Financial Services
RA Services specializes in finding buyers and sellers for large value corporations. Headquartered in San Diego, it is involved in transactions globally, with staff working around the world.
Challenges
Help Spin-Off Company Transition Overnight
RA Services came to SpotLink® when they were being spun off by another firm. SpotLink’s® first challenge was to catalog all the equipment that RA Services was inheriting as part of the spin off and make sure that the core requirements of the business could be accommodated. They then had to develop a plan with the spinner firm’s IT staff on the conversion process.
Solution
Because RA Services needed to close at end of business, then start at 8 a.m. the next day in the new location, the conversion was an all-night process. All the servers, switches, workstations, and splintered VOIP system had to be moved, reconfigured, and made operational in only 12 hours. Working through the night, SpotLink® had everything operating as expected and RA Services’s IT systems were ready for use as planned.
Decrease Overall IT Costs
Managing the day-to-day IT needs of RA Services over the next few years, SpotLink® learned that RA Service’s IT infrastructure was larger than it needed to be. Along with a comprehensive server upgrade, SpotLink® was able to reduce RA Services’ server needs by almost 40%, decreasing not only their hardware expenses but also their overall IT support costs. SpotLink® also strengthened the company’s security by installing Cisco security devices. Despite the reduction in servers and IT support, SpotLink® kept all RA Services’ financial modeling and information systems such as Bloomberg Station and Capital IQ operating at the same high levels.
Later, SpotLink® further reduced RA Services’ IT needs through increased virtualization and by outsourcing services. Eventually, SpotLink® worked with RA Services to move most of their services to Cloud, almost completely eliminating both RA Services’ on-premise server needs and onsite IT management needs.
results
Moving most of the infrastructure to the cloud, RA Services has drastically reduced its day-to-day IT needs. However, SpotLink® continues to support RA Services in its networking needs and technology planning.