Case Studies
HIS Innovations Group
- Metal manufacturer serving semiconductor industry
- Approximately 70 employees (early 2020)
- Contract started March 2020
- Strained MSP relationship. No developed IT function. Weak IT liaison.
- Global Shop on-premise client
Partnership Goals:
- Improve stability
- Rapidly scale
- Improve cybersecurity posture
- Minimize silo-ing
- Increase corporate value
Projects, Processes & People
Between March 2020 & October 2023 Upward:
- Overhauled their entire server, networking & 365 architecture
- Migrated significant elements to cloud (including Global Shop)
- Vastly improved security posture, hardening environment and pursuing compliance standards
- Managed expansion to over 250 employees
- Embedded Full-time employee in very successful Co-managed agreement
- Facilitated 2 facility moves and 3 new facilities going online
- In October 2023 HIS was sold to Ultra Clean Technologies (UCT) for $120 million
- Our embedded employee was hired full-time, new employee embedded to backfill
- UCT signed a two-year extension with Upward
- Upward continues to support daily service desk requirements, system administration and project needs
Zupan’s Markets
As a small local retailer, Zupan’s Markets needed help keeping up with our technology needs. We’d began falling behind and recognized we did not have someone with the breadth of experience needed to accomplish all our technological needs.
Enter Upward Technologies. They stepped in and evaluated our current situation, came up with a plan to bring us up to date in the ever-changing IT landscape. They helped us create an ongoing outline of future projects based on needs and urgency. Upward has recommended and implemented back-up plans for all our crucial systems, and ensured there were no interruptions for our customers.
Upward has worked with us to create an ongoing support program which works for our company. All of the staff at Upward are incredibly friendly and patient. They continue to work in conjunction with our support teams for our POS systems, phone, and internet providers, ensuring our entire operation continues to run smoothly.
A short time after signing up with Upward we went through a major office move. Upward was with us every step of the way from creating a low voltage wiring plan to helping us coordinate a wiring vendor and moving our equipment.
We’re very appreciative of our partnership with Upward Technologies and wouldn’t be able to keep up with our IT needs without them.
— Mike Zupan
Founded in 1975, Zupan’s Markets has established itself as a premier high-end grocery destination in Portland, Oregon. With three locations and a dedicated team of several hundred employees, Zupan’s commitment to quality extends beyond their products to their operations. Recognizing the increasing digitization of the retail industry, Zupan’s sought a comprehensive IT partnership in 2020 to enhance their technological capabilities.
Initial Challenges:
Before partnering with Upward, Zupan’s had a disparate team of resources supporting the IT environment, including:
- Reliance on a single internal IT resource
- A separate partner managing the Microsoft environment.
- An expensive and inefficient contract with an outside vendor for phone and internet services.
- Multiple IT contractors handling sporadic initiatives
Upward’s Proven Methodology:
Upward became the singular IT department for the organization and addressed Zupan’s needs with a strategic focus on Stability, Security, and Scalability.