ISCG

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a leading distributor of metallurgical products and plastics. As Director of the Information Technology Department, I’m responsible for overseeing the technology strategy, operations, and systems of an organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ISCG?

Our challenge was to deploy an infrastructure solution that integrates hardware and software elements for storing data, networking, and computing in one centralized system.

ISCG came back to us with hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI). HCI is used to simplify the management of IT infrastructure, improve performance, scalability, and flexibility, as well as reduce costs. One of the main challenges that HCI addresses is the complexity of managing traditional IT infrastructures. HCI allows for the integration of multiple functionalities and applications in one system, making it easier to manage and maintain infrastructure.

Another challenge is the flexibility of infrastructure to handle the rapid pace of application development and business needs. HCI enables easy addition and removal of resources, allowing infrastructure to be scaled according to business needs. Ensuring the security and protection of data in the HCI environment is also a challenge. Due to the centralized architecture, data protection and system security must be considered at all levels of infrastructure.

Finally, HCI must deal with challenges related to data migration and integration with other systems. Changing from traditional infrastructure systems to HCI requires careful planning and ensuring data consistency, which can be a challenge. However, proper planning and implementation can bring benefits such as easier infrastructure management, greater flexibility and performance, as well as lower operational costs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

ISCG was chosen as contractor because, as a firm they got strong background in both IT infrastructure and virtualization:

• Virtualization technologies: A deep understanding of virtualization technologies such as VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V. Knowledge of virtual machine management, virtual networking, and virtual storage.
• Storage: Experience in storage technologies such as SAN, NAS, and RAID. • Networking: A solid understanding of networking concepts, including TCP/IP, VLANs.
• Hardware: Experience in server and storage hardware.
• Software-defined infrastructure: Experience in software-defined storage, software-defined networking, and software-defined data centers.
• Security: Knowledge of IT security best practices, including data encryption, secure access control, and disaster recovery.

In addition to technical skills, excellent problem-solving skills, project management skills, and communication skills were important for a successful HCI deployment. ISCG were able to work well with a team and manage projects effectively, as well as communicate effectively with stakeholders throughout the deployment process.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package.

There were 4 key stages:

• Planning: The first stage was planning, which involved assessing the current IT infrastructure, defining the business requirements, and selecting the right HCI solution. During this stage, the deployment team created a plan that included a timeline and resource allocation.
• Implementation: The implementation stage involved deploying the HCI solution according to the plan. This included installing hardware and software, configuring the virtualized environment, setting up the storage and networking components, and integrating with existing systems.
• Testing: Once the HCI solution was deployed, the deployment team performed comprehensive testing to ensure that the solution meets the business requirements and is functioning as expected.
• Maintenance: The final stage is maintenance, which involves ongoing monitoring, maintenance, and support of the HCI solution.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The whole process was carried out by the ISCG team, which was assisted by thyssenkrupp Materials Poland employees. On the ISCG side two people were engaged in project:

• Infrastructure Architect
• Senior Infrastructure Engineer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We achived our main golas that were:

1. High performance: HCI allows for more efficient use of hardware and software resources, making applications run faster and smoother.
2. Improved reliability: HCI ensures higher reliability and availability of applications through redundancy and automatic redirection in the event of a failure.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It is easier to work with a team that got such experience as ISCG. They knowledge and expertise was crucial for project success.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

ISCG was a team of people who understood information systems architecture. IT engineers with extensive experience, with in-depth understanding of information systems architecture and which are able to design and implement solutions that meet business and technology needs.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of IT and technology at Antenna Entertainment. We’re a media and TV network for the central and eastern European region. We have 16 television channels across Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Adriatic region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ISCG?

Our company had acquired another business, and we needed help with the migration of emails and data.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ISCG was tasked with transferring the data from our old company to Antenna Entertainment and creating a new infrastructure, focusing especially on Microsoft 365 services. They created a hybrid cloud infrastructure, which would allow us to establish our business processes and services on the infrastructure itself. 

Moreover, they ensured that we had the security, control, and management capabilities on our company-wide devices. For example, we needed to have the autopilot configuration for computer management, as well as the backup services for backing up business-critical data. ISCG also created a remote desktop solution for accessing the on-prem infrastructure.

We also handled the purchase and installation of the physical hardware, and ISCG installed everything on Azure and the private cloud platform. They did all the work remotely.

The initial project for the migration has been successfully completed. We’re now collaborating together to keep the business up and running and implement improvements to our security and systems.

What is the team composition?

We work with 5–10 people from their side, depending on the task at hand. We don’t really have contact with all of them, but there’s a project manager, a client manager, dedicated technicians, and third-level engineers.

How did you come to work with ISCG?

If I remember correctly, they were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between €50,000–€200,000 (approximately $55,000–$215,000 USD) so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2021, and our collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

ISCG has been delivering on their promises in a timely manner. For instance, in the last two weeks, we had two major incidents with Microsoft, and they did a great job of helping us mitigate all issues. Overall, their team is meeting our expectations.

How did ISCG perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re very satisfied with the tools they have provided. They have a ticketing system for tracking all tasks, processes, and issues. We also use Jira and conduct virtual meetings via Microsoft Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like how proactive they are in terms of recommending services that we should implement during the migration phase. One of their recommendations was to implement a privileged identity management (PIM) system because no one had admin rights in our environment. We’re now using the PIM to control who has access to what.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of IT operations of a fuel company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with ISCG?

We needed help with the migration to Microsoft 365 — we tried to do it internally, but we failed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ISCG helped us with Microsoft 365 migration to avoid any potential risks in the process. Consequently, they scheduled the steps for the migration process and executed it. They were fully engaged in project management, migration tools, and all the IT support we needed during the process to ensure a comfortable experience. 

The key deliverables were to ensure that the users had access to the new environment, solve all risks and handle access rights, execute the migration tools, monitor and document the entire process, and train our team. The migration was from Europe to North America; they were located in Ireland and Scandinavia and had to migrate to a North American tenant.

What was the team composition? 

We worked with 3–4 members of ISCG’s team.

How did you come to work with ISCG?

I know them from previous projects, so I knew they could do this job.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2021–February 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We achieved user satisfaction through ISCG’s work, which they delivered on schedule.

How did  ISCG perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was great; they were proactive in moving forward, which I liked. We encountered some challenges, but they assigned the right resources to assess the problem quickly. Moreover, the project manager and the technical team, who could facilitate and collect all the information, were key throughout the process because they could communicate immediately with our team to solve the problems effectively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their openness and commitment to the project was their best attribute.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There wasn't anything they could improve on because everything went well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be precise when you communicate your needs before formalizing the partnership.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Currently, Budimex, as an infrastructure and service enterprise, focuses on the Polish market. As a general contractor, it's offer services in the infrastructure sector, including: roads, railway, airports, commercial buildings, energy, industry and ecology.

I lead team of professionals administrating Microsoft Azure and Office 365 environment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ISCG?

Microsoft Sentinel - as the aggregator of functionality spread across all Azure and Microsoft 365 modules - we can manage alerts and environment flows in one place. This centralization is a salvation. We were pleasantly surprised by the low entry threshold.

The basic functionality is virtually cost-free, and the flows for Office 365 are even available for free. It would be a waste to let such a tool lie idle. Of course, nothing happens by itself, and just as the Microsoft environment is constantly evolving, its configuration requires constant analysis and changes.

Here, however, we rely on the partner's experience and we have delegated part of the related responsibilities to ISCG, in which we have full confidence.

SOLUTION

How did you select ISCG and what were the deciding factors?

Our environment is primarily based on Microsoft technologies. Therefore, it was natural for us to choose a technology that would be natively supported by our existing environment and would not have problems with synchronization with existing systems. On the other hand, ISCG is Microsoft GOLD partner for over 15 years.

Their high-performance team got strong technical and business competence. So, it was natural for us to work with such skilled professionals.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

There were 4 key stages:  Diagnosis of Budimex’s IT environment by ISCG team, Establish log sources that will be connected to Microsoft Sentinel by defined connectors, Playbooks and Workbooks creation for better monitoring automatization, and Support & Operational activities

How many resources from the ISCG team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The whole process was carried out by the ISCG team, which was assisted by Budimex employees. On the ISCG side 3 people were involved: - Microsoft Sentinel system architect - Cybersecurity Engineer - Project Manager The whole team was supported by an account manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The most important success is the automation of monitoring and aggregation of all alerts and incidents from the Office 365 environment in one place. This has greatly facilitated security management within the organization.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It is easier to work with a team that we already know and that knows our situation and our environment. This is exactly what it was like working with the ISCG team

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Stuff. ISCG included a lot of experienced and well-skilled engineers who understood the customer's needs.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Have more initiative during cooperation.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT Director and CIO for Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka DZP, a legal services firm with over 200 lawyers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ISCG?

They’ve helped us with numerous cloud problems over the years.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, they worked to manage our first migration to cloud services. This involved connecting to Microsoft Azure to domain controllers, dedicating it to our back office. We’re cooperating in many places where we have some part of our services in the cloud. For instance, they implemented Microsoft Office 365.

They have to document everything. For example, with security, we have to have documentation to be able to show it to our clients.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with a whole staff. Our cooperation launched a long time ago. They have project managers dedicated to assist us.

How did you come to work with ISCG?

The Polish market is very specific. There are many companies dedicated to Microsoft. However, they’re not competitive in launching sophisticated support. This company has lots of experience with sophisticated problems in the Polish market. They’re the best in my opinion.

How much have you invested with them?

It was between $50,000 and $90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The most recent project that we worked together on was from November 2020 onwards. They’ve been on and off partners for almost 20 years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I’m happy when my business is happy. If I compare the project to similar projects on the market and they exceed those projects while we’re at a competitive price point, I’d be happy. I’m happy with ISCG.

How did ISCG perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s one of the things I’m most happy with. I have direct contact with them. If I send them a message, it’s very quickly answered.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s amazing to me that every year that I meet with them, they recommend new improvements. They’re constantly brainstorming how to improve my business.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Sidel, one of three industry groups of Tetra Laval, is a leading provider of equipment and services solutions for packaging beverage, food, home and personal care products.

Sidel has over 170 years of experience with proven expertise in blowing, filling, labelling, material-handling, end-of-line and line-engineering solutions, including an innovative focus on the factory of tomorrow with advanced systems.

Novembal and PET Engineering are part of the Sidel Group.

Novembal, an independent subsidiary, is a specialist in plastic cap design and injection, and a prominent supplier of bottle liquid food closures. PET Engineering, an independently managed company, provides brand strategy & design services, packaging design, as well as line conversion and moulds, to the beverage industry.

We are committed to our customers’ success. When you partner with Sidel, Novembal and PET Engineering, you can be sure of solutions that optimise your product packaging, boost line performance and help you grow your business.

I'm Head of IT Operations for a group-wide responsible for all IT Infrastructure aspects withing the group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ISCG?

Establish secure and end-user acceptable solutions for data protection across the group.

What were your goals for this project?

Define levels of confidentiality of the information in the tecncial toolset support establishment of the processes and link with the tool implement & rollout the tool ensure confidentiality works as expected

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Via internal sourcing process

Describe the project in detail.

There are 4 aspects:

1. Data encryption for the computers (4k+)
2. Establish onboarding process and support by tools for each employee
3. Data Classification & implementation in a tool
4. Support & Operational activities

What was the team composition?

There was a joint team ours and ISCG's. ISCG was combined with PM and several techncal staff + account team

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The cooperation for getting into momentum from the beginning. There were technical obstacles (Weakness of Microsoft technology). Timely managed with positive results based on requirements and joint effort

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Quite efficient and smooth

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were agile and ready to adapt to our big organization's needs. Technical knowledge and performance to adopt the solution

Are there any areas for improvement?

work a bit harder on a definition and make sure the customer confirms the understanding to avoid re-works and misunderstandings

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT workplace services manager for a worldwide engineering company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ISCG?

We were looking for help with the implementation of a mobile device management system. We initially needed them as a consultant and in the end, they rolled out the whole project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We reach out to them mainly when we need a specialist in Microsoft Solutions, as we needed to use Microsoft Intune. They implemented a mobile device management system for over 4,000 of our remote employees’ devices, including 700 iPhones. All the devices were covered by a security policy as well as a distribution of applications necessary for business purposes.

They also worked on a new line of computers from Lenovo, integrating them with our software deployment system. They integrated all the drivers and applications over a one-month period.

What is the team composition?

We have an account manager who we reach out to when we have a new proposition or when we need new services. For every project, we also have a project manager who I interface with, as well as a technical team. We have at least one specialist, and often one specialist per area. For the Bitlocker project, it was a Bitlocker specialist.  

How did you come to work with ISCG?

I was not on board yet when we began working with ISCG.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent approximately €50,000 (approximately $55,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in August 2018, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They replaced our line of business hardware last year and implemented Bitlocker for us as well. Overall, our company is happy with their work. We have future plans to engage with them on more projects.

How did ISCG perform from a project management standpoint?

They have performed well. Their project management process is mature, and they keep me updated. We typically communicate through Microsoft Teams where we have a group, and we also use Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have no complaints when it comes to deadlines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing really comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They have very good specialists, and the key is to find the specialist that meets your requirements in a specific area. Not all the consultants manage all areas, so you have to really demand the resource that is a specialist in the area that you need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a mechanical engineering company. I manage a global team of systems and networking engineers—a lot of that team is based in Poland, but we also have people in Malaysia as well as in the US.  We provide IT support for any network troubles as well as manage different service requests.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ISCG?

We were looking for a company to provide us with contractual support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team included a systems engineer, who works on provisioning new servers and ensuring backups as well as supporting these backups. He supports the system with all kinds of requests and service incidents.

Our in-house SQL expert left, so we brought one on board from ISCG. He provides support for our applications team as well as developers. He’s essentially a server engineer responsible for the SQL aspects and deals with data migration to the latest SQL version, configuring things from scratch.

We also have a business intelligence contractor who helps us monitor our on-site engineers. They’re in charge of making queries, pulling out data, and creating reports in Power BI which we utilize internally.

What is the team composition?

We have three people from the ISCG team working on our projects.

How did you come to work with ISCG?

They were already on board when I joined the company. There was already one contract in place, so we request the services we need when we need more support.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with them in April 2019, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Due to all their help, we’re able to keep our services up and running. We really wouldn’t be able to operate without their resources. There haven’t been any downgrades, and we’re able to meet our client’s expectations precisely because of them. We’ve received positive feedback from our users as well.

They’re able to find a final solution or an ultimate fix for any issue which is precisely what we were seeking. To have such a flexible and knowledgeable resource has been great. Oftentimes we require them to work flexible hours, which they’ve been very reliable about.

How did ISCG perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re technical consultants, so there isn’t really a need for a project manager. They’re really just part of our team who do the tasks we assign them. They adapt to and manage our requirements by using their knowledge and experience.

Even when someone leaves, ISCG has always provided us a competent engineer on short notice who can start replace the resource quickly. They work to ensure that we’re supplied service 24/7, which has been an incredible comfort.

Communication has been excellent, as they’re very responsive. We primarily utilize Windows technology: using Skype for Business as well as Microsoft Teams and SharePoint for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m very satisfied with their contributions and am relieved that I have them on my team. They’re consistently available and can handle ad hoc requests. They pool together the required resources for us on short notice which allows us to be more pliable—and as a manager, I think that flexibility is critical.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really can’t complain about anything. Everything has been smooth, so there’s no need to change anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

All in all, they perform well. They’re good, knowledgeable people.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the specialist of a Cryptology & Cybersecurity Department

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Organizational Unit of the Ministry of National Defense responsible for key related areas with cryptology, cyber security and the construction and operation of IT systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire ISCG to accomplish?

ISCG Sp. z o.o. for over 10 years has been providing support services in the maintenance and service of the wide area network in the layer of directory services, e-mail and related services in the Ministry of National Defense. 

The tasks consist in ongoing maintenance and development of the Microsoft environment, handling incidents, monitoring services, analyzing its current state and the quality of its provision. In addition, ISCG Sp. z o.o. is responsible for fixing current service failures and taking preventive actions

SOLUTION

How did you find ISCG?

Other

How many teammates from ISCG were assigned to this project?

Other

What was your primary form of communication with ISCG?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Ongoing support in: 

• maintaining and developing the environment
• handling incidents
• service monitoring
• analysis of the current state of services and the quality of their provision
• optimizing the configuration of elements of maintained websites
• removing current service failures and taking preventive actions
• hardware diagnostics and configuration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• The most important result is maintaining the continuity of our services, proactively responding to any anomalies and taking proactive measures to improve workflow.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Openness, commitment, cooperation in the implementation of tasks, the ability to communicate and listen when solving problems.

Why did you select ISCG over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I was delighted with their reliability, diligence, commitment, and company culture.

Are there any areas for improvement or something ISCG could have done differently?

Regularly leveled, as long as they appear.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CIO and responsible for global IT operation. We are the public real estate company operates in Israel,Poland,Belgium and Canada

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ISCG?

For general IT consulting and specially for Share Point Online migration.

What were your goals for this project?

To implement the Share Point online and migrate the current local data to the cloud.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

we made some research in Polish market and choose ISCG according to the good feedback from their clients and professional expertise.

Describe the project in detail.

we had series of planning meeting with project manager. Once we decided about way of the implementation ISCG did the work according the design and time table. Of course with full cooperation from our side.

What was the team composition?

we had the technical project manager and support engineer .

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The Share Point Online implementation allowed us to improve efficiency of team work and allow access to the crucial data from everywhere.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between our staff and project manager/support engineer was very effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Professional staff. Managers support. Stands in time table. ISCG provides good service.

Are there any areas for improvement?

everything was ok