Growth is a good problem to have, but it does typically also mean details are left unaddressed as a steady stream of new issues demands attention. For Forever Cheese, an importer of artisan foods from the Mediterranean, keeping up with demand understandably took precedence over IT modernization. A 2021 leadership transition created an opportunity for catching up to the growth, and Forever Cheese partnered with Resultant to make it happen.
Addressing the Challenges of an Outgrown System
Forever Cheese faced some daunting obstacles as it dug in to modernization, all of which added up to unfulfilled potential and vulnerability to significant business disruptions:
- The business was running on a server that already had outlasted its intended life span.
- Outdated applications and network infrastructure needed to be replaced.
- A Google Workspace integration had not been properly strategized and so had left data access entirely too open.
- IT policies needed to be established or updated.
- Although sales representatives traveled frequently, the company was not equipped to facilitate remote work.
- Warehouse reporting relied on a lot of manual processes.
The company needed big improvements fast—with minimal disruption—and it needed them to scale through planned expansion. And, to really keep things interesting, Forever Cheese was about to start an ERP migration and move to a new office space.
Starting with Deep Investigation
Our team first conducted a technology assessment and met with the CFO and other department heads several times a week during the first month of our engagement to develop a technology roadmap that would align with their business goals.
Change management is always a big part of any engagement and especially here, where longstanding employees and a major technology upgrade were part of the equation, it became doubly important. Clear, steady communication and careful change management from the start made the process happen not just quickly but smoothly.
Ultimately, our team
- Replaced Forever Cheese’s equipment, from network equipment and monitors down to mice and keyboards. Not one piece of physical hardware—not even the cables—went untouched.
- Prepared three weeks of training to ease employees through the cloud migration; stayed on site to ease the transition and answer questions.
- Integrated Intune for computer management, which enables our team to securely manage equipment remotely.
- Spent 10 days in New York helping the company move and set up its new office.
- Overcame the “anywhere and everywhere” data storage approach with SharePoint.
- Established a technology environment that provides a baseline the company can build from—and made it happen in six months instead of the 18 months our roadmap had planned for.
Achieving Modernization without Disruption
Forever Cheese now maintains a modern, flexible, and secure technology environment that enables better reporting and supports remote work. We helped them move to a serverless environment using Intune, SharePoint, and Microsoft 365, with security solutions from Barracuda and Trend Micro.
The changes Resultant implemented have led to increased productivity and collaboration in different work environments and more fluid communication. They have helped build culture and community.
– Eric Vorchheimer, CFO, Forever Cheese
Read the full client story to learn more about how we helped Forever Cheese position itself for a whole new era of growth.
Read the full story here
