Customer Profile

The What If Challenge

With the meteoric rise of data in recent years, it’s more important than ever for organizations to have an adaptive storage strategy in place, one in which they can capably manage the housing, protection, and recovery of their ever-expanding cache of information. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s also vital for organizations to be able to manage their IT environment with effortlessness and efficiency.

Looking to update and expand their storage capabilities, this Federal Government Agency approached Sterling for help and initially requested two servers and storage arrays. They hoped the additions would modernize their systems and allow for a more streamlined management of their data requirements. As the sole IT administrator within the agency, the customer expressed price as a primary concern. S/he decided to settle for the two servers and storage arrays, ignoring the “What if…?” question nagging at his/her subconscious: “What if we could afford to develop an environment that’s managed through one pane of glass? What if we could efficiently integrate information from across varied applications and platforms into a single unified dashboard?” The customer hoped to one day explore these questions more in more depth, but for now, the agency was experiencing a fundamental dearth: a lack of resources, but also a lack of information regarding Big Data storage and protection, both of which acted as deterrents keeping the customer from exploring further.

A Transformational Solution

As a company who prides ourselves on being a trusted advisor, always delivering a vendor-neutral, consultative approach, Sterling was happy to help this Federal Government Agency. Instead of merely quoting the storage opportunity and moving on, Sterling’s team of IT experts probed deeper, inquiring about the customer’s intention for the storage, how the agency was currently backing up their data and ensuring protection, and what their overall IT goals looked like. We hoped to gain a holistic perspective, one with which we could better serve the customer’s needs.

With the intel gained through this comprehensive fact-finding process, Sterling team members then enlisted the aid of our engineering resources. Together, the two Sterling teams hosted a series of discovery and information-gathering calls, aiming to further understand the customer’s unique environment, their immediate goals, and their broader, long-term strategy for their IT. Next, we crafted a thorough, personalized presentation laying out viable solutions, and we continued asking the important questions.

The collaborative-and constructive-nature of these discussions led the customer to inquire about network assessment, which Sterling was happy to oblige. We explored the Federal Government Agency’s vulnerabilities and network baseline; we shared cloud migration strategies. These conversations, in turn, led to discussions around Big Data. From this, Sterling team members were able to expose an underlying problem the customer faced: an analytics software presently in use was creating an unmanageable storage sprawl.

With the central issue identified, Sterling developed an Integrated Data Protection Appliance (IDPA) solution that would encompass all areas of concern. We also alleviated the Federal Government Agency’s budgetary concerns with our competitive pricing; furthermore, the proposed solution will save the customer an untold sum in maintenance and management in the years to come.

What If…Resolved

The Federal Government Agency’s “What if…?”-which they hadn’t dared to explore at the present moment-has now been fulfilled. Because of Sterling’s diligent, meticulous approach, the customer received a truly holistic solution. It goes deeper and offers heightened, long-term value for their agency. We took the burden off the customer, exploring not just one problem they faced, but examining their system as a whole. The Federal Government Agency can now retain, access, manage, and replicate their storage from a convenient central location, which will optimize their efficiency and revitalize their environment.

As is our custom, Sterling invested the time to truly understand the customer’s issues and priorities. Our team members went beyond a surface-level opportunity and dug deeper for this Federal Government Agency, searching for a solution that would provide the utmost benefit for their organization. Through our comprehensive assessments, we identified the larger issue at hand and developed a viable solution that would successfully solve it. We delivered true value that will serve this Federal Government Agency for years to come.