IT Challenges
JAB wanted to add a wave of applications intended to increase brand awareness, improve customer buying experiences and maximize employee efficiencies. After carefully performing due diligence and then committing to an initial application launch in 90 days, JAB realized that a broadband WAN was going to be needed, and needed fast, to accommodate the new services.

Historically bleeding-edge cautious with regards to its IT strategies, JAB would need a tried-and-true network topology and one that could keep pace with their growth plans of adding stores and rolling out new applications such as high-speed POS authorizations, WLAN-based inventory management, centralized payment processing, and centralized POS updating.

They also needed a solutions provider who could effectively accommodate the IT staff's initiative of limiting the number of T1 connections in the network due to their capital constraints, and to ensure DSL and cable connectivity nationwide at a high success rate.

The IRG solution
After a competitive evaluation period, IRG was selected to provide broadband services, implementation support, and serve as project management lead for the JAB WAN rollout. Working within JAB's 90-day rollout schedule for its applications, IRG successfully fulfilled its commitment to activating almost 400 stores on the WAN in just 10 weeks.

Supplementing best-in-class VPN appliances, IRG provisioned and installed broadband services for each of the JAB stores. The rollout included the provisioning of broadband, installation of broadband and VPN CPE elements, all necessary LAN cabling and POS software updates to support the new WAN.

Each component of every install was communicated to JAB in near real-time to ensure record accuracy of each job. This included informing when technicians arrived onsite, any issues that occurred during the site visit, and successful completion and acceptance of an order. The project was carefully and diligently managed to minimize the impact of the service upgrade to the stores' day-to-day operations through clear schedule notification, daily reporting and weekly project reviews. IRG's proactive approach to clear communication left no question unanswered, and provided assurance the project was progressing on track.

"The IRG team fully stepped up to the challenge of being the hands-on WAN partner we envisioned when selecting them," stated Scott Toth, Divisional Vice President of IT for JoS. A. Bank. "Their detailed management of the 400-plus site store rollout was top notch, and their willingness to hunt and find low-cost broadband service, even when initially there appeared to be no broadband available, is unparalleled to anyone we’ve evaluated in the past. We value the partnership with their organization."

IRG delivered:

  Cost effective Dedicated Internet Access provisioned for each JAB store, utilizing 22 different carriers with a 97 percent success rate of delivering either DSL or Cable solution.

  Site-specific installations, including extensive inside wiring, demarc extensions and CPE placement.

  Knowledgeable field service technicians with the expertise and materials to resolve network configuration challenges in the field and on the first dispatch, so minimize additional dispatches.

  Aggressive rollout of nearly 400 stores in less than10 weeks.

  Extended-hour installation window (8am EST - 7PM PST) to accommodate aggressive rollout.

  Near real-time notification of technician arrival, issues encountered onsite, and successful turn up.

  Daily reporting provided by customer IRG Tracker reporting and weekly project reviews, all managed by dedicated project management team.

  Always-on Broadband connectivity.

  Single, Easy-Read, Electronic Invoice for all locations.

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