Environmental Systems Corp. found the perfect partner in Charles IT, who upgraded their IT operations, freeing internal IT employees to focus all their time on customer needs.
When their email system crashed one weekend in 2018, Environmental Systems Corporation (ESC) had to face a fact: They needed help with managing their internal IT. Though ESC consistently provided state-of-the-art technology for buildings and campuses for their customers, there was little time left over to focus on their own IT systems and processes. This deficit left ESC in a position they didn’t want to be in—responding to internal events as they were happening rather than preventing what they could. With the crash of an essential system like email, they could no longer continue to ignore their needs and operate in reactive mode. ESC knew that they had to build a proactive plan for internal IT management before another big disruption like this took place.
Luckily, ESC found just the right partner for the job in Charles IT. The company’s chief operating officer, Michael Mullin, says that Charles IT worked with them to align their priorities and flesh out a plan.
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ESC is a 50-year-old Connecticut company with over 150 employees providing technology systems and services that support the operations of buildings and campuses. Their services include:
- Automated energy systems such as heating, air conditioning, and lighting
- Security systems, such as video surveillance and access controls
- Mechanical and audiovisual systems
Although ESC has a three-member internal IT group, they prioritize the technological needs of the company’s customers, providing services for the systems it sells. As the company continued to grow, they had less time to focus on their internal IT, according to Chief Operating Officer Michael Mullin.
A few years ago, the company’s leadership realized ESC had outgrown its central infrastructure. “If there’s a cutting edge and then kind of a lagging edge and then a middle edge, we were on the back end,” Mullin recalls.
At the time, ESC was using a physical server for its email, and the software was becoming too much for the old hardware to handle. The system ultimately failed one weekend as technicians were attempting to transfer the server to a third party. “Email is a critical tool for communicating with ESC’s customers,” Mullin says. “When that goes down, even on a weekend day, it can really impact the business.”
Company officials realized that the problem with the email server was symptomatic of broader issues related to the company’s tech infrastructure. A comprehensive fix was needed. Once they began this exploration, ESC realized several upgrades were in order—steps that could improve efficiency and move the company into a first-class IT program.
ESC turned to Charles IT for emergency help converting the server, and Mullin was impressed with the experience. He decided to trust the company as a managed service provider (MSP) to bring ESC’s internal technology up to speed.
Mullin says Charles IT provided a depth of knowledge, resources, skills, experience, and certifications he didn’t have the budget to create internally. Dereck Jacques, Charles IT’s account manager for ESC, essentially serves as the client’s virtual chief information security officer (vCISO). He worked with the company to develop an IT roadmap that has helped its IT operations evolve smoothly and proactively.
“Dereck’s talking about these cutting-edge things that are happening that can improve us,” Mullin says. “Before I’m even aware that we have a problem, he’s setting it out there, and we draw them on the road map.”
As COO at ESC, Mullin supervises multiple operations, including corporate communications and human resources. Before ESC formed its relationship with Charles IT, Mullin considered IT one of the weakest operations at his company. “It wasn’t the people,” he said. “We just weren’t able to do what we needed to do with what we had. IT is probably the thing I’m most proud of now.”
Charles IT’s people skills were as important as its technical ones. The company’s IT professionals formed relationships with those at ESC, easing any fears that the new services would make their jobs unnecessary. While many of Charles IT’s clients don’t have their own IT employees, the company’s services can just as easily complement a midsized company’s existing IT staff. “Working with Charles IT allowed us to take our inside people and move them closer to our end-use customers for the products we sell and let Charles IT take some of those corporate tasks,” Mullin says.
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