Priority Worldwide a global, full-service logistics provider serving diverse industries, operates as a mediumsized enterprise leveraging a Microsoft Azure environment. When current Chief Information Officer Michael Williams arrived at Priority Worldwide, a managed services provider (MSP) oversaw Azure management via Nerdio Manager for MSP.
However, when the company parted ways with that provider, they were left to manage Azure using only its native tools. “To manage a Microsoft Azure environment, you practically need a degree,” Williams said. “You have to basically become a coder. You have to be able to go through the logs and understand them to the level of, ‘Okay, now I need to change this line of code.’”
Shifting to an internally managed environment, Priority Worldwide chose Nerdio Manager for Enterprise to enable the team to take full control of system management in-house.
Using Nerdio Manager was easy from the start. For Williams, the onboarding was the easiest he has ever experienced. “We got on a call,” he said, “and they literally walked me through processes step-by-step. In just a 15-minute call, we were up and running with everything configured. It was literally click, click, click, and it was set up.”
Williams added, “It was good to the point that my CEO emailed the boss at Nerdio to tell him how great the onboarding team was.”
Tracking success through cost savings and risk control
The financial impact of management through Nerdio has been substantial. “We save over $20,000 a month on compute costs,” Williams shared. They also save on personnel. “For the price of Nerdio, we avoided having to hire an expensive cloud engineer who specializes in Azure management—a necessity for management with native tools.”
Additionally, Nerdio Manager’s intelligent monitoring continually identifies new optimization and savings opportunities. Dashboards enable precise tracking of user activity and resource provisioning, while intelligent monitoring optimizes computing resources.
“It can assess processing power,” Williams explained, “and say, ‘Hey, you’re using a very expensive computing processing unit, but you’re only reaching 60% of its capacity. You should switch to a lower-cost CPU that can handle 80-90% of the workload.’ It can also suggest reconfiguring to reduce the number of machines up and running. You can even track what times your users are signing in and out for auditing purposes or to better understand utilization.” For Williams, the dashboard offers a critical window through which to drive IT policy and automation, not to mention savings.
Williams also notes that in a high-turnover industry, the company no longer fears critical Azure knowledge walking out the door. “Nerdio Manager automates processes, so we don’t have to worry about knowledge gaps when employees leave. You don’t have to deal with a lack of knowledge transfer to or from people certified in Microsoft Azure because Nerdio does the management for you.”
Exemplary support for cutting-edge solutions
Williams finds that Nerdio’s technical team consistently exceeds expectations. “They’ve always gone above and beyond to share resources and insights, even if it’s not their issue,” he explained. “They have such knowledge and expertise that no matter what comes up, they’re able to say, ‘We’ve seen this before. This is what we need to do.’”
As Priority Worldwide continues to grow, Williams looks forward to Nerdio Manager’s future capabilities. “They’re always adding more to the platform and keeping us ahead of the curve,” he said. “It’s one of the best products out there that constantly keeps you up to date with the latest and greatest.”
For Priority Worldwide, Nerdio has turned what was once a highly technical and complex task into a strategic advantage. With ongoing support and cutting-edge features, Nerdio will continue to play a crucial role in promoting the company’s future growth, efficiency, and cost savings.