Nathan Davis, CFO
Empowering the CFO and the Courage to Change
Challenge:
As a Chief Financial Officer, Nathan Davis holds a fiduciary responsibility of maximizing revenues and reducing unnecessary cost and risk. Leading a national manufacturer of pipe products for the waterworks industry. The company was celebrating 50 years of business and considered an innovative leader, with a reputation for high quality products made in the USA. The company had arrived at a crucial inflection point. A fast approaching corporate building remodel was underway and construction would disrupt their current datacenter, operations and customer service. Davis’ internal IT team was not making progress and could not overcome significant issues with legacy architecture. Lack of IT innovation had begun to affect their ability to deliver fast and superior customer service. Transformation was needed quickly to continue their competitive advantage in the market, and Davis was the catalyst to ensure it would happen.
Approach:
Avail’s primary focus was accelerating cloud adoption to reduce labor and equipment costs. Avail’s Market Intelligence Assessment independently evaluated suitable vendors and solutions while keeping the client anonymous.
Services:
Solutions Design and Architecture Validation
Vendor Due Diligence
Network / Telephony / Conferencing
Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS)
Cloud Enablement – Acceleration of Services
Results:
Avail created a consolidated operating model to streamline IT and shift labor resources away from commodity activities and toward strategic outcomes. Avail designed a better architecture to support their business, and the client’s reputation for superior customer service was maintained.
'Due to construction permits and contractual commitments, we had a fast approaching deadline and a short window to implement changes in how we operated IT and customer service. Avail's process made my job significantly easier. In less than two months we completed a comprehensive multi-vendor evaluation, cost analysis and technology roadmap. We were able to take action immediately.
More from the interview with Nathan Davis, CFO
Why did you decide to involve Avail Partners?
Our leadership team and IT team were not communicating effectively. I knew transformation was possible, but needed help. In my effort to get objective ideas I was referred to Avail Partners. We first talked a lot about our business, how revenue was created and how customers were serviced. This was critical to engineering the business solution, and not just leaping into another new technology product. Decisions on infrastructure had historically been made based on what was easy for the IT staff to manage and not necessarily what the business needed. I heard other CFO’s talking about similar frustrations, and so many had IT teams that just jumped to “the cloud”, but that didn’t solve the underlying problems or reduce costs. As a company we were stuck when it came to IT. We needed to transform how we operated and were blocked with legacy technologies, old process, and a resistance change. When I met with Avail they were immediately able to translate the situation with a clarity we had not had. They respectfully challenged our legacy processes and roles, and offered new solutions.
What was your relationship with the IT team prior to engaging Avail?
At a point of change. IT reported directly to me. The family owned company had a culture committed to helping many long-term, loyal employees; however, we needed to know if we had the right people in the right roles. I was having difficulty evaluating skill sets and not certain I was getting straight answers. In a mid-market, non-tech manufacturing company, you are challenged to hire, retain, and provide on-going training for great tech talent.
How did Avail ease the transformation?
They provided the trust I needed. We were at the point that I had to change course and deal with things that were already purchased. Sometimes the internal staff is just not capable or willing to discuss disruptive ideas. The ability to work creatively with other people outside the firm made things easier. Avail was not only honest, but was willing to confront uncomfortable conversations I was not technically capable of owning. Avail was able to challenge the direction of our internal team who were invested in maintaining status-quo. Avail gave me the confidence to move forward and make the changes I knew were possible.
Can you measure Avail’s impact?
Avail’s process gave me confidence and made my job significantly easier. In less than two months we completed a comprehensive multi-vendor evaluation, cost analysis and technology roadmap. We were able to take action immediately. Avail quickly helped me implement the transformation I envisioned and knew was possible.