UPS as a Service for Finance

Client

A community-based bank with 26 branch locations throughout Kentucky and Ohio. The organization was recognized by Forbes as one of the best banks in the country. They offer customers a vast array of products and technology, with the personal hometown bank touch.

Challenge

This organization purposefully let IT staff go within the last year, and due to those staff cuts, only had two IT professionals left. They lacked the personnel needed to go around the region servicing UPS devices. The two-person IT team got tired of wearing all the hats and having to go around to fix old and dying UPS devices. This often means hauling around dusty, dirty, heavy equipment, which is exhausting on top of other technology work that needs to be focused on. It became more monetarily feasible to be partner-led.

A unique challenge to banks is clearly the necessity of uptime. People need their money when they need it. Any little blip of power means a complete system reboot without a well-maintained UPS. Another unique challenge is the amount of security technologies on the network. From the camera security system to the door readers, most of that technology is not segmented on its own gear, and even if it is, it’s probably still connected to a UPS. Envision if the power went down and the UPS failed, you might not be able to get in or out of the literal doors to the bank. A well-maintained remote site simply helps stakeholders sleep at night.

Solution

To give the full scope of this project, it should be said that we entered into the UPS conversation after two of their branches went down due to failed UPS devices within a week of each other. Volta field engineers were available and prepared with the necessary resources to respond quickly. They were able to replace the first UPS, and get the branch back up and running within an hour. The second UPS that failed the following week was across the state, but we were able to get there and replace it. That branch was back up and running before the end of the day.

After taking apart the key technology staff, the bank knew that an engagement like this was coming. They were fortunate to already be in talks with us, as they could have lost these branches for a lot longer than the amount of time in which we were able to respond. After this first wave of UPS issues, Volta proposed a roll out of UPS devices that needed replacing across all remote locations. As of now, we are monitoring and maintaining the Volta UPS devices at these three branch locations. Volta owns those devices and is responsible for monitoring and maintaining them, so the bank’s remaining IT staff can focus on the most important tasks.

Results

The bank understood the necessity of uptime. And they knew that UPS devices are integral to keeping network equipment online and increasing the lifespan of that equipment. As with what often happens in our industry, uncovering one issue can lead to the discovery of many more problems. We found a large amount of legacy networking equipment at the first two sites we were working in. That equipment was at the end of life, so Volta assisted in replacing it.

Volta is now performing network assessments at all of the bank’s remote sites. We provide asset tagging info, along with age checks on their equipment. Using that information, Volta makes recommendations along with continuing to service and replace UPS devices on an as-needed basis. We are on call when this organization needs us, and are happy to take a load off of a financial institution that provides for hometown communities in our region.

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