Burnham Nationwide

Learn how cloud-based enterprise file sharing helped this construction consulting company move 85% of its digital connectivity to the cloud.

Go hybrid with Deft
HPS
The industry leader in building permit expediting and code consulting. INDUSTRY
Construction
LOCATION Chicago, IL USA
CUSTOMER SINCE 2015

How enterprise file sharing in the cloud improved data access and resilience

Burnham Nationwide specializes in construction code and building permit consulting. Keeping up with every city and state’s evolving building codes and permit practices generates a lot of data to store — and a lot of data to share. So when cloud-based enterprise file sharing became a viable option, Burnham adopted early, looking into how it could make business faster and more resilient. The team needed to know that anyone at any location could access the wealth of internal documents, data and applications whenever they needed. Since a lot of Burnham’s work happens on a construction site, the team also needed to ensure anyone could access data from anywhere with internet access. That’s when the team approached Deft. What started as a call to move storage to the cloud blossomed into a long-standing business relationship.
“Working with Deft is like having a consultancy baked into our tech support. It’s so helpful to have that full picture. We don’t need to go to multiple vendors, everyone’s speaking the same language.”   Jon Kovar-Tooke Business Analyst, Burnham Nationwide

Dispatching enterprise file sharing solutions to a national office network

Before moving 85% of its digital connectivity to the cloud, Burnham’s IT team spent a lot of time keeping up with on-premise servers. The servers created a data bottleneck, forcing everyone to connect back to the same location to access systems and files. If anything happened at that location, there was no backup. “There’s a lot of liability keeping stuff on-premise. The system that Deft set up was a more secure and stable environment,” says Bryan Santos, systems administrator at Burnham Nationwide. By making the bulk of Burnham’s data accessible in the cloud, speed and connectivity improved and systems ran much smoother company-wide. Instead of having to tap back into one database from wherever they were in the country, Burnham’s teams could access the nearest cloud repository. Shaving seconds off of a routine task quickly adds up to serious productivity gains. Burnham has since moved most of its data, its CRM and its accounting systems to the cloud. The only information that remains on-prem are the pieces they’ve analyzed with Deft and decided to keep there. Now, if a pipe bursts over the server room, it’s an annoyance rather than a business-stopping catastrophe.

Saving money by shifting to the cloud for enterprise file sharing

Keeping tabs on physical servers in Burnham’s main office took a lot of effort. With on-prem storage, Burnham had to drop everything and replace servers every six years or so. The IT team was also stuck running manual updates and continuously paying new licensing fees. The cloud cut out the big capital expense of servers, while giving Burnham access to as much automatically updated space as it needs. “It’s nice to know that updates are automatically executed. Working with Deft is like having a Roomba — it’s set it and forget it,” says Jon Kovar-Tooke, business analyst for Burnham Nationwide. With almost all of their enterprise file infrastructure in the cloud, Burnham has more time to plan for upgraded systems and innovative tools. Often, they bring in Deft to consult on how new pieces of technology will fit into the overall system. The freed-up time is a huge benefit, as are the cost savings. “This isn’t ‘Did we save?’ It’s more like ‘How much?’”

From vendor to trusted tech consultant

Since partnering with Burnham in 2015, Deft is often called in to advise on higher-level conversations about Burnham’s business. If a tech solution is being discussed, the Burnham team seeks out Deft’s input.
“Deft is there to help us plan future projects. We’ll go to them to ask ‘Is this the right solution for us?’ They’re pretty straightforward — either ‘Yes’ or “Have you considered this option over here?’ Deft is always available.”   Jon Kovar-Tooke Business Analyst, Burnham Nationwide
Today, Deft remains so integrated with Burnham that it even collaborates with third-party partners on Burnham’s behalf. “It’s like we’re part of the same company. We have the same ideals and work ethic. We never have to chase Deft to follow up. We can loop them in on calls without missing a beat. They represent Burnham well,” says Jon. With planned overhauls to Burnham’s website and payment portal, Deft will be by Burnham’s side, making sure that new tech streamlines operations.

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