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Thompson, Davis & Company (TD&Co.) is an independent investment research
company providing unbiased, original research and services to institutional and
retail investors. The firm’s origins date back to the late 1980s when E. Hunter
Thompson, Jr., then Research Director at Branch Cabell & Co., formed an
institutional research group that focused on stocks meeting certain growth
characteristics he had developed. These growth characteristics were expanded
and refined by the group over the next 15 years. With the desire to be
independent and provide truly original, unbiased equity research and services,
Thompson, Davis and Company was formed in 2002 and made its first trade on July 11th of that year.
The Challenge
Offering a full-range of financial services from
financial planning and private money
management to corporate and municipal bonds,
TD&Co. is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia,
with a smaller satellite office in Winston-Salem. Although the firm is small –
employing 24 professionals – its technology needs are complex due to the
dynamic, competitive, and fast-paced nature of its business. As such,
Thompson, Davis & Company relies heavily on internet connectivity, both in
terms of speed and reliability. In addition to streaming data and a multitude of
platforms, the firm’s trading department utilizes a separate system allowing it to
make markets and stocks, as well as VPN connections in order to execute trades
on individual desktops.
TD&Co.’s primary focus has always been providing its clients with independent,
original, and unbiased research. However, the financial investment firm was
encountering recurring problems with its network that not only interfered with
employee productivity, but its ability to respond to valued customers as well.
Charles R. Roberts, CFP, Thompson, Davis & Company’s newly appointed Chief
Operating Officer, began to realize the severity of the firm’s network problems
when he experienced extreme difficulty in sending and receiving email, as well
as slow and erratic internet connectivity. “I couldn’t imagine what the financial
impact of this downtime was having on our business,” Roberts says.
“We depend on email and the internet not only for communication with our
clients, but also to conduct trades and other business functions.” As the person
responsible for managing the firm’s technology needs, Roberts began
searching for a solution.
As a small business, Thompson, Davis & Company has no internal IT department
and had previously contracted with another firm to provide IT support and
maintenance. However, TD&Co. found its service to be haphazard and
inadequate, with little or no advance planning or account management. “We
saw a seemingly endless number of different people working on our network,”
Roberts says. The results were patch work solutions that simply did not work.
Thompson, Davis and Company needed an IT support service to keep its
systems running, secure, and up-to-date. “We were in crisis mode. We needed
regular, dependable service and a provider who could do everything or consult
on areas that weren’t core capabilities,” says Roberts.
The Solution
Thompson, Davis & Company’s priority was to solve its immediate network
issues, but it needed ongoing, dependable service as well. “We needed
someone to assess our system and make recommendations for the future,” says
Roberts. “I wanted a proactive maintenance program to ensure that we won’t
have issues as we grow or as our needs change.” With an urgent need for
reliable systems and planned, regular service, TD&Co. turned to Nortec for its IT
maintenance and support.
Nortec began by meeting with TD&Co. to discuss its needs, challenges and
priorities. “We offered a structured approach to maintenance,” says Steve Estep,
General Manager for Nortec’s Richmond, Virginia office. “Nortec’s Managed
Services approach is a weekly recurring maintenance agreement that includes
the proactive scheduling of engineers to perform ongoing maintenance before
things go wrong.”
Nortec then performed a complete audit to assess the current systems’
capabilities and determine the best course of action for immediate fixes as well
as ongoing maintenance. “We looked at their entire network. Our Network
Status Report identified vulnerabilities and tolerances, so that we could come
back and address them,” says Estep.
Nortec’s Network Status Report determined that the majority of problems
TD&Co. was experiencing with its email service were as a result of email content
filtering. The previous vendor had set such a high threshold that that the filter
was blocking nearly every email coming into the network. “There was no
credibility with their network,” says Estep. “We had to re-build the email flow
associated to Symantec’s spam and anti-virus filters.”
The Network Status Report also identified problems in the configuration of a T1
line the previous vendor had installed in an effort to improve internet
connectivity. Nortec completely rewired the network and is serving as a liaison
between the telecom provider and TD&Co. so that it can make informed,
intelligent decisions about its telecom investment.
With immediate network complications solved, TD&Co. no longer experiences
the downtime and potential business loss associated with interrupted email
and internet service, and the investment firm now has a stable system it can rely
on.
The Benefits
With a routine maintenance plan in place and regular service from
knowledgeable, dependable engineers, TD&Co. is able to approach technology
proactively, rather than reactively. “I’ve been very impressed with Nortec’s
knowledge base and resources,” says Roberts. “I give Nortec and Steve Estep
high marks for his willingness to go the extra mile.”
Thompson, Davis & Company has come to rely on Nortec not only for its
day-to-day IT support, but also for its assistance in planning for future
technology needs. Nortec’s Network Status Report helps address TD&Co’s
technology path and grades the criticality of its network, so if the firm were to
open a new office, or add a new service offering, the firm is able to plan in
advance for growth - a sound investment strategy, indeed.
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