure was nearing a needed refresh cycle. Controller, Matt Copps, and the senior team saw this move as an opportunity to modernize and transform cost structure by migrating servers, applications, and other resources to Cloud-based solutions. They saw Cloud Migration as a way to avoid the cost of an in-house data room in the new building, and a way to turn fixed capital expenditures into variable operating expenses, and potentially a way to scale efficiently. However, such a major change brought great uncertainty, a concern over ensuring always-on connectivity for staff and business partners working at many locations, and a need for experienced guidance.
Solution
Copps engaged its trusted IT partner, SSR, to assess the situation and develop a strategic roadmap. SSR analyzed the needs of the business, the ways it used IT, and various alternatives for upgrading the existing infrastructure. The result was a detailed strategy showing that Copps could indeed move entirely to the Cloud, over a reasonable timeframe, in a way that met all business needs without undue cost or risk.
Copps decided to engage SSR to help it execute this plan. The first project in the effort was to migrate from on-promise email and phone systems to Cloud-based alternatives. SSR engineers migrated Copps’ email to Microsoft Office 365 and telephony to a solution from 3CX. Unlike the legacy phone system, this allows for workers to take their phone anywhere and plug seamlessly into communication and collaboration tools such as WhatsApp, SMS, and video conferencing. In subsequent engineering projects, SSR helped migrate Copps’ ERP system files, from Deacom (now ECI Solutions), which was already housed in the Cloud, and its other applications to Microsoft SharePoint Services.
As moving date neared, SSR dug in and helped by prepping the new building for internet connectivity, Wi-Fi, and security. SSR worked hand-in-hand with the building contractor and internet providers ensuring the layout was adequate and data cables were run properly. Additionally, Copps took advantage of the move and Cloud migration by upgrading security with advanced threat protection, multi-factor authentication (MFA) and enhanced user training on security awareness, all of which were led by SSR.
Results
Looking back on the migration, Matt Copps reflects, “SSR truly was our guide as this “process” unfolded. It wasn’t a one-and-done kind of project. They transferred our old on premise email and phone system to the Cloud, and then numerous system files and applications.”
“By moving to the cloud, we were able to get rid of potential physical hardware failures and, overall, it was a low risk move in the grand scheme of things. It truly made sense for us to take this step, and I’m glad SSR was our partner in doing so,” stated Matt. “I think what really made this process such a positive and unique experience, was that SSR really took the time to understand our business and our employees’ roles within the company. By taking this crucial step, it helped streamline the entire cloud migration process. They knew what technology we needed to do business efficiently. By determining what we needed, they were able to successfully assess, plan and implement a process, as well as create a support plan to help monitor and maintain these systems moving forward.”
“And as an added bonus, our business is now more secure than ever. During the cloud migration, SSR implemented several security technologies for us including advanced threat protection, multi factor authentication, and security awareness training; nearly every solution they provided us, has some level of security included.”
“Now that we are utilizing a cloud platform, we can be more transparent and scalable, so that when there are ebbs and flows in business, it’s much easier to continue business as usual.”
Additionally, we did not have one single outage during the move. We are following technology best practices and are ready for growth. Our infrastructure is fully implemented, fully scalable and fully managed. Our billing processes have been streamlined. We have gone from a capital expenditure project every few years to an overall operating expense. I’m looking forward to continuing our IT journey with SSR,” said Matt.
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