How an IT Environment Overhaul Fortified a 24/7 Manufacturing Operation

A ransomware attack is a crisis. For a specialty chemical manufacturer, it turned into an opportunity to overhaul a decades-old IT environment and position the company for private equity scrutiny. Here's how Resultant got them there.

Share

  |  

The breach that exposed more than data

When a ransomware attack hit a specialty chemical manufacturer, the impact was felt far beyond day-to-day operations. The data breach exposed years of accumulated IT risk that had been building beneath the surface.

The company’s relationship with its existing IT provider didn't survive the ransomware attack. Without any dedicated internal IT staff, they needed to find a partner that understood what was at stake; one they could trust to jump in quickly to identify and solve the problem.

They were introduced to Resultant through a trusted advisor that worked in a heavily regulated industry and understood the mission-critical nature of their situation. What started as a conversation about ransomware remediation turned into something much bigger.

After Resultant came in and talked about their helpdesk support, things they had already seen in the walk-around, and plans going forward on how we would prevent a future attack, we pretty quickly realized it was going to be the right fit.

CFO, Client

Closeup hand working in digital tablet in server room

The audit that revealed issues no band-aid could fix

With no documentation or roadmaps left behind by the previous provider, Resultant conducted a full assessment of the client’s IT and data environment. The findings made the urgency of the situation clear.

The environment ran on decades-old operating systems and outdated infrastructure that weren’t originally built for today’s needed reliability and resilience. During a visit to a sister plant, we found that the entire facility ran on an unsecured wireless network that had never been documented, leaving the facility exposed to the same kind of attack the company had just survived.

For an organization with a continuous manufacturing operation, the vulnerability was impossible to ignore any longer.

Rather than flag these issues and move on, Resultant proposed a full infrastructure overhaul for that plant, including fiber installation, new switches, a new firewall, and updated wireless access points. To ensure the solution was built around the client's needs rather than a vendor's convenience, we designed the architecture ourselves and sent it out to bid.

From that point on, the client knew what kind of partner they were working with.

Modernization without operational disruption

When a 24/7 manufacturing operation with only a few weeks of planned downtime per year requires large-scale modernization of the IT environment, you don't enjoy the luxury of a clean cutover. Every improvement had to be made incrementally and without disrupting plant operations.

We built a phased roadmap that allowed us to make meaningful progress within those constraints.

The roadmap included:

  • Retiring legacy systems that could not support today’s demands
  • Migrating devices to supported platforms that could be integrated, monitored, and secured
  • Introducing Multi-Factor Authentication to control access to IT systems
  • Building high-availability architecture to enable future upgrades while maintaining uptime

Year over year, the environment that Resultant inherited and overhauled has become reliable, secure, and capable of supporting the client’s round-the-clock operations.

The kind of partner that survives an acquisition

For the company’s CFO, the value of working with Resultant has gone far beyond technical expertise. He is truly grateful for a partner that shows up, takes the time to identify the root cause of problems, and designs solutions to correct past issues and position the organization for future success.

When you put in a ticket or you make a call, and the first person can actually answer your question, it doesn't have to get escalated and delayed. It gives a lot of credence to Resultant's expertise in their field. When you hand something off and come up with a strategic plan for an IT project, Resultant actually drives that project to completion. You don't have to follow up, because they’re being proactive.

- CFO, Client

 

When the client was later acquired by a private equity firm, modernized infrastructure helped demonstrate their readiness without scrambling to fill gaps that were creating risk. The client’s leadership pushed to continue working with Resultant and has since opened conversations about extending the partnership across other companies in the portfolio.

Resultant understands the importance of strong vendor partnerships. Our longstanding relationships enable clear communication and allow us to extend vendor responsiveness and service quality directly to our clients. 

 

Conclusion

Not every client comes to us with a clean slate. Some come to us in the middle of a crisis made worse by a lack of guidance that led to neglected IT systems and uninformed decisions.

For this client, a once weak and vulnerable IT environment is now becoming an area of strength. It enables the company to function proactively instead of reacting to problems and keep pace with the demands of a 24/7 operation.

 

Ready to challenge your thinking?

Have a question or request for Resultant? Fill out the form and we'll get back to you quickly.


Insights delivered to your inbox