Banking Case Study – Urgent MSP Staffing Requirement

After-Hours SDWAN Network Upgrade Project

A software-defined wide area network (SDWAN) is a virtual WAN architecture that allows enterprises to leverage any combination of transport services — including MPLS, LTE and broadband internet services — to securely connect users to applications.

Client Overview

A Tier 1 Managed Services Provider (MSP) supporting a client with 240+  locations in the financial industry, contracted for IT Field Services support. Client required the  following to execute and complete the project: after-hours onsite smart-hands work, tech to  bring laptop with Putty & Zoom installed and RJ45 console cable.

Issue

The MSP was unable to create a pricing solution that coincided with the client’s desired  timeline/budget for a companywide SDWAN Network Upgrade. Services were subcontracted to  a large Field Services Contractor in North America to find technicians local to the sites, that pass  background and drug screens, with the IT knowledge required to complete the project within the timeline/budget which proved to be unsuccessful.

Recovery of Service Support

GTN Technical Staffing was notified by the MSP that they  needed help finding a staffing/scheduling solution within their desired budget. GTN was given a  2-week lead time. The project required 4-5 technicians to show up on-time to designated  locations 5 days a week to work with the client engineer team to facilitate the upgrade. GTN  wrote up a Statement of Work (SOW) that was approved by the client for the MSP that met all  the requirements.

Operational Stand Up

As soon as the MSP gave GTN the greenlight that SOW was  approved, the company immediately started onboarding technicians all over the Northeast and  Southeast United States. Within the 2 weeks given, GTN had over 50+ technicians onboarded  (passed background/drug screen) with the required IT knowledge ready to go onsite to client  locations.

Priorities

The technician reliability issue that the MSP was running into with their client  proved to be a massive opportunity for GTN. The work windows for the SDWAN upgrade were  tight and technicians had to be on time to prevent further delays. GTN was able to recruit  reliable technicians to show up on time and execute the work outlined by the client.

How GTN Reacted

GTN Field Service team immediately started working with MSP’s client  on scheduling to ensure the project could continue without delays. For the following 4+  months, GTN staffed 20-25 sites per week to work with the client engineer team to perform the  upgrades. See email from client regarding the success of the project because of how GTN  reacted to the MSP’s call for help.

Client Testimonial

The below email was from client Director of Arch Cloud/Infrastructure…..

Thank you for all your support in meeting our 2022 goals for the SDWAN project. It was a  challenging task scheduling resources for the number of sites in scope but you did an excellent job  in managing them.

Business Benefits

Branches on SDWAN have improved the bandwidth, resiliency using diverse  ISP providers and Wi-Fi capabilities.

SDWAN cutover: 229 out of 241 – 95% Complete

Count of Branch Number	Count of Lumen DIA  Circuit Implementation	Count of Lumen DIA Cutover from System data	Count of Comcast  MBB Circuit Implementation
241	210	200	227

 

Router and Firewall upgrades – 100% Complete

Router Upgrade	Firewall Upgrade	Count of Comcast  MBB Cutover from System data
179	184	225

Summary

The MSP was able to quickly react and fill the void in service by choosing GTN.  GTN’s ability to quickly place resources into action on all fronts made this a success. The  partnership between GTN and MSP helped circumvent a difficult situation which culminated in a  pleased client with avoidance of costly penalties to the MSP and any work stoppage.