Case Study: Managed IT for Optimal Planning, Performance & Cost Savings for Northeastern Fine Jewelry
A family-owned business for over 35 years, Northeastern Fine Jewelry has been celebrating life’s important occasions with families in the Capital Region Community with the finest in service, quality and design. The company humbly started in 1980 as The Northeastern Coin Gallery. In 1985, the business was incorporated and the name changed to Northeastern Fine Jewelry Inc. Since 1980, Northeastern has based its business on a simple creed: provide the finest quality jewelry for a great value with unconditional dedication to customer satisfaction.
Currently occupying four locations in upstate New York, Northeastern Fine Jewelry continues to expand. The four storefronts are located in Schenectady, Guilderland, Glens Falls and New York City. Opening in 1980, 1998, and 2004, expansion in the last 10 years has made Northeastern Fine Jewelry the Capital region’s highest volume jeweler. Along with physical expansion, Northeastern is constantly adding more of the world’s highest quality name brands in jewelry and horology.
“Every aspect of what we do is affected by how our IT performs—it globally impacts our business. If our IT doesn’t work, nothing works. cb20 has been integral in how we manage, plan for and implement all our technology.”
— Scott Castelli, Director of Operations, Northeastern Fine Jewelry
The IT Challenges
As the company grew, so did the need for additional technology. Before engaging with cb20, the company managed the bulk of its own IT in-house even as their growing business and the IT landscape changed. The legacy point-of-sale (POS) system was aging along with their infrastructure and hardware. With limited IT resources, Northeastern needed a reliable partner for strategic planning, implementation and support to help manage the full spectrum of their technology needs.
The cb20 Managed IT Solution
At the onset of working with cb20, Northeastern brainstormed new systems for VOIP, Internet, security surveillance, Point-of-Sale (POS) and desktop hardware and software. “cb20 made recommendations but didn’t force their ideas on us,” remembers Scott Castelli, Director of Operations for Northeastern Fine Jewelry. “They conducted thorough research and gave us multiple options based on our unique needs and budget.”
Matt Ronas, Director of Professional Services for cb20, worked with the NEFJ team to refocus their search with long term planning in mind. “We had the experience and resources to identify not only the right hardware and network infrastructure for their business, but gave them the long-term implications of various products to consider in order to launch their deployment successfully,” said Matt.
But that wasn’t all. “cb20 helped us realize that we had to reevaluate how we do things,” says Scott. “Every aspect of what we do is affected by how our IT performs – it globally impacts our business. If our IT doesn’t work, nothing works. cb20 has been integral in how we manage, plan for and implement all our technology. cb20 helped change our technology culture and the ways we plan for our IT expenses. Instead of replacing our hardware every 6-7 years and adding a large expense to our budget, we are now able to plan for these expenses many years out, and roll out and replace hardware and software gradually—maybe doing 3-4 machines at a time as needed, making it easier on our budget and employees. We eventually replaced all our servers, backups, laptops and desktops. With cb20 we reworked it all from the ground up but also with the future in mind. We have been able to lighten the load on staff and budget with better planning.”
Once Northeastern had their new system up and running, cb20 stayed connected with both online and phone support. “Support is huge for us as our entire business runs on IT,” says Scott. “If we need access to the server and call cb20 they will give us remote access immediately. If we need to request technology for setting up a new employee, we are able to schedule that with an easy online ticket system.”
By relying on cb20 for the ongoing support and maintenance of their information technology systems, the staff is freed to focus on strategic business initiatives that grow revenue and keep their customers happy. The company is currently expanding in the Capital Region.
“cb20 has been integral to our overall success. We are working on opening two new stores and cb20 is essential to getting us up and running from day one with the right systems in place,” said Scott. “Their insight is critical to the way we think about, use and plan for our technology. Our relationship with cb20 has been great for us—there are no limitations to this partnership—they are there every step of the way.”
About cb20
cb20 is a technology solutions provider of choice for organizations that value IT and Managed Services expertise and category-leading customer service. We partner with the world’s leading hardware and software companies to deliver end-to-end consulting, implementation and managed services across the U.S. With world-class engineering talent and 30+ years of experience cb20 delivers confidence, security, a true sense of control and the highest-quality, end-to-end customer experience in the business.