CLIENT PROFILE
Founded in 1962 in De Pere, Wisconsin, Fox Converting Inc. processes a variety of products, including food, dental and medical packaging and wide web roll paper products. It also provides research and development to help customers with optimal process development and improved process controls.
THE SITUATION
Due to gaps in their IT infrastructure function, Fox’s leadership team saw opportunities for positive change in two main areas: (1) the need to feel more connected with IT in terms of communication, culture and decision-making and (2) the need to improve the reliability of their technology systems, which frequently crashed during month-end close.
THE STRATEGY
Wipfli started by assessing Fox’s IT systems and processes with a technology health check. This work allowed our team to create a three-year technology roadmap and plan out changes that would stabilize Fox’s systems, address business needs and evolve the IT department while creating a more positive, integrated culture.
Fox also engaged Wipfli’s technology managed services to help fill its IT gaps and provide additional leadership, mentoring and direction. The first priority was stabilizing its systems. To do so, Wipfli worked with Fox leadership and IT staff to implement a formal change management process, ensuring any changes that affected more than one user were assessed and wouldn’t contribute to the systems’ unpredictability. Wipfli also installed management agents on servers and computers, which automated many tasks that were previously completed manually by IT staff. This added more time back in the day for Fox IT team to focus on priority projects and help desk tickets.
The next goal was to create an environment for continuous improvement. By going through IT’s processes, making recommendations and helping employees plan projects and prioritize Help Desk tickets, Wipfli not only helped IT become more efficient and productive but also helped Fox’s leadership team understand the workload of their team. This effort increased the effectiveness of the help desk and gave the Fox team time to focus on getting important projects completed. Ultimately, this improved collaboration across the IT function while helping to remove the disconnect leadership felt with IT.
WHAT WERE THE RESULTS?
By mentoring the Fox team, having open conversations about IT’s future, and staff’s role in that future, and communicating areas of growth within the organization, Wipfli helped IT staff members understand and connect with other parts of the business and vice versa. This opened the door between these two previously disparate groups and vastly improved communication, morale and productivity.
Wipfli also saw opportunities to ease the administrative burden on IT staff by reducing the size of the technology environment. By reducing server count by 60%, Wipfli saved Fox nearly four days a month in maintenance. With Fox’s systems stablized, leadership is excited for the next phase of the roadmap. Together with Wipfli, Fox is leveraging technology to support their business and create a compelling future.
