IT Support Accountancy Case Study

Overview

When time feels like it’s travelling at warp speed, the last thing to get ticked off your to-do list is a server maintenance update.

And, besides, even if we did find the time to lend our hand to all things techy, the whole task might suddenly feel like we’ve been thrown into a digital asteroid field with a slim chance of survival.
Sound familiar?

Well, this is what Mark at Shoreline Accountants experienced when he realised his systems weren’t functioning on all thrusters, despite paying another IT company a hefty monthly repair and maintenance fee to oversee his requirements!

Fed-up with an unreliable service and in need of a change, Mark acted on a recommendation he’d received about Northstar IT and decided to give the Captain a call.

Here’s what happened…

The problem

An on-site FREE audit by one of our fully qualified engineers revealed Shoreline’s servers had not been professionally serviced for over 2 years.

During this period, the server had steadily declined in functionality, becoming increasingly vulnerable to bugs and potential hacking threats with a series of missed software and security updates.

What’s worse, the outdated software and limited server space also meant Mark’s network was at greater risk of faulting, suddenly
slamming the inertial dampeners on IT-dependent day-to-day operations!

But luckily for Mark, he’d called us just in time. Otherwise, he may have been forced with the eye-watering option of removing the current server and replacing it with a brand-new hardware installation.

We’ll spare you the details of how expensive this can be!

Before the auditing phase was complete, our diagnostic tools had also indicated:

both virtual servers were running at full capacity with limited storage,
server backup and recovery service had expired (yet, Mark was still paying for this on a monthly subscription),
post configuration had not been performed during the initial migration from Mark’s old server,
server firewall had been disabled, giving the green light to potential data corruption.

In short – and without the technobabble – this meant Northstar IT had to carry out some essential maintenance works for Shoreline Accountants. And fast!

"There is a way out of every box, a solution to every puzzle; it’s just a matter of finding it."

- Captain Jean-Luc Picard,Star Trek: The Next Generation

What we did

Without disrupting Shoreline’s day-to-day operations, our engineers got to work by performing a series of updates and configurations to improve both server speed and security.

Specifications were upgraded, firewalls were repaired, and hard drive storage was expanded to give the business the capacity it
needed to operate without any risk of function overload – or potential data corruption!

And to cause as little downtime as possible, our team worked through the weekend to successfully configure Mark’s server following an incomplete migration from their previous network.

Another server saved.

Oh, and we also arranged credit for the money Mark had lost with his expired server backup and recovery service.

We hate to see clients wasting money (especially accountants).

Key takeaways

update, update, update! And if you don’t have time, speak to our team,
protect your data by following server security best practices (as boring as they might sound),
do your research on IT support providers and make sure you’re getting a professional!

We were using another IT company for 10 years and, if I’m honest, it felt like we were being ripped off. Everything seemed to be about money rather than service.

If I had an IT issue, I’d have to register my problem through an online ticket service – then I’d wait in hope that someone would call sooner rather than later. Most of the time, I wouldn’t hear anything for several hours!

Since working with Northstar, I have realised the poor level of service we were receiving. Christian and his team are quick to attend to any issues and they explain technical things in ways even I can understand.

If you want a refreshingly human and affordable service, look no further than Northstar IT.”

Mark Boxall, Owner of Shoreline Accountants Ltd.

Not sure if your server is functioning properly? Get in touch today for a FREE audit with one of our Northstar IT engineers.

KEY:

Do you feel like you are ‘piggy-in-the-middle’ with your IT support? Watch this for some inspiration.

Shoreline Accountants Ltd

Server maintenance: here’s what happened when a Sussex-based accounting business embarked on the Northstar support ship.