Provide a brief description of the Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative?
Abm Integrated Solutions has launched a cloud computing (IaaS) solution for the mid market with a particular focus on Atlantic Canada. Under the IaaS model customers take advantage of Enterprise class technologies at a monthly cost per VM that they can afford to pay (Utility Computing). Abm Integrated Solutions has invested heavily to ensure that our data center infrastructure delivers business critical services to the many clients that have shown trust in our organizations ability to deliver a better level of service then they could otherwise accomplish on their own. Abm implements and provides maintenance to partner technologies such as HP, Citrix, VMWare, Microsoft, Level Platforms, Cisco, App Assure and others to round out the offering. Complimentary IaaS offering is our fixed cost per user per month IT Managed Service that Abm has been delivering to the mid market for the past 6 years.
Describe what makes this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative original or innovative.How is this over and above the accepted norm?
Many technology companies will provide data center services or managed services on their own however very few are able to craft a service offering and pricing model that can truly provide a one stop shop for mid market customers to leverage in their business. Abm Integrated Solutions is the only company in Atlantic Canada and one of the few in Canada that owns the entire infrastructure and employs the technology expertise required that can offer a single point of contact for the mid market. Servicing multiple vertical markets with a single suite of services Abm Integrated Solutions has customers that operate within transportation, health care, insurance, industrial supplies & service, and engineering. With 14 locations and 140 employees Abm has been delivering technology solutions to Atlantic Canadians since 1974. Under our complete outsource model customers have access to our data center, help desk staff, technology consultants (VCIO), on site break and fix, IMAC services, and product procurement/implementation services. Similar to the data center cloud/utility computing model our outsourced IT Managed Services are priced on a fixed cost per user per month model which enables our clients to better predict IT costs within their business. Abm has changed the approach to market from one that is very reactive and product centric to one that is solution driven and business centric.
Describe the improvement this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative made to the customer’s sales or revenues. What changed?
Under our model we enable customers to focus on their core business and leave the IT support with Abm Integrated Solutions. Although we do not have quantifiable numbers in terms of % or $, intuitively we know that by being more productive in the core business our customers over all business performance must improve.
Describe the improvement this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative made to the customer’s efficiency. What changed?
Abm Integrated Solutions is currently delivering cloud and managed services to a number of clients across several vertical markets at a cost that is lower than they could accomplish on their own. The redundancies that have been built into our data center and the investment in our Managed Service offering ensure that the services/applications that businesses rely on are available which by default increases productivity. The benefits that our customers have enjoyed are as follows: • Less down time • No longer need to maintain systems (patching/upgrades/maintenance) • No longer need to be concerned with IMAC activities • No longer need to be concerned with aged/out of warranty equipment • Significant reduction in security & spam management • No longer need to staff IT resources or better utilize to drive core business initiatives Abm Integrated Solutions has multiple case studies and references that will support our submission.
How did this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative improve the customer’s ability to serve its internal and/or external clients?
Abm integrated Solutions has multiple case studies and references that will support our submission. Shannex in particular experienced significant growth opening a number of nursing home throughout Nova Scotia and New Brunswick with 9 opening on one day. Leveraging Citrix and ABMs Data Center resulted in the ability to add users quickly giving centralized access to business applications seamlessly.
In what ways does this Solution, Service Provided, or Initiative go above and beyond industry norms and expectations?
The majority of IT companies that would be compared to Abm in terms of size and scale are trying to figure out how they move to a managed service/cloud model. In most cases they will need to partner with outside organizations such as Ingram to implement a solution that the mid market would consume. The challenge is that by partnering you lose a certain level of customer control and the ability to manage the cost/profit model becomes problematic. Abm Integrated Solutions made the strategic decision 6 years ago that we would build out our own infrastructure which puts us at a strategic advantage over other firms that chose to implement an owned/partnered business model. For that reason we believe that our business model is ahead of the norm and is successful based on the customer adoption we enjoy within the mid market.
How does this solution further your customer’s green or environmentally friendly plans?
Customers within the mid market tend to run infrastructure beyond its useful life and as a result the power consumption and cooling requirements are higher. Most server rooms within Mid Market client locations do not have adequate cooling which leaves the equipment working harder to remain operational which also leads to higher draws on electricity. By leveraging ABM Integrated Solutions data center which runs blade technologies in a heavily virtualized environment our customers reduce the carbon footprint by default.
