Fortra

Alaska Communications, an internet service provider (ISP) in Alaska, was facing a significant challenge in managing and maintaining a new site located on a remote mountaintop. The site was only accessible by helicopter and completely inaccessible in poor weather conditions. The company needed to ensure uninterrupted service to the location without having to make the costly and sometimes dangerous trek to the top of the mountain. The challenge was to find a solution that would allow them to manage their network remotely, monitor performance, and ensure all devices within their network were up and running.

The Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC (MBSL) is a leading financial services provider in Sri Lanka, serving 21 million islanders through its 49 branches and service centers. As the bank grew, so did its transaction volume and workload. The bank's IT team, led by Chamara Withanachchi, was manually entering and running jobs on the system, which led to increasing inconsistencies. The manual operations were not only inconsistent but also delayed branch openings, affecting the bank's efficiency and customer service. The challenge was to improve consistency and reliability, reduce errors and operational cost, and streamline processing without increasing the headcount.

Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC (MBSL) is a leading financial service provider in Sri Lanka, with over 40 branches across the country. The bank's core banking system is the IBM i, a powerful operating system known for its robust security mechanisms. However, the bank faced challenges in ensuring maximum security and compliance, particularly in mitigating the risk of internal security breaches caused by powerful users or administrators. The bank also needed to comply with the Baseline Security Standard and Regulatory Framework on Technology Risk Management and Resilience for Licensed Finance Companies issued by the Central Bank Sri Lanka (CBSL). Furthermore, MBSL needed greater control and visibility into user activities, such as accessing, downloading, and uploading data. The bank also faced challenges in managing access to sensitive data, reducing the time spent on password resets, and generating audit reports efficiently.

Data Center Inc. (DCI) provides full-service bank technology and processing solutions for nearly 200 financial institutions nationwide. Their flagship product, iCore®, is a sophisticated system for the automated management and processing of banking transactions, financial data, customer account information, and more. However, as DCI's bank clients grew, so did the nightly processing and system demands. DCI was looking for a way to maximize iCore system resources and responsiveness for its increasingly larger bank clients. They wanted to ensure optimum system capacity and unparalleled uptime for their larger clients with minimal configuration changes or expense. The incumbent solution had fallen behind the demands of the organization, and they needed a capacity and performance reporting tool that was all-inclusive.

Amphenol, a global manufacturer of connectors for the military and aerospace industries, faced a significant challenge when IBM announced it was ceasing support for the POWER7 production server that the company relied on. This coincided with Amphenol's need to improve its business continuity and disaster response infrastructure, following two instances of hurricanes and flooding at their New York data center. The company's recovery time and downtime were critical considerations, as the global user community depended on 24/7 uptime and information access. Previously, it would take the IBM i box two full days to recover from tape backups, a scenario that would be disastrous for the company. The challenge was to modernize the back end with new hardware and high availability.

Decatur City Schools, a school district in north Alabama, has experienced significant network changes over the years. Initially, the district had no insight into the status of their network, relying on phone calls and paper work orders to manage issues. In 2003, they began using Intermapper for simple network monitoring tasks, such as checking the status of core services. However, as the network grew and evolved, transitioning from interconnected ISDN to fiber, and incorporating Cisco switches and Aruba enterprise networking software, the need for more comprehensive network monitoring became apparent. The IT team was tasked with monitoring 26 facilities throughout the district, with over 970 access points mapped out on a fully customized map. The network, comprised mostly of virtual servers, required constant monitoring and quick response to issues. Prior to Intermapper, problem-solving was a reactive process, requiring physical visits to server locations to identify and fix issues.

EBP Supply Solutions, a commercial cleaning and food service supplies provider, was facing significant challenges with their document management processes. The company, which serves customers in the eastern United States, was struggling with an inefficient reporting process. Reports were printed on green-bar paper and manually delivered to recipients in three different buildings. The company's 50 sales representatives would receive several hundred-page reports from their IBM i (AS/400, iSeries) system, which had to be manually separated and distributed. Additionally, EBP was dealing with a high volume of document printing, with every order requiring a delivery ticket and an invoice. The company was also printing several thousand AR statements per month, all of which had to be printed out individually, resulting in tens of thousands of documents each month. The finance department was also overwhelmed with requests for proofs of delivery (PODs), which required a time-consuming process of printing, scanning, and emailing documents.

Focal Point Lights, a Chicago-based architectural lighting manufacturer, was facing challenges in a competitive industry. The company was growing and needed to be more competitive and easier to do business with. Their computing environment consisted of running EnterpriseOne from Oracle across Windows and iSeries servers, as well as custom apps servers, including VB and .net. Before the arrival of Camillo Catuara, Applications Development Manager at Focal Point, the organization was scheduling everything manually on the iSeries servers. This method was inefficient and lacked versatility. It was an extensive process to prepare for month-end, and there was no way to send alerts for issues unless someone was constantly monitoring the system. The business would have to put all month-end jobs on hold, and upon release, the team would have to monitor the process while it ran all night long. This extra effort required the company to hire consultants just to monitor month-end batch jobs.

Frontline Technologies, a market leader in workforce management software, heavily relies on SQL databases for its applications. However, the company faced several challenges with SQL's native tools. Firstly, SQL Server Agent required granting extensive database permissions to users such as developers and support staff, which was a security concern and consumed significant staff time. Secondly, SQL Server jobs were prone to blocking, where one process fails due to the consumption of a critical resource elsewhere on the system. This was a common issue when interacting with SQL at the application level. Lastly, using native SQL tools for disaster recovery did not provide Frontline with an acceptable standard of synchronization. The company required an alternate production database to be up and running within 15 to 30 minutes in case of a disaster recovery event. However, with SQL Scheduler, jobs were never 100% in sync and required manual copying of jobs, risking the loss of recent changes.

Humphrey Products Company, a Michigan-based pneumatic valve manufacturer, was grappling with an outdated Windows-based document management system (DMS) that had limited functionality and still required hard copies for document routing. The situation worsened when Microsoft acquired the software they had been using and discontinued its support. The company was in dire need of a more robust DMS, particularly for managing their engineering drawings. They required a centralized storage location and version control to ensure that workers on the shop floor were using the latest drawings to create the valves. Additionally, the Accounts Payable department was heavily reliant on manual processes, which was time-consuming and inefficient.

Meissner Manufacturing, a leading swimming pool and spa filter element manufacturer, faced a significant challenge in managing their accounts receivable (AR) portfolio. After outgrowing an outdated ERP system, they adopted HarrisData Software to manage and integrate their business functions. However, due to their industry's unique payment terms, they required a configurable business intelligence software to complement HarrisData. The software needed to enhance their ability to access data and quickly create reports tailored to their unique processes. The lack of quick access to data was slowing down Meissner’s ability to identify customers with the highest debt, overdue invoices, and other crucial information for running a successful business.

Mercury Financial, the largest non-bank credit card company in the U.S., was facing a significant challenge in securely transferring files. As a financial institution, it was crucial for them to protect consumer information, a key component of their customer service and a significant factor in their reputation risk. Moreover, they had to adhere to strict compliance regulations, notably the recently updated Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Their existing data loss prevention (DLP) solution was slowing down their operations, making it difficult for them to transfer files securely and efficiently. The challenge was not only to ensure secure file transfer but also to ensure that the data within those files was compliant and well protected.