LMB – Taking IT to a New Level

NetAscendant helps LMB Real Estate Group upgrade its IT environment and leverage cloud-based services for improved uptime and provides proactive maintenance and responsive support at a reasonable cost.

LMB Real Estate Group provides commercial real estate management, leasing and brokerage services throughout the Midland and Abilene, Texas, area. Founded in 2002, LMB now manages about two and a half million square feet of office, retail and industrial space for various owners throughout the country.

The company had been using the services of a managed services provider (MSP) for several years. Over time, however, President Brandon McClain recognized that LMB had been paying too much for IT services. He asked NetAscendant to perform an assessment and develop a bid for managed services.

“NetAscendant’s pricing was better, so we decided to make a change,” McClain said. “When NetAscendant came on board in January 2020, we realized that our IT environment was outdated. The NetAscendant team came in and upgraded most of our machines and migrated our server to the cloud.”

The immediate effect was a significant increase in the availability of LMB’s IT environment. In the rare instance when a problem does occur, NetAscendant responds rapidly.

“We don't experience the downtime we used to have,” said McClain. “Before, the server would go down or our phone lines would go down and I thought that was what everyone experienced. I expected that to happen,” McClain said. “It’s been a huge blessing for us that NetAscendant came on board when they did.”

Benefits in the Cloud

LMB’s antiquated server needed to be replaced, but NetAscendant recommended that the company move those workloads to a cloud-based platform. This eliminated the need for a large capital expenditure and enabled users to quickly access information from any device, anywhere.

“We don’t have an onsite server anymore — everything is in the cloud,” said McClain. “If I’m not in the office, I can still get to the server on my phone. That’s something I was never able to do in the past. Probably the No. 1 benefit is being able to work from my phone.”

NetAscendant also migrated LMB’s out-of-date hosted email solution to Microsoft 365, which allows users to access email through their mobile devices. This benefits both office staff and maintenance personnel, who can better track work orders while in the field.

LMB had an on-premises, server-based phone system that was outdated and expensive to maintain. NetAscendant implemented a modern, cloud-based voice over IP (VoIP) phone system from Cisco, giving LMB staff more powerful communication and collaboration features in a cost-efficient, OPEX model.

“We did have a Cisco phone system before, but it was probably eight or nine years old. NetAscendant told me it was something we needed to update,” McClain said. “We got all new phones and they’re tied in with our computers.

“I was very skeptical about going to that. We always had a regular phone line as a backup because of the problems we’d had in the past. As a property management company, we need our phones to be 100 percent reliable. We still have issues when we lose Internet service, but NetAscendant understands how big a deal that is for us. We can call them and they set up that line to immediately forward to our cell phones.” 

Outfitting the New Office

The ability to work remotely has long been important to LMB, but traditional desktop PCs kept users tethered to their desks if they needed to access applications and data. As part of the hardware refresh, NetAscendant helped LMB shift to laptops with docking stations and dual monitors. This enables users to work efficiently and effectively on the road and in the office.

All of this was coordinated with LMB’s move to a new office at the beginning of 2020. The NetAscendant team assisted in the office move as well, installing a wired and wireless network in the new space. NetAscendant also facilitated the provisioning of the Internet circuit, using its contacts to have fiber-optic cabling brought to the new building by the ISP.

“They installed all of our TVs and monitors that hang on the wall, and ran the network cables for them as well,” McClain said.

Security is, of course, very important to LMB. NetAscendant installed next-generation firewalls to provide advanced security for both the Midland and Abilene offices and upgraded the network and devices in Abilene as well. A comprehensive data protection solution ensures that LMB’s documents, financial data and email are backed up and secure.

Flexible and Reliable

With a new IT infrastructure in place, LMB has been able to increase productivity and efficiency and gain the flexibility to meet changing business demands. NetAscendant continues to monitor and manage the entire IT environment, ensuring that the technology delivers the highest levels of reliability and performance and continues to meet LMB’s business needs.

“Since NetAscendant took over, we don’t have the downtime we used to experience. When we do have an issue, they get on it immediately. They’ve also streamlined operations between our Midland and Abilene offices,” McClain said.

NetAscendant also provides an end-to-end solution. For example, the NetAscendant team manages all software licensing for LMB, including Adobe, Microsoft and other solutions. They also serve as strategic advisors for all IT and cybersecurity matters.

“We are not IT experts,” said McClain. “We appreciate NetAscendant’s guidance when it comes to IT decisions.

“NetAscendant has brought us up to a new level from where we were before. We’ve been very satisfied with what they have been able to accomplish for us.”