Trusted Partnership Helps Spring Meadow Flourish

As Spring Meadow Nursery expanded into a 60-acre operation with more than 350 team members, General Manager Jeremy Deppe faced a crucial decision: manage the organization’s IT in-house or partner with a managed service provider (MSP).

Control vs. experience is often at the heart of whether an organization wants to hire an internal IT staff or a managed service provider.

An internal IT staff gives an organization full control, but it risks relying on a narrow knowledge base. Hungerford’s team, on the other hand, offers expertise that no single employee or small group of employees could match.

In 2018, Spring Meadow Nursery — a wholesale plant nursery based in Grand Haven, Michigan — had outgrown its previous MSP and needed a solution that would support its continued expansion.

“As an accountant, I’m used to problem-solving, and I can tackle a lot of challenges,” Deppe said. “But managing IT for a growing business is a full-time job. Partnering with Hungerford lets us focus on what we do best, knowing our technology needs are in expert hands.”

Spring Meadow Thrives with Hungerford’s IT Expertise

One of the deciding factors for Deppe in choosing Hungerford seven years ago was that every employee at Hungerford has different IT skills, strengths and weaknesses in some area of IT. While no individual knows everything about IT, having a team of employees helps offset any weaknesses one employee has.

An internal staff would have a deeper familiarity with the organization and offer full control over every aspect of IT, but the level of knowledge an MSP like Hungerford possesses is unmatched.

“It’s nearly impossible to find one person who can cover every IT need,” Deppe said. “With Hungerford, we have access to a team with a wide range of expertise, so we always have the right type of support when and where we need it.”

The trade-off is that the business loses some control over how the IT infrastructure is managed and an MSP can’t deploy someone on-site all the time, meaning support requests might not be answered immediately. However, Deppe said ignored support requests have never been an issue, as most calls or chats are solved within 15 minutes.

“Everyone in the office knows they can call Hungerford directly, and the help desk has been fantastic at handling day-to-day user issues,” he said.

Hungerford’s ‘Forward-looking’ Approach Lowers Costs

Reacting to IT emergencies is an extremely expensive and nonideal way to manage IT.

A proactive approach, which is more cost-effective, highlights when these hardware failures could be imminent and addresses them before they become emergencies.

For example, Hungerford offers lifecycle planning services, in which the MSP tracks each client’s computers, servers, switches, routers and more to determine when they will need to be replaced. By tracking each device’s lifespan, Spring Meadow avoids costly surprises.

“I don’t like surprises, so I’d rather know ahead of time when there are larger expenditures or projects that need to happen,” Deppe said.

Additionally, Hungerford offers budgeting and roadmapping services, in which Hungerford and Spring Meadow discuss the nursery’s current and future IT goals. This allows Spring Meadow to see Hungerford’s recommendations and the upcoming costs associated with those recommendations.

If too many projects are scheduled for one quarter, Spring Meadow can schedule those projects for another quarter — or even another year — to evenly distribute IT spending.

That forward-looking approach was a key factor in Deppe’s decision to partner with Hungerford.

“I think what (Hungerford’s) vision was, and it’s come true since we’ve been a client, is there’s a lot of work going on by the Hungerford team that is not reactionary,” he said.

“They’re constantly monitoring, researching and applying best practices to our network. Instead of just reacting to issues, they come to me with solutions before problems arise. That level of foresight gives me confidence that I don’t have to worry about the big picture when it comes to IT.”

24/7 Monitoring Puts Spring Meadow at Ease

Cyberattacks, unfortunately, continue to rise globally as organizations increase their reliance on technology to do business.

Nuspire, a cybersecurity solutions provider, recorded 2,247 ransomware events in the final quarter of 2024, which was a 46% increase from Q3. In total, the organization recorded 8,156 ransomware incidents in 2024.

It’s an alarming trend that often gets overlooked by many small businesses. Deppe, on the other hand, takes cybersecurity very seriously, stating it is his organization’s “No. 1 concern.”

“I can think of multiple customers, partners and vendors who’ve all been hacked in the last five years, and the disruption to their businesses was significant,” he said.

“For me, it’s not a question of if we’ll face a cyberattack — it’s a question of when. That’s why we take every precaution to stay ahead of potential threats.”

Hungerford utilizes a managed security detect and respond tool that alerts the MSP to suspicious behavior. It’s not a prevention tool, but it helps limit the damage done by an attacker once they’ve infiltrated a network.

Deppe noted that Spring Meadow has received a few calls from Hungerford alerting them to suspicious behavior. The security tool automatically cut off the affected computer from the internet and the network until Hungerford could investigate further.

It’s added value like this that Deppe said reassures him and his team that the proper safeguards are put in place when an incident happens.

“It gives me comfort knowing that there’s 24/7 monitoring of our workstations in case something does happen,” he said.

West Michigan-based Managed Service Provider

If your organization needs help managing its IT infrastructure and optimizing your network, contact us here to learn how our well-diversified team can keep your business running smoothly while increasing productivity and profitability.

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