A remote back-up solution

GTI’s client since 2011, the Just For Laughs Group trades in happiness and their passion for comedy fuels their commitment to drive the industry. From their offices in Montreal, Paris, and Los Angeles, the Just For Laughs Group is the mastermind behind the biggest comedy festival in the world. Their line of products, including their comedic television series, are well known in Canada and around the world. In addition to managing the careers of several entertainers, the Group operates its own box office.

THE JUST FOR LAUGHS GROUP’S CHALLENGE

According to Guylaine Lalonde, VP of Operations

The complexity of the Just For Laughs Group hinges on two elements: the makeup of the Group and the seasonal nature of some of its main events. Indeed, the Just For Laughs Group includes over twenty companies each covering a different aspect of the entertainment world, and has over 100 permanent staff members - and many, many more during festival season. While each company is managed separately, we need to maximize central management of our infrastructure in order to standardize our procedures, optimize our information systems, and make our investments more profitable. We decided to call on GTI’s team of experts, outsourcing the management of our infrastructure and IT.

GTI’S CONTRIBUTION

In 2011, GTI set out to audit our infrastructure and IT department. The managed services team then studied our existing processes and information systems to properly define the practical issues, and to understand our needs and the realities of our business.

GTI met with in-house and third party suppliers for our different companies and prepared a clear and detailed diagnosis. To remedy the instability of our infrastructure, the report prioritized a step-by-step path towards a global and optimal alignment of our technology.

With the objective of improving asset and budget management, GTI took over the IT department, expertly effecting recommendations related to the audit diagnosis. As a long-standing business partner, GTI has an acute understanding of our needs and business objectives, allowing the team of IT consultants to be proactive in their analyses and efficient in their actions. Their thoroughness in project management combined with their flexibility in addressing the particular needs of our industry, GTI achieved:

• Improved strategic IT planning

• Appropriate budget and cash-flow planning

• Increased speed – quicker response-time = improvement of customer service = increase in demand

• Prevention of technical issues during Festival season

• Increased productivity of our teams who can now concentrate entirely on fulfilling the Just For Laughs Group business plan

GTI also ensures the selection and evaluation of our relationships with suppliers and sub-contractors. Most importantly, they have the capacity to respond 24/7 thanks to an on-site technician during business hours and emergency support available by phone at all times.

They also implemented:

• A remote back-up solution in an external data centre

• A user-friendly remote access service to respond to various festivals throughout America

• An FTP system enabling secure access to large files for representatives and distributors

• Update and optimization of storage space

• Migration and visualization of accounting servers to a virtual server farm

• Optimization of the computer loan and rental process during peak periods

• Digitization and optimization of the process for requesting new computer resources

GTI also manned a project targeting the replacement our office and box office telephone system. This is a major project since, to offer an optimal service to our clients during peak periods, we need to more than double our workforce and available phone lines. After meeting to establish our short- and medium-term objectives, our needs, and our desired operation procedure, GTI explored several solutions and contacted potential suppliers. Recommendations, timelines, and budget estimates were presented to us, all within our stated capacity and rate of integration of the changes, and the available funding.

In practical terms, GTI was responsible for:

• Choosing the optimal telephone solution

• Developing a solution that allowed us to consolidate the response system to encompass the corporate needs and also the needs of our box office and telemarketing team

• Instituting the required IT infrastructure to support the new telephone system

• Managing installation of the system with the new supplier

THE RESULTS

Streamlining and maximizing IT management and return on our IT investments.

Outsourcing of our IT department to the GTI team allowed us to reduce our IT budget by 10% annually without increasing our cost, all the while increasing efficiency and functionality.

The flexible solutions allowed us to have:

• More efficient management during high-traffic periods

• Improved customer service

• Security of our information, catalogues, and therefore intellectual property of our artists

“By handing our IT over to the experts, the Just For Laughs Group has been ensured access to a team of specialists that fully grasp our business reality, accompany us in making proactive decisions, manages and solves all IT issues, and in which we can have complete confidence. Peace of mind is priceless…”

Guylaine Lalonde, VP of Operations

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