CB Auto Group
Case Study

Challenges

As its business grew, CB Auto Group faced multiple IT challenges when it came to building a network to meet its needs.

Due to the organization’s disparate equipment, its various computer systems could not communicate with one another and lacked interoperability. The network that the systems were on was inefficient and poorly managed, which caused its network servers to be slow and unreliable.

Due to the organization’s disparate equipment, various computer systems could not communicate with one another and lacked interoperability.

External emails were being directed to junk and spam folders, so important emails were left hidden and unread. This issue was not being addressed, which resulted in the company losing out on potential customers and profits.

The company lacked adequate IT capabilities, and the problem was exacerbated by the departure of its sole IT employee. The COO attempted to fill the void, but that was not a viable solution due to her lack of IT expertise. Issues that required troubleshooting remained unresolved, and the company found itself in a break-fix mode (with the “fix” part of the equation frequently neglected). In addition, this expanded role distracted the COO from her normal job duties, added hours and stress to her job and hindered her performance.

CB Auto Group’s server room was small and crammed full of devices – most of which were not set up. The small server closet also lacked essential cooling, which led to equipment breakdowns due to overheating.

Security was always a looming concern due to backup issues.

Security was always a looming concern due to backup issues. With an inadequate and poorly planned disaster-recovery strategy, the company was ill-prepared if a vulnerability were to arise.

The company’s email was a mix of Gmail and Outlook. Management wanted to switch everything to Outlook but lacked the expertise to perform the email and document migration. In addition, they needed the two email domains combined so employees could send emails from a specific domain when needed. Without an IT department, this difficult task remained unresolved.

CB Auto Group’s hardware and software were generally outdated past the suggested three-year refresh cycle and desperately required a comprehensive refresh.

Solution

It was clear CB Auto Group needed a more efficient and secure way of running its IT. The car dealer began looking for a managed service provider (MSP) that could offer consistent and reliable IT solutions. The company wanted a partner that shared its values: fair prices, transparency and a commitment to great customer service.

After careful consideration, CB Auto Group chose us, Cortavo, as its IT partner. In addition to our exceptional customer service, which stood out from the competition, the other main factors behind the company’s decision were access to a vCIO and the all-inclusive solutions offered.

Our Cortavo Techtility plan provided CB Auto Group’s team with new standardized equipment, including new laptops, desktops and updated software. This eliminated its problems with equipment interoperability by providing the hardware and software refreshes that it needed.

Adding virtual servers sped up its network significantly, making the network extremely reliable and freeing up the on-site space that was being used as a server closet. Its network-management issues were resolved by putting us in the driver’s seat, and its downtime has been minimized.

With a trusted partner by its side, security concerns disappeared as the company was given a disaster-recovery plan along with consistent and reliable backups. The antivirus and antispam included with every Cortavo package provided extra peace of mind.

The icing on top of the cake for CB Auto Group was our 24/7/365 Atlanta-based help desk, which not only resolved the company’s email issues, it also completely halted the vicious break-fix cycle. In addition, remote monitoring and management allow many potential problems to be detected before they occur — and for those that do occur to be fixed quickly.

For any issues that can not be remedied from afar, CB Auto Group knows Cortavo is ready to help and will send a member of our team to address the situation in person.