The Art & Science of Managed IT Services

For Taft Museum of Art, selecting Global Business Solutions (GBS) as its Managed IT Services Provider (MSP) has meant the integral difference between merely maintaining business as usual and evolving toward a more modern approach to IT deployment throughout one of Cincinnati’s beloved landmark facilities.

"We are very much a seven-day operation; sometimes we’re a 24/7 operation. There are lots of events that go on outside regular hours of operation, and the [IT] partner we were working with before wasn’t able to provide us with service throughout all those hours. So, we put out a Request For Proposal, and GBS responded to that. We were very impressed with the response that GBS made to our request," says Nick DeCourcy, director of Operations and Visitor Experience at Taft Museum of Art.

"We like to think we punch above our weight both in the quality of what you see when you come through the doors, but also in the  quality of what we deliver generally. And we very much got that same strong feeling with GBS. The attitude of the GBS team was exactly the same as ours – let’s all roll up our sleeves, work together and  get the job done; let’s make sure that if there’s a problem, we get it fixed. I think that has enabled us to start a really good, productive relationship. We’re both on the same page in terms of what we’re trying to achieve every day."

And GBS is aware that resources are often limited in the non-profit world – another plus to their partnership, DeCourcy adds.

"Since bringing GBS on as our partner, this is exactly what we have experienced – an organization that is working with us, sometimes outside the letter of what they have signed up for but in the spirit of ensuring we succeed."

Meeting an Abundance of Technology Needs

The iconic Taft Museum of Art was founded in 1932 after Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft bequeathed their house and private collection of 690 artworks to the people of Cincinnati. In 2004, the house, which dates from 1820, gained a significant addition that included a café, conference facilities, a special exhibition gallery and a multi-level parking garage. Regarded as one of the finest small art museums in the nation, the Taft Museum’s collection includes works by Rembrandt, Goya, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Whistler and Sargent.

A small organization without a dedicated IT department, Taft Museum of Art has an abundance of technology needs,  from basic computer-based office work and visitor feedback capture in the museum’s galleries to audio-visual needs for major events, DeCourcy points out.

"We have a 50-user Windows-based network spread across two physical locations with a variety of different end-user needs, from running Point of Sale software in our shop

to helping our curatorial department store databases of information on each piece of art in our collection," he explains. "We are currently heavily invested in the adoption of cloud-based technologies to aid collaboration among our staff and with external partners, and to reduce our reliance on on-premise hardware or software.

"Having a partner such as GBS that is dedicated to making sure all of these technologies work together allows our staff to focus on the areas where they truly add value – in delivering an exceptional experience for guests, sharing our passion for our art, and connecting with our audience both at the museum and in the community."

GBS a full-service, fully integrated IT and business technology solutions provider serving Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, is dedicated to ensuring all of the technologies at Taft Museum of Art are integrated and performing at peak capacity.

"Maintaining the environmental conditions in the museum is extremely important for the care of the art," DeCourcy explains. "We have a sophisticated zoned HVAC system with a network of sensors around the building that monitor both temperature and relative humidity. Additionally, our curatorial staff take manual readings each day. When these readings are not in line with agreed set points, our HVAC contractor can make system adjustments remotely via the internet to correct the problem and ensure the safety of our collections."

According to DeCourcy, it is, in part, the breadth of scope of its Managed IT services and their extensive expertise that makes GBS stand out from its competitors. It’s also a matter of trust. Taft Museum of Art  knows GBS will go that extra mile – or more – to ensure the facility’s network and infrastructure are not only operating correctly but that the museum’s data is protected and secure.

The Science That Keeps the Museum Moving Forward

Global Business Solutions’ ability to provide customized Managed IT Services along with its in-depth expertise across the spectrum of technology solutions is, it seems, a unique

professional and technological work of art in itself.

Managed IT Services provided by GBS include full-service Network Administration with 24-Hour Monitoring & Predictive Failure, CyberSecurity, Windows^® Patch Management, AntiVirus Protection, 24-Hour End-User Support and IT Planning & Strategy. Value-Added Services include Cloud Storage, Cloud Computing, Managed Backup & Disaster Recovery, Phishing-As-A-Service and many more as you'd expect from a full-service provider.

"We trust GBS because they have the expertise and background working with similar organizations," DeCourcy continues. "We trust GBS can be a partner to work with us to get the right answer. It isn’t about GBS having a piece of paper so they can sell us more services, but they help us find the right vendor, whether it is a vendor they manage themselves or it’s a different vendor," DeCourcy says.

The company’s approach to managing a client’s IT services is professional and expedient – develop customized solutions for deploying a particular technology correctly, keeping a client’s entire system secure, and make sure everything works within the context of the broader environment each client supports.

"Because we don’t have the expertise, we simply have to trust our IT partner. In comparison to other partners we’ve worked with,  GBS goes above and beyond in that capacity," DeCourcy states.

Missions Accomplished

"Our goal is to make sure we keep Taft Art Museum moving forward, to bring a new technology to them that, because of our expertise, we can marry with a specific technology they already have to give museum visitors an exceptional experience," says Gaby Batshoun, GBS founder and CEO. "Because GBS is an integrated technology solutions company, not just an IT solutions provider, we understand how all Taft Museum devices run, how their network runs with IT – whether it’s a camera or a security system, temperature, lighting – all these things are integrated and have to run on the same infrastructure. We make sure there is continuity and a stable network so their staff is not just sitting there because their computer system isn’t working."

Art museum or manufacturing corporation – whatever a company’s specialty – GBS provides each of its customers the right technology solutions each needs to keep networks operating smoothly and keep all infrastructures secure without service interruption or degradation in performance. They make sure everything from data to a company’s physical premises is optimized and secured.

"We’re partners with Taft Museum of Art to help them accomplish their mission – we do that with all our customers," Batshoun adds. "We seek to understand their business, how they go-to-market, what their mission is. We align our mission with our partner’s mission to make sure we have a partnership that is a good fit.

"I am very excited to be working with Taft Museum of Art," he concludes, "GBS takes the approach we are their partner. When we support Taft Museum, for example – when we help them – we feel we are all in it together. We want to help the museum fulfill its mission – to give their customers an exceptional experience on a daily basis. If  you are in front of a computer or moving from one computer to another, we want it to be seamless. That’s a no-brainer. That’s our mission – to make sure everything flows, to make sure a partner’s

infrastructure is solid."

Global Business Solutions is located at 916 Monmouth St, Newport, KY 41071. For more information, visit www.gbs-inc.com.