John Balfanz Homes (JBH) is a rapidly growing Bakersfield-based home construction company with a team spread out across 5 housing development sites and a central office. During an economic downturn, the company leveraged strategic IT consulting, cloud expertise and managed cybersecurity services from the experts at DiamondIT to empower extraordinary growth.
A Growing Company That Needed Modern Solutions
Over the past few years, John Balfanz Homes added satellite offices, sales locations and housing models. The increase of remote offices at housing development sites created an uneven work experience for its staff. While employees working in the main office didn’t experience technology issues, the satellite offices experienced numerous technology-related productivity challenges.
The existing server infrastructure was aged and no longer supported by manufacturer warranty. If there was a hardware failure, the resulting downtime could take several days at minimum to repair. DiamondIT foresaw a potential doomsday scenario as on-premise systems approached end-of-life and encouraged the company to address it before it became problematic.
DiamondIT Consultants Recommend Moving to the Cloud
Faced with replacing tens of thousands of dollars worth of servers, coupled with the maintenance costs and vulnerabilities of physical servers, John Balfanz Homes was ready for a change. When DiamondIT recommended moving their servers to the Microsoft Azure cloud, JBH was initially hesitant, concerned about potential business disruptions during the migration. Their controller, Justin Schweitzer, had negative experiences with cloud solutions from a previous IT provider who lacked cloud expertise, which added to their hesitation.
How Microsoft Azure services would benefit the company
When considering capital budget constraints and the company’s operational needs, a cloud solution offered necessary benefits, such as:
- Improved speed and reliability
- Ability to scale up or down
- Reduced capital expenditures
- Enhanced security
Delivering a Complete, Secure Cloud Migration in 30 Days
Cloud experts at DiamondIT carefully organized a custom migration process for John Balfanz Homes’ business. Through this advanced planning, DiamondIT was able to execute a seamless migration to the Microsoft Azure cloud in less than 30 days. Throughout the entire process, JBH was kept apprised of progress, and informed of recommendations and next steps to ensure there were no surprises. By working with DiamondIT, they experienced a cloud migration without disruption to their operations. Their staff had a consistent user experience, regardless of their location, from day one.
“The Best Cloud Experience Ever” – John Balfanz Homes
In 2020, John Balfanz Homes closed over 300 houses, a feat that, according to Schweitzer, wouldn’t have been possible without DiamondIT. With the Microsoft Azure cloud environment managed by DiamondIT, JBH now has a flexible cloud solution that can grow with them. When they need more server space, they have the flexibility to quickly provision more space to scale up almost instantly. If their server requirements decrease, they can immediately reduce their monthly spend in Azure with a few clicks.
IT support needs reduced by 50%
Bundling Microsoft Azure services and DiamondIT’s unparalleled managed IT support resulted in reducing IT support needs by an astonishing 50%. Because of Microsoft Azure’s reliability and DiamondIT’s cloud expertise, John Balfanz Homes was able to ensure a stable, fully functioning work environment for every location. With this shift, the company is able to use their IT consulting with DiamondIT to tackle new strategic initiatives, such as opportunities to expand operations to new locations.
Your IT Provider Should Make Your Life Easier, Not Harder
“DiamondIT has always been flexible with us,” Schweitzer said. “They’ll make recommendations based on our best practices, and will work with us to adjust them based on what would work best for our organization. That flexibility is something they’re great at.” Imagine what you could achieve with flexible IT consultants. At DiamondIT, we believe your IT should work for you, not the other way around. If you’re ready for worry-free IT, contact us today online or set up a quick 15-minute consultation.