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Landmark Implement Drives Growth in American Heartland
Technology Category
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
Applicable Industries
- Agriculture
Applicable Functions
- Sales & Marketing
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Process Control & Optimization
- Cybersecurity
- Remote Asset Management
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- Cybersecurity Services
The Challenge
Landmark Implement, a leading John Deere dealer in the US, was formed through the merger of four equipment dealers and grew through further acquisitions. However, the company had not developed a real IT strategy for integrating these sites into a single operation. Newly acquired offices brought multiple vendors, multiple transport types, and varying levels of network performance. Centralized applications had no consistency and it was difficult to rein in costs as they attempted to stitch things together with technologies such as frame relay over leased lines. Amid this increasing complexity, John Deere also raised its expectations of IT capability among its leading dealers in the Large Ag Sector where Landmark plays. Landmark hired Brian Martin as director of IT to address these related challenges and opportunities.
About The Customer
Landmark Implement is a leading John Deere dealer in the United States, specializing in customer service and a full range of new and used gear and service. The company was formed in 2006 through the merger of four John Deere equipment dealers in Nebraska and Kansas. Landmark also operates an irrigation and grain handling business offering products and services for watering fields and moving grains after harvest. The business has grown over the years through acquisition and now operates 17 locations in addition to its headquarters. The IT department serves 450 users in two states and has to be prepared for further growth and new locations. Each Landmark location is a combination of sales operations and field service center as well as a local outpost for the John Deere brand of farm equipment.
The Solution
Landmark and CenturyLink began working on a long-range plan to not only upgrade phone capabilities, but to establish an IT strategy that would scale with Landmark’s growth plans. They created a plan that moved in stages over the course of months to spread out costs and so that Martin could demonstrate to management the benefits in each stage. Martin and CenturyLink replaced his frame relay system with a CenturyLink MPLS network that serves as a backbone for the operation. MPLS now connects all 18 locations across Nebraska and Kansas including the company headquarters, bringing the unification that Martin sought. The first step toward increased efficiency was moving the phone service to CenturyLink Hosted VoIP over that MPLS network. With that network upgrade in place, Martin also moved his core data center into a CenturyLink Colocation arrangement. That allowed Martin to implement Network Based Security to protect his operation. The colocated systems also run his core internal services such as Microsoft Sharepoint and e-mail. More recently, Martin added CenturyLink Cloud to deploy an app-based mobile strategy.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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