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During Mid Penn Bank’s acquisitions, many landline, data and mobility services were efficiently integrated, eliminating redundancies, saving staff time, and reducing costs by over $20,000 per month

 Mid Penn Bank is a full-service financial institution that has seen a tremendous growth spike in the past five years. It recently acquired two other banking companies with multiple locations, and as a result, 14 additional branches needed to merge in less than four months. Managing the many voice, data and mobility challenges this acquisition presented would put a huge strain on an already busy IT department that needed to focus on the bank’s core business priorities. Mid Penn called on Grudi Associates to help. 

The Challenge

While such a merger presents a wide array of issues that must be addressed, the primary challenges were: 

  • Newly acquired assets and services would need to be inventoried, defined, recorded with contract dates and termination fees, and tagged with location names/GL codes. 
  • Authorized contacts for the accounts would need to be changed for each location, as well as ensuring invoices were being sent to the correct office for billing purposes. 
  • The new acquisitions needed to merge with the existing services the institution already had in place and ensure they were being correctly routed to Mid Penn’s existing numbers. Additionally, the termination fees and disconnects needed to be closely analyzed for locations that overlapped services or were underperforming. 
  • The new acquisitions needed to merge with the existing mobility services the institution already had in place and ensure they were consistent and compatible with the bank’s current accounts. 
  • Mobile backup connectivity needed to be put in place, including data and data security. 

The Solution

Through Grudi Associates’ Managed Solutions, a menu of managed services that can facilitate the coordination of landline, data and mobility services during mergers and acquisitions, Mid Penn Bank experienced a smoother transition, while also reconciling underperforming or overlapping services and lines. Grudi Associates did the following:

  • Collaborated with carriers on behalf of Mid Penn Bank to maximize efficiency, eliminate unnecessary redundancies, and reduce expenses where possible. 
  • Analyzed mobility usage and made recommendations for a new plan structure, eliminating the need for multiple plans among the newly merged branches. The existing standard 8% discount was replaced by a GPO (4G LTE wireless routers) that increased the discount to 22%. 
  • Managed the transition process by authorizing Grudi Associates as a primary contact. 
  • Deployed Cradlepoint routers (wireless servers) at each new location for backup internet and temporary main internet at some sites. This type of router was also used for secure ATM connectivity. 
  • Took over the billing process, which simplified the incoming branch bills by organizing them and ensuring that the accounting department received a full report of all services, usage and charges. 

The Results

As a result of Grudi Associates’ solutions, Mid Penn Bank was able to effectively integrate the voice, data and mobility services of the new branches into its existing systems. Following are some key benefits Mid Penn has received:

  • Gained $8,300 in monthly savings on landline and data services among all locations and branches by removing low call volume locations/lines and by the consolidation of others. 
  • Termination fees and disconnects were carefully analyzed to minimize the impact of disconnecting duplicate services. 
  • Eliminated unnecessary mobile devices by cancelling or re-assigning them to new employees. Also negotiated a higher discount with the carrier. 
  • Seamless integration of mobile devices, simplifying the management for the IT Department.
  • The IT department can now focus on outfitting the new branches with the necessary equipment. 
  • The carriers, as well as Mid Penn staff, now have a direct contact for any information or actions that are needed. 
  • To enhance security, a Cradlepoint solution with secure static IPs was installed and tested. 
  • Mid Penn Bank now has a complete inventory of all services in each branch, which continue to be monitored and optimized by Grudi Associates. 

Beyond the positive outcomes directly related to the acquisitions, Grudi Associates has delivered a number of other benefits, including: 

  • Working closely with Mid Penn’s IT staff to replace its costly legacy circuits with faster, easier-to-manage circuits at each location, resulting in a $13,300 monthly savings.
  • Over $1,700 in monthly savings has been achieved through identifying and disputing incorrect surcharges.
  • The cost per mobile device was decreased from $56.67 to $35.83 per month, while the number of mobile phones, tablets, etc. nearly tripled.
  • Achieved ongoing monthly savings of over $5,800 on mobility services, totaling more than $266,000 since Grudi Associates began working with Mid Penn Bank.
  • Mid Penn Bank’s current monthly savings from Grudi Associates’ voice, data and cloud Managed Solutions is $42,800, totaling $1,411,974 from May 2016 through February 2021.

“Grudi Associates coordinated the transition process to seamlessly integrate our systems with our newly acquired locations in a timely fashion. They bring both the knowledge and experience with the carriers to get the job done efficiently while saving Mid Penn Bank time and money. It allowed us to shift our focus and provide our customers with the same quality experience they expect from our brand. We’re very pleased with Grudi Associates and highly recommend their services.” 

John Paul Livingston 
CTO & CIO, Mid Penn Bank 

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