Chicago Botanic Garden Success
BACKGROUND
Since 1972, the mission of Chicago Botanic Garden has been to promote the enjoyment, understanding and conservation of plants and the natural world. The 385-acre garden and natural museum draws over 900,000 annual visitors and has become one of Chicago’s leading attractions. Recently, Chicago Botanic Garden released their ten-year strategic plan, Keep Growing, which outlines the steps the organization will take “to grow from being great to being legendary.”
In order to Keep Growing, Chicago Botanic Garden recognizes the important role technology plays in nurturing their plan and enabling them to successfully accomplish their goals. The organization continues to implement many new emerging technologies and strives to be cutting edge. Chicago Botanic Garden looked to SWC Technology Partners to support their growing IT needs.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
With over 450 system users and a complex infrastructure, Chicago Botanic Garden’s Information Systems Department is constantly looking for ways to integrate “innovative, cost effective, sustainable and secure technology solutions” that will ensure their organization’s future success. In order to maintain a strong technology infrastructure, the organization knew they had to consolidate their SQL databases as well as upgrade their current Microsoft Exchange Server. Chicago Botanic Garden wanted to upgrade to Microsoft Exchange 2010, but knew their internal staff did not have the expertise to successfully design, plan and deploy the upgrade. Additionally, they would not be able to troubleshoot any network issues. Chicago Botanic Garden needed a partner who could help them manage their Exchange upgrade and subsequently maintain their network environment, so that their staff could focus on more strategic projects.
OBJECTIVES
Managing Chicago Botanic Garden’s IT environment required SWC CARE:
- 24/7 monitoring and alerting of IT systems
- Cost-effective, flexible support and IT management
- Proactive patching, reporting and updating of systems
- Access to subject matter experts as needed
SOLUTION
SWC architected and executed the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Exchange 2010 Server upgrade. The new system provided a scalable, reliable and manageable e-mail and communications infrastructure for any user within Chicago Botanic Garden’s networks. Following the deployment SWC implemented SWC Care, a managed services solution for the entire Chicago Botanic Garden environment, including Microsoft Exchange and SQL. Through proactive and consistent system monitoring, SWC can identify issues that may compromise network health, performance and stability. Once an issue is identified, SWC will triage the problem and work with Chicago Botanic Garden’s IT staff to rapidly resolve the situation. Each month, the team meets with Chicago Botanic Garden management to review results and best practice recommendations with the goal of creating an infrastructure that supports the Garden staff and visitor experience.
SUCCESS
Exchange 2010 has given Chicago Botanic Garden more reliable e-mail and information storage, which enables employees to work more efficiently. SWC Care has provided Chicago Botanic Garden with a cost effective way to maintain their network and database systems while freeing up the schedules of the internal team so that they can focus on the strategic and customer centric projects.
ABOUT SWC TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS
SWC Technology Partners is an award-winning provider of IT solutions to midsize businesses. For more than 30 years, SWC has excelled at delivering technology solutions that optimize productivity, strengthen customer relationships, enhance data sharing and drive profitability. SWC specializes in the technology solutions that match the business needs of midmarket organizations including managed services; infrastructure solutions such as Unified Communications, virtualization and network security; and software solutions including SharePoint, business intelligence and custom development. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, SWC is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner and was honored as a Microsoft Central Region Partner of the Year in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2012.
To learn more about SWC Technology Partners and the solutions we provide, contact us at info@SWC.com or call 630.572.0240.