Intelligentsia Coffee: Stabilizing IT Across 12 Locations

[ CLIENT SUCCESS ]

Intelligentsia Coffee: Stabilizing IT Across 12 Locations

Industry

Distribution & Wholesale

Solution

Managed IT Operations

Client Since

2024

About Intelligentsia Coffee

Intelligentsia Coffee was started almost 30 years ago from an ongoing pursuit to provide the world’s best coffee. Husband-and-wife founders Doug Zell & Emily Mange saw a gap in specialty coffee in the Midwest. Using their love of the bean, they brought their West Coast expertise and knowledge of freshly roasted coffee from San Francisco to Chicago to open their first roaster and retailer business.

Today, Intelligentsia operates 12 retail stores and supplies wholesale coffee to a diverse range of customers worldwide. With each expansion, the complexity of operations also grew. Managing multiple retail locations, and navigating global logistics, while still delivering high-quality coffee required robust systems and IT expertise. Matt Riddle, Director of IT and Systems has managed their IT support for over 20 years, helping the company through many growth periods. However, as a department of one, he knew he needed a strong partner to provide the level of service he wanted for all employees.

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“They delivered on everything that I’ve expected of them. Everything comes in on time and correct. It’s done well and completed before it comes to us.”

Matt Riddle

Director of IT & Systems, Intelligentsia Coffee

The challenge

With multiple retail locations and growing operational complexity, Intelligentsia faced network instability, limited internal IT resources, and increasing security demands. As a department of one, the Director of IT needed a reliable partner to provide consistent desktop support, network management, and strategic guidance.

Routine IT tasks were consuming significant time, limiting the ability to focus on innovation and growth initiatives. The company also needed proactive security monitoring and support for upcoming facility transitions.

Why BT Partners?

To ensure seamless and secure global operations, Riddle wanted a knowledgeable and skillful Managed IT Services partner. For Intelligentsia, that was BT Partners. Riddle was already enjoying working with them for data retention and backups, stating “The response levels and the general nature of their team is that they want to work with you. You’re not a burden to be their customer.”

Given this, he reached out to see if they provided desktop and network support. Thankfully they did. He recalls, “We decided to move forward and expand our relationship.” Shifting BT Partners from backup service provider to trusted strategic partner turned out to be the right decision.

The solution

BT Partners provides comprehensive managed IT services, including desktop support, network configuration and stabilization, security monitoring, and proactive system maintenance across all locations. They also assist with hardware configuration, vendor management, and strategic technology planning.

Key initiatives include strengthening network security, ensuring reliable remote access, and supporting major facility transitions with proper configuration and connectivity planning. BT Partners delivers fast, friendly, and thorough support while proactively suggesting improvements

Cybersecurity was always a significant concern and BT Partners is proactive in managing the Intelligentsia network, performing regular system analysis. “BT Partners has been very, very helpful with our security,” adds Riddle.

“Anytime I’ve needed or wanted to contact the support team they’re always super-fast, friendly, reliable, and thorough with whatever they do. It gives you peace of mind when not only do you get the feedback from end users that, ‘Hey, I put in a ticket, and it was fixed. I’m all good’, but you get the firsthand reassurance that people are getting the support they need,” explains Riddle. Outsourcing to BT Partners ensures staff get the answers & support to do their job quickly and meet their goals.

Results & business impact

Intelligentsia has experienced dramatically fewer system issues and a more stable, secure network environment. Routine IT tasks have become largely invisible, freeing the internal team to focus on strategic initiatives and business growth rather than day-to-day maintenance.

Previously, network hiccups and a lack of support desk for staff strained operations. Since relying more on BT Partners, Intelligentsia has enjoyed a dramatic decrease in system issues. “The level of expertise is far beyond my own. Having BT Partners, who have the desktop user support and network configuration expertise, has really assisted us to stabilize all of our networks across all of our offices and 12 locations. Having the assistance to make sure that all of our systems are secure and properly configured is well beyond our internal expertise,” explains Riddle.

BT Partners has mastered proactivity which is a game-changer for Riddle because with their support he’s freed from routine IT tasks that stole his time away from strategic initiatives. Riddle says, “BT Partners are very proactive. They look for ways we can do things more efficiently, more securely, or provide a better outcome for all of our employees. If they see something in your environment, or as a normal practice that could or should be different, they’ll definitely let you know, and not admonish you for it, but provide a solution.”

BT Partners’ ongoing strategic guidance allows Intelligentsia to focus more on growth and innovation while remaining confident their networks and IT infrastructure are secure and working efficiently. “They’re saving me hours every week just not having to worry if all the employees are properly protected. ‘Is their system up to date? Are they receiving the support they need?’ A lot of that has become invisible, in a good way, to me. That offers me the opportunity to really focus on moving the company forward, instead of maintaining the company,” says Riddle.