Context & Continuity

CIO Update, 9/30/5: Sharing the Burden of Compliance

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For CenterBeam, a San Jose, Calif.-based IT outsourced services company, the decision to pursue SAS 70 Type II certification was an easy one, according to Eric Arnold, vice president of security, engineering and operations.

First, clients expect it and second, it allows them to provide clients with the value-add of taking on the responsibility of a least a portion of their customers’ compliance requirements.

“We had one customer who brought in an army of guys, including their auditors. They were loaded for bear,” said Arnold. “I asked them to show me their SOX (Sarbanes Oxley) criteria for the audit and, after going through it line by line, I came up with a matrix of three things we could do for them” that encompassed consultative, enabling and providing roles. “If you imagine a line with two end points, where one end is empty and the other is full, that’s the SOX criteria. We were able to cover the first third.”

The entire process took CenterBeam about two months and 25 hours a week of Arnold’s time, but he said the ROI is more than worth the effort and expense. For starters, the certification has enabled the company to close deals that were otherwise out of reach, and they realized an improvement in overall productivity.

Finally, said Arnold, who still spends about 15% of his month working with auditors from client companies, the SAS 70 lets him respond quickly to those requests. “Before we had certification … it was a nightmare.”

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Saint John Telegraph Journal, 9/28/5: CenterBeam adds to Saint John workforce

Commitment to hire made as part of government loan requirement

By Kevin Barrett
Telegraph-Journal

CenterBeam, an IT outsourcing firm, is increasing its Saint John workforce to 150 people because of a doubling of its client base over the past year.

The California-based company opened its Saint John office in April 2004 and will hire 50 new staff over the next two months.

It manages automated networks and servers and the new jobs are for engineers, both to run the systems and to provide customer support.

"Staffing frontline positions with such senior professionals means each member of the staff can solve more problems faster for more people," said company CEO Kevin Francis in a prepared statement.

Microsoft recently named CenterBeam as a gold partner in recognition of the company's management and technical expertise.

That accolade puts CenterBeam in the top 4 per cent of Microsoft's partners worldwide.

Mr. Francis was named the industry person of the year at the New Brunswick Knowledge Industry Recognition and Achievement (KIRA) Awards last May.

CenterBeam also won a KIRA award for employment growth in 2004.

"We make more money the faster we solve problems for our customers," said company spokesman Brian Johnson. "It costs us less money. That's why we need to have highly educated, highly trained people like the folks we find in Saint John to get that work done."

Last April, the province gave CenterBeam a $1.7 million forgiveable loan if the company creates 300 jobs by April 2007 and maintain them until 2012.

Press Release: CENTERBEAM EXPANDS CLIENT SUPPORT STAFF 50%

Francis: More Staff Delighting More Clients With Faster Solutions

SAN JOSÉ, CALIF., September 27, 2005 – Today, CenterBeam announced it is expanding its client support staff in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada by 50% to keep pace with a client base that doubled in 2004 and continues to grow. CenterBeam’s Express Access team, its front line of client support, will be drawn from New Brunswick's deep reserve of experienced IT professionals.

"CenterBeam’s clients are supported by IT professionals with more than three years of experience and many have at least one Microsoft professional certification," said Kevin Francis, CenterBeam's president and chief executive officer. “Staffing frontline positions with such senior professionals means each member of the staff can solve more problems faster for more people.”

If a problem needs to be escalated, CenterBeam leverages its engineering staff in Saint John and San José, California which has multiple technical certifications. As part of today’s news, CenterBeam is announcing it is streamlining its escalation process based on the result of a Lean Six Sigma quality programs coordinated by CenterBeam's in-house Lean Six Sigma manager.

The Channel Insider, 9/20/5: Get an Edge With Compliance Certification

By Martha Young

...co-founder of Nova Amber LLC, a business-consulting firm based in Golden, Colo. She co-authored The Case for Virtual Business Processes, published by Cisco Press. She has extensive global expertise in the outsourcing and managed services market intelligence arena. Young can be reached at myoung@novaamber.com or (303) 642-0941.

Opinion: In the new regulatory environment, solution providers with SAS-70 Type II certification can instill confidence in their clients and save them money at audit time.

Several service providers and collocation facilities have recently announced receipt of Type II certification, including CenterBeam, CyrusOne, and Terremark Worldwide. SAS 70 Type II certification is valuable to service providers of all sizes. HP Global Services and Unisys, two of the largest global service providers, also are certified.

Eric Arnold, vice president of engineering, security and operations at CenterBeam said, "Nearly all of our clients have complex business environments requiring extensive information security. With our Type II certification we can save each and every one of them substantial time and money in their audit process, whether they are going through SOX or HIPPA, or any other compliance audit. We anticipate this certification will aid the decision process for prospective clients to select CenterBeam as their outsourced service provider over competing non-certified providers."

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Press Release: CENTERBEAM WINS MICROSOFT PARTNER AWARD

CenterBeam Saves Client $150,000+ / Year

SAN JOSÉ, CALIF., September 13, 2005 – Today, CenterBeam announced it is the winner of Microsoft’s “Winning on Value” partner award. CenterBeam, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, received the award based on its outstanding sales growth and superior customer satisfaction.