About Clemans Nelson & Associates
Clemans Nelson & Associates, Inc. is a management consulting firm specializing in human resources and labor relations. Based in Columbus Ohio, with regional offices in Akron, Cincinnati, and Lima, Clemans Nelson has been providing industry counsel and functional expertise to employers and the government for over 40 years. Established in 1976, they have become one of the largest full-service consulting firms in the Midwest by helping organizations improve their services and maximize growth.
As a management consulting firm, Clemans Nelson depends on strong and clear communication to provide the best service possible. Maintaining that level of communication was particularly challenging with their previous IT service provider. Clemans Nelson relied on an external company to provide managed IT support but was unhappy with their work and services rendered. This led them to approach Revolution Group for assistance. Revolution Group updated Clemans Nelson’s infrastructure, provided a suite of services and completed several major quality of life improvements. These improvements allowed Clemans Nelson to elevate their consulting services in a variety of areas by giving employees better remote access to the system and improving the user experience.
The Challenge
Clemans Nelson needed help with their IT department. Their external IT provider was unable to create or manage a comprehensive IT strategy, handle major IT projects, or update aging systems critical to Clemans Nelson’s daily operations. It had reached a point where the provider’s services were more of a hindrance than a help.
“We had experienced a number of issues with our previous provider, and over the course of the 12 months prior to our making a change, the problems and severity of the issues escalated to the point that, as IT Manager, I ended up liaising directly with one of our primary application vendors to try to get to the root of our most severe issues.”
- PJ Winegardner, IT Manager, Clemans Nelson
Clemans Nelson’s IT provider was not delivering the managed IT services promised, and it was affecting the entire company. While staff were able to keep client projects and needs flowing in a timely manner through workarounds, the company’s IT issues were not being addressed or resolved in a timely fashion by their previous provider and it impacted Clemans Nelson’s efficiency and ability to implement new IT solutions.
“The last few years we were with [our previous provider], there was no real IT strategy other than trying to keep things held together with band-aids. There was no proactive consultation or planning provided by them; it was strictly reactionary to whatever issue was burning the hottest. Even when our servers were starting to go bad, we had to approach them and ask ‘What’s a better alternative given the age of the existing servers?’”
- PJ Winegardner, IT Manager, Clemans Nelson
Clemans Nelson was hurtling forward with an inadequate IT policy and insufficient IT support. Without a clearly defined IT strategy, Clemans Nelson was unable to proactively handle upcoming problems. They were forced instead to be reactionary, responding to whatever issue needed attention the most. This kept them from planning ahead and getting their IT struggles under control. Finally, they decided to explore alternative external IT providers, which led them to Revolution Group.
“We started looking [for a new managed IT service provider] in July/ August of 2018 after multiple attempts to escalate our document management issues to seek resolution failed. Our document management system is the backbone of our company, and to have it be inoperable with regular frequency, in addition to other IT issues that we encountered, became a major obstacle to our company’s success.”
- PJ Winegardner, IT Manager, Clemans Nelson
Getting Started
Once Clemans Nelson decided that it was time to switch managed IT providers, they began searching for alternatives. This change would be no small feat, as they didn’t want to repeat the same mistakes they had made with their previous IT provider. They began the rigorous search to find an adequate replacement with several criteria in mind.
“We were most concerned with a solid track record of customer service, focusing on knowledge of the technicians, depth of the field, documentation, and responsiveness. Documentation was a really big one because it felt like our previous provider did not keep accurate records of what was done and when, and when a similar situation would present itself, it felt like we were always starting back over at zero.
Like most small businesses, we were concerned about cost, which led us to realize that we needed a provider whose goals would be aligned with ours. We were tired of getting charged for every little thing that went wrong and wanted to get away from a mainly time and materials billing structure.”
- PJ Winegardner, IT Manager, Clemans Nelson
This led Clemans Nelson to approach Revolution Group, a Columbus-based managed IT company, to provide IT strategy, support, and technology project management. Revolution Group got to work right away, and it was immediately evident that there was a vast improvement from Clemans Nelson’s previous managed IT provider.
“[I first noticed an improvement] within days of Revolution Group managing our systems when I realized that our document management system was no longer crashing daily. After a year of being worried about users not being able to access data properly, this was a HUGE relief! That one moment helped reinforce that we had made the right choice to leave the previous provider because as soon as their tools were off our servers, our document management system stopped crashing! This had been a huge focus of the previous 9 months after the app vendor had told us about changes that needed to be made and the previous provider kept reassuring me, they had made those changes. When you don’t have to worry about the health of one of your primary systems, it’s a tremendous weight off your shoulders.”
- PJ Winegardner, IT Manager, Clemans Nelson
The Right Match, With Outstanding Results
Revolution Group worked closely with the IT team at Clemans Nelson to understand the challenges they were experiencing, and how to approach them. One of the primary issues facing Clemans Nelson was how to best enable users’ access to the company’s servers and files when working away from the office. Revolution Group was able to identify several solutions, then executed the best one. This transition would prove to be more beneficial than anyone could have ever expected.
“In late 2019, we started talking with Revolution Group about alternative solutions for our users, many of whom are working away from our offices regularly as we generally go out to meet with our clients, to be able to access our servers and files. We wanted a more stable platform that would eliminate the latency issues and drops that our users frequently encountered. They identified a solution, gave us the pros and cons, and the cost for the change, and we made the change in December 2019.
Three months later, the global pandemic hit and nearly all of our users needed to start working remotely overnight. Had we not made the change that we did – both moving to Revolution Group and listening when they talked about alternative access platforms, we feel that 2020 might have had a very different outcome for our company. Their overall support was instrumental to our company’s success in serving our clients in 2020.”
- PJ Winegardner, IT Manager, Clemans Nelson
With Revolution Group’s alternative access solutions, Clemans Nelson was able to not only stay open during the Covid-19 pandemic, but to thrive. Revolution Group was able to provide a whole suite of managed IT services to improve their internal systems, communication, and user experience. With Revolution Group, Clemans Nelson was no longer struggling to respond to technology crises and their systems had never been more effective.
“Revolution Group provides the full-range of services for us, from managing and monitoring our IT infrastructure to helping our users resolve issues. They have also completed several projects for us, most recently helping us migrate our email hosting from our old service provider to Microsoft and assisting us in rolling out Office 365 to all of our users.”
- PJ Winegardner, IT Manager, Clemans Nelson
Revolution Group delivered comprehensive managed IT services to improve every aspect of Clemans Nelson’s digital infrastructure, from providing support to users, to completing technology projects that benefit the user and employee experience. This freed up internal resources in Clemans Nelson that were better suited elsewhere, improving the overall efficiency of the organization and the services they offer.
“We have easily seen more than a 50% reduction in the amount of time that I spend as IT Manager in dealing with IT issues on a regular basis. With our previous provider, for a long time, I was the sole contact point and had to call or email about every issue; even once that model was changed, I often had to step in to get issues escalated, continually follow-up with both users and the provider to see if a resolution had been attained, and had to field all the complaints from our users at the length of time it took to get even simple issues resolved. My spending less time on IT has allowed the company to utilize my time more effectively and enabled me to become more active in serving our clients directly.”
- PJ Winegardner, IT Manager, Clemans Nelson
Revolution Group took a struggling digital infrastructure, a non-existent IT strategy, and an overworked internal IT department and made it work. And at Clemans Nelson, the results speak for themselves.
“I would say the biggest enhancements have come from having a better remote access platform for all of our systems, reductions in user complaints, and just overall stability of our day-to-day IT environment. Knowing that our systems will be up and functioning properly when our users need to access them, which can be 24/7/365, is worth a lot.
Every month we get to sit down with our virtual CIO and recap what’s going on and what’s coming up that we need to be aware of (like license renewals, any known issues, threats, etc.). The monthly meetings really help us feel like we are being proactive rather than strictly reactive.”
- PJ Winegardner, IT Manager, Clemans Nelson
Revolution Group helped Clemans Nelson transition aging systems to modern programs, improving user experience and streamlining procedures. Revolution Group was able to solidify the Clemans Nelson’s crucial document management system making it more accessible and reliable. All of these improvements have allowed Clemans Nelson & Associates to serve their customers better and have set them up for future success.
About Clemans Nelson & Associates
Clemans Nelson has provided quality management consulting services to employers for over 40 years. They are one of the largest full-service consulting firms in the Midwest specializing in labor relations and human resource management.
Clemans Nelson draws from the collective experience of their staff to develop practical solutions to client problems. Their extensive research capabilities allow them to quickly find the correct answers to your questions. The diverse professional background of their staff enables them to develop the best approach for resolving your employment issues. They are uniquely qualified to handle all of your labor relations and human resource management needs.
For more information, go to clemansnelson.com, follow @clemansnelson on Facebook and Twitter, or Clemans, Nelson & Associates, Inc. on LinkedIn.
About Revolution Group
Revolution Group is an award-winning technology consulting company based in Columbus, Ohio. Since 1995, they have helped customers bring all their businesses processes together with the most innovative and strategic technology solutions available. Offering Salesforce implementation and optimization, managed IT services, cyber security consulting, and ERP solutions, Revolution Group is uniquely positioned to help organizations revolutionize the way they do business.
For more information about Revolution Group, check out our blog or follow us on the social media sites below. Call us today at (614) 212-1111 or reach us at [email protected].