Managed IT Services for Utilities: How Communication Square Reduced Downtime & Enhance Security for ABI New England

Executive Summary (Microsoft Managed IT Services for Utilities)

Company: ABI New England

Industry: Utilities

Employees: Healthcare

Overview: ABI New England engaged Communication Square LLC to take over the monitoring, management, and maintenance of their IT infrastructure. Facing frequent downtime and escalating maintenance costs, ABI New England sought a partner to deliver proactive, end-to-end managed IT services that would modernize their environment and improve reliability.

Solution: Managed IT Services

Background

Prior to partnering with Communication Square, ABI New England operated a traditional, on-premises IT environment comprised of legacy servers and applications. Although their infrastructure had been sufficient in the past, growing business demands exposed weaknesses: patching windows were missed, performance bottlenecks went undetected, and security posture lagged behind emerging threats. As a result, unplanned outages became commonplace, impacting both employee productivity and customer satisfaction.

Opportunity

The complexities inherent in maintaining an entirely on-premises stack presented ABI New England with both a challenge and an opportunity. By shifting to a managed services model, they could leverage Communication Square’s expertise to introduce industry best practices, such as continuous monitoring, automated patch management, and cloud-ready architectures, without the upfront capital expense of a forklift upgrade. This created a pathway to:

• Improve uptime: by detecting and resolving issues before they escalate
• Enhance security: through standardized controls and real-time threat protection
• Optimize costs: via right-sizing resources and leveraging cloud scalability

Challange

ABI New England’s IT team grappled with several persistent issues:

• Downtime and Productivity Loss: Server patching and hardware failures often led to unplanned outages, costing hours of lost work.
• Complex Maintenance: The heterogeneous mix of applications and legacy operating systems made routine maintenance labor-intensive.
• Security Gaps: Without 24/7 monitoring and modern defenses, the environment was vulnerable to malware, ransomware, and data exfiltration.
• Scalability Constraints: Scaling hardware on-premises required lengthy procurement cycles and capital approvals, hampering agility.

Solution

Communication Square deployed a comprehensive Managed IT Services for Utilities engagement, tailored to ABI New England’s requirements:

1. Assessment & Planning
   • Conducted a full audit of servers, applications, network devices, and security posture.
   • Developed a prioritized roadmap for remediation and modernization, including cloud migration candidates.
2. 24/7 Monitoring & Management
   • Implemented advanced monitoring agents across all endpoints and servers to capture performance metrics and alerts in real time.
   • Established a Network Operations Center (NOC) to proactively respond to incidents before they impacted end users.
3. Patch Management & Maintenance
   • Automated OS and application patching windows, reducing the risk of vulnerabilities and unplanned downtime.
   • Performed regular health checks and preventive maintenance on critical hardware.
4. Security Enhancements
   • Deployed next-generation firewalls and endpoint protection (anti-virus, anti-malware).
   • Configured data encryption at rest and in transit, plus periodic vulnerability scanning and remediation.
   • Leveraged advanced threat protection to guard against zero-day exploits and phishing attacks.
5. Cloud Optimization
   • Migrated select workloads to a hybrid cloud model to improve scalability and reduce on-premises hardware costs.
   • Right-sized virtual machines and storage allocations based on usage analytics.

Benefits

• Significantly Reduced Downtime
  With continuous monitoring and proactive maintenance, ABI New England saw a reduction in unplanned outages by over 75%. Employees regained an average of 5 hours per month in productive work time.
• Improved Performance & Reliability
  System performance stabilized, with server CPU and memory utilization maintained within healthy thresholds. SLA adherence improved, delivering consistent access to critical applications.
• Stronger Security Posture
  Automated patching and advanced threat protection closed key vulnerabilities. There were zero security incidents reported in the first six months post-engagement.
• Cost Savings & Predictability
  Shifting to a managed service with fixed monthly fees eliminated surprise capital expenses. Cloud-migrated workloads reduced on-premises hardware refresh cycles by 40%, translating into substantial cost avoidance.
• Scalability & Agility
  ABI New England can now spin up new resources in minutes rather than weeks, supporting rapid business initiatives without infrastructure delays.

Conclusion

By partnering with Communication Square LLC for Managed IT Services, ABI New England transformed its IT operations from reactive and fragmented to proactive and streamlined. The comprehensive solution not only improved uptime, security, and performance but also delivered predictable costs and the agility needed for future growth. For organizations seeking to modernize their IT infrastructure and eliminate downtime, Communication Square’s managed services offer a proven path to operational excellence.

To learn more about how Managed IT Services for Utilities can transform your organization’s IT operations, visit our Managed IT Services for Utilities page.

For a detailed consultation on implementing Managed IT Services, schedule a meeting with us.