Case study

"One significant difference we've noticed with Emerging IT is their tech team's responsiveness and effectiveness. Unlike our previous experience, where we had to constantly follow up on IT issues, Emerging IT promptly addresses the tickets we submit responsibly. “  
 
- Rhianna Richards, Operations Manager at SMC

1. About SMC

 The Super Member Council of Australia (SMC) represents profit-to-member superannuation funds in Australia. It was formed with the merger of two organisations, Industry Super Australia (ISA) and Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST). Their primary mission is to advocate for the financial well-being of everyday Australians, ensuring stable, effective, and equitable superannuation policies.  

Initially, before the merger took place, Industry Super Australia was already utilising Emerging IT as their IT provider, while Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees used an alternative IT provider.  

 

In October 2023, SMC partnered with Emerging IT to merge their network infrastructure and data, fostering effective collaboration under one banner. This collaboration includes support, managed IT, and security services. 

2. The Challenges 

Rhianna Richards, Operations Manager at SMC, stated, "We faced a major challenge. With two separate companies, both having a significant amount of data, the goal was to bring them together in under 10 working days while maintaining operational efficiency." 

"Prior to Emerging IT, when submitting IT support tickets, we experienced slow response times, leading to frustration with IT and a reluctance to log service requests. I was spending a lot of time internally fixing IT problems, which took me away from my other business responsibilities," Rhi further elaborated. 

3. Why did you choose Emerging IT? 

 
“Our experience with previous IT providers emphasised the importance of having a dedicated partner who prioritises our needs. So, continuing with Emerging IT as our preferred IT provider for SMC, was an easy decision” Rhi explained 

“Our experience with Emerging IT at Industry Super Australia left a lasting impression on our entire team. We were confident that Emerging IT could not only get the job done, but also minimise any downtime needed for the merger of the two organisations. The team's personalised and prompt approach really stood out to me,” Rhi continued.  

4. Products or Solutions 

After confidently continuing to partner with Emerging IT, personalised products and services were created according to SMC's business objectives and goals. SMC received:

• Advanced Patching, 24/7 Monitoring & Alerting 
• Unlimited Business Hours Support with Committed Response Times 
• Standard Business Hours Service Desk from 7 am until 7 pm (outmatching most other MSPs by providing an additional 2 hours of fixed-price support at no extra cost) 
• Advanced Security Solutions  
• Security Awareness Training Program 
• Vulnerability Management and Remediation  
• Reporting and Dashboards.  

Emerging IT were able to bring both Industry Super Australia and Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees on the same infrastructure including moving our data to ensure that we could continue to operate business as usual. This meant that both companies could co-exist and collaborate while the operations of the business continued to come together.

Rhianna highlighted, “The tech team is extremely helpful. If we forget to follow up, the tickets are still promptly and responsibly addressed, we do not have to keep following up and can focus to work on other things.” 

Product Highlights  

When it comes to specific beneficial features for SMC, Rhi mentioned, “The Security Awareness Training Program stands out. It is highly effective for our staff. With this program, we can prevent threats and educates those who do not really know much about tech. While we have not encountered any major incidents so far, we believe in taking proactive measures to ensure that our employees never fall victim to email scams or phishing attempts.”  

5. The Results 

Emerging IT prepared SMC's team for Monday morning, setting up everything needed after the SMC team had finished on Thursday. 

The data was seamlessly migrated without disrupting operational demand over the weekend. Everything went smoothly, enabling the SMC team to start the next week on Monday without a hitch. 

” The Emerging IT team have consistently exceeded our expectations. They worked after hours and through the weekend to migrate the data we needed, enabling us to resume normal operations upon our return on Monday,”  

“As the Operation Manager at Industry Super Australia, I used to feel like I had two jobs. On top of my daily work, I had to deal with IT issues. Since working with Emerging IT, I can trust their team to promptly resolve daily IT problems. This has lightened my workload and boosted my productivity," Rhi explained.  

SMC now have a solution that supports them, helps them stay compliant and keeps their operation 24/7.