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BlueSteel Projects

Potential sales loss due to inadequate compute power

Business Problem

In a difficult situation with a customer, a client needed to show their software product’s value quickly. The software product was underperforming and not meeting the client's stated claims.

Analysis by BlueSteel identified inadequate compute and storage resources to be the issue. BlueSteel's solution called for a high capacity, state-of-the-art compute server with large, high-speed disk storage directly attached be installed and configured in the client's customer's IT server room. BlueSteel's client agreed and insisted the task be completed and successful with four days. The challenging request was further complicated by the distance between the client's facilities on the East Coast and the customer's site in California. The client was unable to procure a server from traditional suppliers that met the requirements within the time frame and at an affordable cost.

Challenges

  1. Deliver high performance and lower cost than traditional suppliers. The customer’s best servers were configured with 4CPUs and 16GB RAM; however, client needs required a 16CPU 256GB RAM server to properly show their product strength.
  2. Network latency created a data access bottleneck. Local disc access to the compute server was required. The client's product achieved peak performance when access to data scaled with CPU count.
  3. Fast response time to achieve on-Site installation and configuration at the client’s customer site within 4 days.
  4. Establish working IT relationship with the client's customer IT department to install and configure the server on their network. The client's product required configuration and integration to function properly.

BlueSteel Solution

After understanding the client's needs, BlueSteel contacted an OEM hardware vendor to build the solution. BlueSteel flew to the OEM vendor’s location to observe the build, perform the configuration, and test the solution. Once successful testing completed, BlueSteel hand-delivered the the solution to the customer's location. A strong relationship of mutual respect and trust was quickly built with the customer's IT department, once the solution was installed, configured, and in production in less than four hours.

  1. Achieved cost target including hardware, software, service and travel. Solution was delivered in 4 days, as contracted.
  2. Validated product claims of the client in the customers production environment. Client was able to provide superior support and differentiate their solution.
  3. Built strong IT relationship with the customer. BlueSteel was able to gain the respect and trust of the customer's IT department by demonstrating professional courtesy, domain insight, and dogged attention to detail.

Client Value

  • Cost savings were achieved over traditional suppliers, who were unable to fill the order at a reasonable cost. BlueSteel built the server from scratch, tested the server to ensure client's claims were substantiated, and delivered the server to the customer's site on time. The entire solution was a 65% savings over the best quote the client received.
  • Competitive advantage was achieved through the solution. The client was able to prove their product’s value, and in addition was able to differentiate their support from the other vendors in the sales cycle.