Customer Experiences
Meridian
Regional Imaging : Village
of Vernon Hills : Dougal,
McClellan & Sullivan Eye Associates
Five Star Distributors : BIK & Co, LLP
BIK & Co, LLP
Libertyville, Illinois
The Challenge
The partners at the accounting firm BIK & Co, LLP
have always believed in the power of information technology, relying
on it
to help
them
maximize productivity and cost-effectively provide superior client service.
Although they built and upgraded their own computers for several years, in
1996 they decided it was time to utilize IT experts to meet the growing challenges
of efficiently integrating and accessing the tremendous amounts of data their
work involved.
The Solution
After seeing firsthand how ABN put their expertise to work for a small business
that was also a BIK client, BIK knew exactly who to turn to for IT solutions.
Partner Chuck Martin recalled, "ABN looked at what we were doing,
which was working at the time, and judiciously showed us where we could improve."
Essentially, the first generation of enhancements totally changed BIK’s network
and infrastructure, substantially increasing speed and capacity.
About five years ago, BIK identified another set of needs at their
two offices - for e-mail (they had none), for high-speed Internet
access (they had dial-up), and for security. They didn’t hesitate
when ABN offered them a partnership opportunity in the newly-formed
ABG, which provides high-speed Internet access with valuable
managed
services
ranging from firewalls to remote network monitoring to e-mail
management. "The idea of a managed services provider was unique,"
Chuck said. "It's
been a success from a technological and administrative standpoint."
BIK turned to ABN when medical issues prevented one of the firm’s
long-time accountants from coming into the office. ABN established
remote connectivity enabling him to work from home. Now all the partners
can take advantage of this productivity-booster. “Our product
is time, not widgets,” Chuck commented. “Anything that
makes us more efficient with our time translates into dollars. ABN
has opened the door to making us more productive and allowing for flexible
scheduling. It’s changed how we work and where we work.” In
addition, ABN provided BIK with the ability to work on client systems
remotely, maximizing productivity and expanding business opportunity. “We
have the tools, capability, and technology to work on any company anywhere
that has Internet access,” Chuck said.
As a numbers expert, Chuck is well aware of ABN’s value to BIK. “I
get all of the expertise of a Fortune 100 IT staff without the cost
because I get all the different skill sets from ABN for less than I
could hire one senior person,” he said. “ABN is a tremendous
resource for ideas and implementation. I trust and value them. I’ve
learned the hard way about the value of a single point of contact who
will handle everything from design to purchase to implementation to
proactive follow-up.”
"I have peace of mind. I don’t use
the term lightly, but at the end of the day, I’m not worrying
about our technological infrastructure."
Charles J. Martin, Partner
BIK & Co, LLP |
