Palmer Johnson Enterprises Unifies Subsidiaries with IT Project Management Case Study

Palmer Johnson Enterprises has been in the distribution business for over 100 years. As of 2020, the company is a consolidation of three brands working together in the power and engine space. 

As the new organization came together, the teams needed consistent, streamlined systems for sharing data and processes across the different subsidiaries. That’s why Palmer Johnson turned to Impact’s Managed IT department.

“The main thing we’ve had here is having that partner to engage with, because we’re able to leverage the full depth and breadth of the Impact team … [because of the fixed-fee contract], we were able to stop worrying about whether this or that wasn’t covered and address the issues at hand and hit the ground running.”

Read on to discover:

• How Impact approached this issue
• The technology solutions chosen to 
• The results and how Palmer Johnson unified its IT Infrastructure and streamlined its processes

How Impact United Palmer Johnson's IT Infrastructure

When Palmer Johnson Enterprises found Impact, the newly consolidated organization had a few goals: integrating the ERP, CRM, and other key systems used across the company, shifting subsidiary employees to the new service model, and establishing the new Palmer Johnson Enterprises brand, for example.

Like many organizations with a lean IT staff, the company found that managing day-to-day IT operations and implementing an extensive rollout of new systems and infrastructure was an overwhelming amount to take on. According to Palmer Johnson Enterprises IT Manager Phil Turnquist, working with Impact helped the company avoid “a decrease in morale, lost sales and poor customer service” that could have resulted from a lack of streamlined systems support.

Access the case study to learn more about the streamlining opportunities Impact’s business assessment revealed and to see the results of our partnership to date.

Then, learn more about Impact’s comprehensive Managed IT Services program to visualize what solutions may be helpful for your unique organization.

The Story Behind Palmer Johnson and Impact

Goals

• Integrating CRM, ERP and other systems across the company 
• Reviewing and strengthening vendor management relationships 
• Establishing the new Palmer Johnson Enterprises brand 
• Shifting subsidiary employees to the new service model

Business Challenges

The decision to consolidate meant the need to unify the IT infrastructure of the offices for all of the subsidiary companies, which were located in five states, with others in Canada. The IT Manager, tasked with leading this project while managing day-to-day IT tasks, quickly realized how difficult a successful rollout would be without the help of additional IT staff, including engineers and vCIOs. 

Having previously worked with a small managed service provider out of Iowa, they concluded that in order to support their expansion, they needed an MSP with more coverage capabilities. The IT Manager wanted to focus more on the integration goals, with products like Salesforce and ERP platforms used by members of the various teams needing to be connected. 

To do so, they needed to manage support agreements with their vendors, balance the shift of employees to new service models and address support requirements with limited help desk services. In their search for a new MSP, the team connected with Impact for a more in-depth assessment of their IT infrastructure and their goals to support expansion.

The Partnership

Assessment 

The consolidation presented a unique challenge for the Impact team, who, in order to do a completely thorough assessment of Palmer Johnson, assessed eight locations within five states, all within five days. IT specialists interviewed team members and found common pain points, as well as gaps that came about due to a lack of existing IT staff. 

Key Findings

• Need for an onboarding plan for multiple locations, all coming in within six months 
• Current MSP lacked nationwide presence and experience with scaling IT services for a growing organization 
• Struggle to manage vendor relationships and support needs 
• Lack of maintenance, leading to outdated and inconsistent hardware across different locations 
• Lack of standardization in the acquisition process 

The Solution 

Impact MIT experts recommended the CompleteCare package, which gave Palmer Johnson’s IT Manager and their team access to the IT staff and support they were missing. They immediately began working together to establish standards for not only the locations currently under Palmer Johnson, but also for upcoming acquisitions for a more proactive approach. This involved going to all 13 locations across five states and two continents.

Service Package 

• 24/7 support services 
• Business and disaster recovery plans 
• Cloud-based applications 
• Access to a full team of experts, including vCIO, service desk and field network engineers 
• Industry-leading hardware and software, customized by Impact

The Results

• Employee Onboarding: Impact introduced IT best practices and set up secure access controls so new employees could connect safely and quickly to Palmer Johnson’s network when entering the company. 
• Vendor Relationships: Now managed by the Impact team, they ensured that business-related systems aligned with IT standards, supported Palmer Johnson’s business needs and were flexible enough to scale when the organization unified its subsidiaries. 
• Hardware: New equipment was installed in each location, making the tech consistent across every location and managed locally by Impact, who could proactively monitor and remediate any issues as they came up. 
• IT Best Practices: The team established cybersecurity-focused standards for both hardware and software to protect against threats and give employees at all locations rules to reduce potentially risky behaviors within the growing network. 
• Maintenance: With new hardware installed at each location, the Impact MIT team now handles any ongoing updates, fixes and troubleshooting for any particular location, taking this responsibility off of Palmer Johnson’s IT Manager. 

Since the establishment of the partnership, the Impact MIT team has continued to assist Palmer Johnson in scaling their IT alongside their continued growth. With three new acquisitions within the US and Canada already co

Key Benefits 

• Successful onboarding of employees, complete with IT standards and best practices 
• Ongoing planning with Impact engineers to track progress, determine future projects and remediate issues 
• Documentation and tracking for all hardware at every location 
• Future plans to build out more strategic objectives and roadmaps 
• IT security activities, including pen testing, reviewing systems and integrations, to ensure all locations are following the same security practices 
• Dashboards with unified systems information for real-time monitoring and faster diagnostics

Discover the breadth of Impact's robust IT program through an exploration of our expansive range of solutions.