![\"ss_header_byers\"](\"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/ss_header_byers.png\")
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*Reprinted from article in Hewlett Packard publication of customer success stories<\/p>\n
Byers\u2019 Choice Ltd., a company that produces hand-crafted holiday caroler figurines, has evolved over the past 24 years from owner Joyce Byers\u2019 home-based hobby to a firm of 180 employees who work in a 90,000-square foot facility. Their beautiful figurines \u2013 each a unique creation \u2013 now adorn mantelpieces and windowsills in thousands of homes and businesses each year.<\/p>\n
The company sells its products through 3,000 retailers in the United States, Canada, Iceland, and Europe. As the business has grown, so has the need for a strong and stable IT infrastructure. Last year, faced with the necessity of replacing the 15-year-old UNIX-based server that supports all company operations, Byers\u2019Choice turned to Micro Solutions Plus and HP for help. \u201cWe wanted to work with a reliable company that had a genuine interest in working with us and was as concerned about our problems as we were,\u201d says David Daikeler, Customer Service and IT Manager at Byers\u2019 Choice. \u201cWe decided to go with Micro Solutions Plus, an authorized HP service provider and reseller, based upon a recommendation. Every time we have needed help, they have been even more responsive than we could have hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Commitment to Excellence<\/p>\n
The selection of Micro Solutions Plus by HP as a Hall of Fame partner represents the affirmation of a shared philosophy: total commitment to providing superior service. Founded in 1987, the business model of Micro Solutions Plus is to become the \u201cvirtual computer department\u201d for its small and mid-sized clients, and an extension of the IT department for its large ones.<\/p>\n
Micro Solutions Plus first met with Byers\u2019 Choice to discuss their need for a new server to support their ERP software, a package called ROI. After having learned that ROI would no longer be supported on a UNIX-based platform, Byers\u2019 Choice had to upgrade to a Windows based server and wanted some advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt our initial meeting, we did a needs analysis and for the hardware, we recommended\u00a0a HP ProLiant file server,\u201d says John Elton, President of Micro Solutions Plus. \u201cWe contacted their ROI company to review the specs for the new server to support their application. Then, we contacted HP tech support and went over the specs with them. They helped us to develop a proposal for a system that would meet all the requirements of the new version of ROI.\u201d<\/p>\n
A CarePaq for Extra Protection<\/p>\n
After Byers\u2019 Choice decided to purchase the HP ProLiant server, Micro Solutions Plus emphasized the need for them to purchase a HP CarePaq contract. MSP\u00a0explained HPs excellent\u00a0track record and post\u00a0sales support and need for 24X7 coverage.\u00a0\u00a0Approximately 80 percent of the data center hardware MSP sells is HP equipment. MSP has aligned themselves with HP because of their reliability and superior technical support. For any critical server, MSP always includes a HP Carepaq contract with SLA terms to protect customers from\u00a0down time.<\/p>\n
In the case of Byers\u2019 Choice, the new server supports their entire business. Employees in operations, finance, sales and customer service all need to share information electronically, so the main fileserver cannot be down. A CarePaq contract stipulates that someone from HP will be on-site within four hours if there is ever a problem, and Elton is the first to praise the caliber of that support. \u201cThese are highly trained people who really know what they are doing,\u201d he says. \u201cBy conducting pre-diagnostics remotely, they\u00a0arrive with whatever parts are necessary to fix the problem quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Service is a Top Priority<\/p>\n
According to John Elton, the relationship with HP Service provides two major benefits for Micro Solutions Plus. \u201cFirst, we have access to their 1-800 level II\u00a0technical support, which is fantastic. If we call in, we get right through to someone who is extremely knowledgeable. Second, because our clients typically rely on their HP servers to support their IT infrastructure, they cannot afford downtime. With HP Service behind us, we know that someone will be there to support our customers on a 24×7 basis and to get parts to them within four hours if needed. We place tremendous value on having the support of a large corporation behind us. HP has been very good over the years at doing just that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Virtualizing ROI<\/p>\n
Once the hardware was selected, MSP installed the new HP Proliant ML 350 with redundant hard drives, power supplies, NICs in the Byers Choice data center.\u00a0 VMware was installed and Windows 2008 R2 operating System. The ERP program was installed, and data transfer completed. New APC battery backup systems were put in place as well.\u00a0 The end result was a totally redone data center with a new core server hosting Byers Choice\u00a0critical ERP app ROI.<\/p>\n
The Track Record Shows HP and MSP Provide Excellent Post Installation Support<\/p>\n
Service is key from the Byers\u2019 Choice perspective as well. \u201cEverything has been running fine for us since we upgraded to the new server,\u201d says David Daikerler, \u201cbut it\u2019s great to know that Micro Solutions Plus and HP will be there whenever we need them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Byers\u2019 Choice Ltd., a company that produces hand-crafted holiday caroler figurines, has evolved over the past 24 years from owner Joyce Byers\u2019 home-based hobby to a firm of 180 employees who work in a 90,000-square foot facility. Their beautiful figurines \u2013 each a unique creation \u2013 now adorn mantelpieces and windowsills in thousands of homes and businesses each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","passster_activate_protection":false,"passster_protect_child_pages":"","passster_protection_type":"password","passster_password":"","passster_activate_overwrite_defaults":"","passster_headline":"","passster_instruction":"","passster_placeholder":"","passster_button":"","passster_id":"","passster_activate_misc_settings":"","passster_redirect_url":"","passster_hide":"no","passster_area_shortcode":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":971,"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions\/971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msponline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}