Manufacturing IT Services in Oklahoma

Key Manufacturing Concerns:

• Lack of information system reliability - any kind of downtime is a serious concern because it can bring manufacturing to a standstill. The problem is that manufacturing costs continue to pile up…property, facilities, idled personnel, idled shipping and delayed delivery schedules add up quickly.

• Compliance concerns - considering that there is currently less support to manufacturers from the government for NIST and CMMC compliant programs, however the potential to lose programs is not reduced at all. This can lead to loss of critical revenue streams and reduced net income.

• Small and mid-sized manufacturers can have complex requirements ranging from relocations, M&A, and server virtualization projects to CMMC and NIST compliance.  We work to understand each clients’ business challenges, program requirements, commercial requirements…and their threat situation. We work with our manufacturing clients to meet plans of action and milestones in the shortest possible time.

• One of the most consistent concerns with manufacturing compliance is the requirement for vulnerability assessments and independent penetration testing. Using traditional approach pen testing for a small manufacturer can cost $20-40,000 and take 6 months or longer to perform. This can be out of the question for many manufacturers due to both cash flow impact and timeframe.

• Some manufacturers have an IT specialist or an engineer on staff to deal with information technology.  This can be a challenge to sustain because these responsibilities may be stacked on top of the individual’s primary job. These responsibilities can interfere to some extent with progress in other important areas. In addition it is likely that adequate systems management and cybersecurity tools are not available, leading to a very reactive environment.

• Some manufacturers have no-one on staff to deal with IT and cybersecurity on a consistent basis.  In this case Dolce Vita is used as an outsourced IT department.

How Dolce Vita addresses these concerns:

• We speak your language - we work with your staff to understand your business environment - what are your crucial systems, where are the reliability issues occurring, and which systems are currently hurting your profitability. We then work with your team and systems vendors to prioritize and remediate the reliability issues. We work based upon this agreed-upon plan to tackle and resolve these most impactful issues first, and move on from there. We pursue and expect consistent teamwork and communications between our organizations during this process.

• Compliance concerns differ based upon the specific CMMC and NIST requirements imposed by your contracts. We review any previous assessments with associated plans of action and milestones (POAM)…based upon the guidance of your contract administrator and team discussions we work to create revised plans of action prioritized to your requirements. By consistently working on those compliance items which are most important to your organization, progress can be made.

• Dolce Vita IT Solutions can provide its clients with third-party, periodic penetration testing (pen-testing) at rates 30-40% less than the competition. Dolce Vita can provide this as a part of our managed service which is spread out as a monthly payment. We can test up to 4 times per year, on your schedule and we can turn around penetration testing results in less than two weeks. Multiple tests are beneficial because auditors love to see evidence of progress with milestones. In addition the testers are COMPLETELY independent of Dolce Vita which also preserves testing independence (also crucial to auditors)

• Dolce Vita IT Solutions provides IT management and cybersecurity tools which are enterprise grade and which in many cases your local IT staff can be granted access to. DVITS deals with deploying and managing these tools which simplify much of the infrastructure and cybersecurity stress for your staff. In these “co-managed” environments, Dolce Vita can take care of IT infrastructure support and cybersecurity to your personnel to work on higher-leverage strategic activities.  We can also act as a resource provide consulting assistance with more complex IT or cybersecurity projects such as NIST and CMMC compliance. In environments without local IT staff we act as an outsourced IT department to provide required support on a continuing basis.

Advice to small- and mid-sized businesses

Manufacturers Who Have Benefited from Dolce Vita’s Managed Services

“Working with team Dolce Vita takes all the stress and hassle out of keeping our systems up and running smoothly day to day. Their team is always available to answer the simple questions and offer reliable advise for the complex issues. Building a network system that brings two locations together into one system can only be trusted with one group in my opinion and that is DVITS!

Scott Gray, Automated Machining Solutions, Mustang, OK and Absolute Manufacturing, Hooksett, NH

On-site and cloud-based server infrastructure

Our personnel can design and build the computing infrastructure your business needs to be efficient and productive, or we can work with and fine-tune what you already have. The fact is that most businesses use a hybrid of cloud and on-premises information infrastructure. The storage location for all of your business data needs to be identified, then suitably protected. You CNC machines often require program files to be on-premise…but you may have other data including email which is stored in the cloud. Proper access management and authentication is essential in both cases.

Networking and IoT in manufacturing environments

Dolce Vita IT Solutions specialists allow you to take full advantage of today’s most effective wired and wireless technologies. Nearly all manufacturers are aggressively moving towards connecting their CNC machines, robotics, and other IoT devices to the network. Although easy to connect, many IoT devices are difficult to properly secure. It requires that separate IoT-related network(s) be used to segment these devices from both the Internet and critical server storage. Specific access rules can be used in the firewalls to allow appropriate CNC-related traffic to communicate. In manufacturing environments you will have users connect to your servers from offices as well as shop floors, and you likely have non-employee vendors and contractors who need access to the internet at a minimum. This can be controlled via guest and IoT networks, the use of network schedules, and other access controls.

Using an ERP system?

Manufacturers can really benefit from today’s most effective Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software that allows for top-to-bottom cooperation and collaboration. But these systems tend to be complex…no worries! Controlled access as well as web access may be needed, and you may have not only an ERP database server, but a Remote Desktop server, web server, and app server. We can work with your vendor to make your ERP system functional and more secure.