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The Background
Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc. (NASDAQ: BECN), is one of the largest distributors of
residential and non-residential roofing and complementary building products
in North America, with over $1.5 billion in annual sales and more than 2,500
employees. A leading distributor of roofing materials and building products in
the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Southwest regions of the United
States and in Eastern Canada, Beacon’s business combines both new and
re-roof applications in residential and commercial markets.
The Challenge
Headquartered in Peabody, MA, Beacon
Roofing Supply, Inc is comprised of 12
regional companies in 34 states and
three Canadian Provinces with 176 locations. Beacon’s rapid growth through
regional expansion and strategic acquisitions are testament to its proven
business model, results-oriented management and people-focused corporate
culture, and give Beacon the opportunity to grow even more.
But Beacon’s expansion and acquisitions, while strategic and beneficial, were
nevertheless creating technology challenges due to multiple networks,
multiple domains, and no central management. When Beacon’s newly
appointed CIO, Chris Nelson, came on board, he discovered no fewer than seven
different systems in seven separate server locations, with each newly acquired
company running its own operating systems and infrastructures. “It was
disarray,” says Nelson. “As we acquired new companies, we didn’t think through
how the infrastructures of all of these companies would be integrated or
centralized.”
Nelson’s first indication that Beacon’s systems were not running efficiently began with issues related to email. Part of the company was running on
IPSWITCH and another third was running on Exchange 2000, creating difficulty
in sending and receiving email, as well as an inability for employees to
synchronize mobile devices. “Nothing was centralized,” Nelson says. “The
majority of devices were not operating on one domain – they were running on
all different types.” As the person responsible for managing the firm’s
technology needs, Nelson began searching for a solution.
The Solution
Beacon’s first priorities were a solution that would give them central
management, one common platform for email and communication, and
multiple points of access to emails. After evaluating Lotus Notes and Exchange,
Beacon chose Nortec as its Microsoft value-added partner to get the job done. “We knew we needed outside help and we were referred by Microsoft,” says
Nelson. “Once we decided on a Microsoft solution, Nortec was the selected
provider. We had a comfort level with what Nortec brought to the table, and
the technical resource Nortec brought on was considerable.”
Nortec began by meeting with Beacon to discuss its needs, challenges and
priorities. “We were able to integrate Beacon and secure all the different
domains of Beacon and its subsidiaries by using Windows,” says David
Solomonraj at Nortec. Nortec ensured that each user would be centrally
managed by Active Directory under Windows and that administrators would be
able to add, remove, and update users from one central location. Exchange
2007 enabled Beacon to unify all the users under one common email platform,
centralize storage, and allowed integration with Blackberry and ActiveSync. In
addition, all of Beacon’s users are able to check their emails from anywhere
using Outlook Web Access.
The Benefits
Simplicity and standardization, security and efficiency were Beacon CIO Chris
Nelson’s priority with the project. “Email was an issue when I came on board,”
says Nelson. “Now we have web, PDA and desktop access into email. Now we
are all up to speed in all locations.”
While Nortec and Beacon are in the process now of rolling out the project, the
transition has gone well. “Because we’re building a new data center, we had a
long timeline, and while every project has unexpected delays, Nortec was great
with accommodating our changing schedule,” says Nelson.
Beacon has moved from several disparate operating systems with no centralized management to a common email platform, centralized
administration and multiple access points to email. “We’re at the point now
where we’re handing off to Beacon and bringing more than1600 devices onto
the infrastructure,” says Solomonraj.
“Nortec consulted with us on the best solution for our business needs, and that
drove our infrastructure conversation,” says Nelson. “We looked to Nortec as
consultants and as partners to implement the solution as well.” With its infrastructure
consolidated, secure, and management centralized, Beacon is ready to
expand and grow well into the future.
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