Citrus Connection Scales Their IT With Their Business Growth Thanks To Alltek Services' Help
Citrus Connection is the public transit provider in Polk County, FL, serving over 2000 square miles in the region, and providing around 2.4 million rides to Polk County residents every year. They have a team of 188 employees, based out of four locations – an administrative office, a call center, and two terminals, all of which rely on IT.
As the primary means of transportation for so many living in Polk County, Citrus Connection needs to operate effectively, which depends on the reliability of their IT services.
Do You Have The Same IT Problems Citrus Connection Had?
Prior to partnering with Alltek Services, Citrus Connection had a lot of IT problems, may of which had to do with their rapid growth - their organization doubled in size in 2015.
“Our IT needs effectively doubled overnight,” says Tom Phillips, Executive Director of Citrus Connection. “We were just not set up from a technology perspective to double our service, nor did we have the staff really necessary to manage services at multiple locations, and to really handle the amount of data that we needed. It was really a struggle that first year without Alltek Services.”
For a while, Citrus Connection opted to handle their IT internally, spending more than $100,000 to invest in new servers and more on hiring and managing IT staff. Despite all that time, money, and attention, they still struggled with common IT pain points:
- Ongoing Downtime: Consistent issues with their IT infrastructure had caused chronic downtime, which slowed down vital processes, including those involving payroll. “We had a lot of problems in our IT department,” David Persaud, Chief Financial Officer, Citrus Connection. “Downtime was causing a lot of disturbance in accounting and payroll”.
- IT Staff Turnover: In the course of a few years, they had a three-person turnover in their IT department, which caused further issues with continuity and quality of management.
- Lack Of ROI: One of the primary concerns was that IT was becoming more and more expensive for Citrus Connection, without providing a commensurate return. "We had spent approximately $100,000 on servers, which was supposed to be the solution to the downtime," said Persaud. "But we were not getting any return on the investments.”
This is why Citrus Connection called Alltek Services - they needed expertise, strategy, and expert support. Our team helped them evaluate their IT department management and processes, the ongoing costs of their IT problems, and the cause of their chronic downtime.
“After a complete evaluation of the IT systems and the IT department in consultation with Alltek Services, we thought it would be best to look at privatization to see how we can correct this problem," said Persaud. "We have been fortunate. We have been able to solve these problems with significantly fewer resources, and keeping it at just two internal employees.”
What’s Life With Alltek Services Like For Citrus Connection?
Working with Alltek Services, Citrus Connection is able to address the many IT issues they had struggled with for the years prior. They are able to effectively manage their multiple systems, including financial management and specialized bus intelligence software.
“We have turned around the IT department significantly,” says Persaud. “There is very limited downtime, and the computer systems are working.”
To turn your IT department around and enhance its performance, click here to get in touch with one of our representatives or call us at 863-709-0709.