Welcome to Burr and Sons Consulting, a small group of highly talented project consultants and IT/business process managed service providers. We’ve been around in some form since 2008 and do most of our work with a distinguished group of multi-year clients. You are likely seeing this page because you have been referred to us by a current client or are in the market for specialized services that we offer. We’ve had enough potential client interest to build a small website, but most referrals are word of mouth.
Educational backgrounds for our principal consultants are varied, but include Chemical and Biological Engineering, Engineering Management/Six Sigma, Accounting and Business Administration, Applied Mathematics, and Information Technology/Computer Science. Work backgrounds are also varied and include small/medium business, publicly traded companies, research and development, K12 and higher education, and banking/finance.
Services
Our services typically fall into three general categories:
- Automation – Having a machine complete a task that someone might normally do by hand, often leading to a significant reduction in time spent, processing errors, and variability in timing.
- Automation can be relatively simple or complex. On the simple side we can help you use a tool like Microsoft Excel to improve the time it takes to complete a current data management process or analysis. On the complex side, we might build/integrate one or more complex applications, databases, and data flows to help you successfully move data between many source and destination systems and develop state-of-the-art reporting and analysis capabilities.
- Hybrid Automation helps provide users and process owners with tools that reduce repetitive tasks while giving human insight/input into the execution of a process.
- Process Analysis, Measurement, and Improvement – Understanding one or more processes (suppliers, inputs, completion steps, output, and customers) in the context of a larger business or technological system.
- The foundation that underpins nearly all successful endeavors is a well understood, high quality, and well-measured process operating in a successful larger system. We can help you design, measure, analyze, implement, and control virtually any process that your organization undertakes.
- We can help you gain insights from past data or measure new data using qualitative and quantitative instruments (including customized automated surveys).
- We can help you identify causes of defects/exceptions in current processes and strategies to prevent or minimize them in the future.
- We can help ensure that key business processes are operating in a state of control.
- We can help you quantify and reduce variability in processes using state-of-the-art qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
- Custom Software, Databases, and Managed Services
- Long-Term Support from Projects: Many of our process design/improvement projects uncover software and integration needs. In many cases we will implement automation and other line of business applications directly and provide long-term support to clients. Since we will likely support an application produced as part of a project, we tend to take more care to make sure that you are happy with the outcome and that it is supportable for the long term.
- Hosted Applications and Cloud Service Management: Many organizations find that they need to host a shared application on a server, but don’t know how to do so themselves or don’t have the necessary bandwidth. We can help you find ways to host shared applications for your users.
- Multi-System Integrations and Identity Management: Sometimes you need to host part of an application on Windows, part of an application on Linux, or integrate with another service somewhere on the cloud or different types of file stores. Perhaps you need to set up single sign on (SSO) using different types of historical authentication mechanisms (such as Active Directory/LDAP, Kerberos, etc) or newer authentication mechanisms (such as OAUTH), we can help you configure a solution that meets your needs. We can also help with automated provisioning, deprovisioning, and automated access control/permissions projects.
- Free Up Time/Capacity and Offload Legacy Services: If you are looking to offload a stable IT service to a provider (ex. to increase team bandwidth) or looking to offload an unstable, but ready to optimize, service to an external provider, we can help you with virtually any aspect of this process. We can help you ensure the security and longevity of business critical legacy systems by developing a deep understanding of the system and its constraints, helping with risk analysis, providing appropriate cloud-based solutions, and providing seamless transitions for users.
- Low stress IT services for non-technically savvy users: We can help you translate “everyday language” into successful IT systems/processes where you’re the expert in your organization/process and we are the expert in technology. We work on a variety of applications/tools for different parts of an organization, including, but not limited to, accounting, human resources, marketing/CRM, and traditional IT (servers, hardware, networking). We are pretty flexible with most current programming languages and platforms and pick tools that we think will be best for the job.
How Does it Work – Managed Services?
We work virtually with all clients. Our primary communication modalities with clients are email, virtual meetings, and online collaboration tools (ex. Google Docs).
We work to provide robust and reliable solutions. Most days everything works as expected and we work to minimize user-encountered disruptions. We offer enterprise grade services by building on today’s leading cloud providers (ex. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform) and in many cases achieve service availability that would rival or surpass your own physical datacenter. We perform routine maintenance outside of client business hours and busy times for clients and make heavy use of development/test environments to ensure limited impacts to clients’ production systems.
A day in the life of a managed service client typically involves using the applications/services that we provide in the way that they were intended (ex. an accounting client using a managed cloud-based accounting software would enter transactions and manage payroll as needed. A website/CMS client might update content directly or request specific modifications). Most days clients don’t need to reach out to us directly on a daily/weekly basis, but are always free to do so if we can help with service questions/requests.
We typically monitor critical service characteristics directly and respond if an automated alert identifies an anomalous state or potential service outage. We also maintain service and SLA-appropriate backups, redundancies, and scaling. We typically perform root cause analysis on all troubleshooting requests and make changes to ensure future issues do not recur where possible. Where needed, we also work to make sure users understand how to use their services day-to-day, often through detailed standard operating procedures with screenshots.
If additional attention to a service is needed, a client would typically email us with a request describing the type of attention needed (ex. a description of a requested feature or a troubleshooting request). In some cases we might be working with an in-house IT department (in these cases we will work out a request management process that works for both organizations). In either case, the requester would typically send us a “plain language” version of their request/issue and we would then either work to clarify the request or provide a technical solution meeting the request. Larger requests may involve specific cost approval or may yield a need to manage the request as a project.
Most managed services contracts involve a minimum monthly service cost, infrastructure, and hourly billing based on the specific services provided (ex. we might charge less for public website assistance than high customization applications and databases). As the baseline level of services under management grows (along with features like 24/7 support), so too does the base monthly cost. This allows clients to use as much or as little services as they need throughout the month/year.
We are used to hosting both public and confidential data that may or may not be protected/restricted through regulations and laws. Some examples of these types of regulations include FERPA (Education), HIPAA (Healthcare), Sarbanes-Oxley (Publicly Traded Companies), and PCI (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards). Generally, ensuring legal/regulatory compliance of your services will be your responsibility, but we will be able to ensure that any requirements from your compliance team make it into your applications/services and will recommend applications and services that we think will likely comply with your legal/regulatory needs (ex. many modern website card processing/e-commerce systems allow the use of software libraries that minimize the burden for complying with PCI regulations by limiting direct processing of payment card information [SAQ A or A-EP]).
How Does it Work – Projects?
We work virtually with all clients. Our primary communication modalities with clients are email, virtual meetings, and online collaboration tools (ex. Google Docs).
Projects are defined by a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end. Early on we work to understand your unique needs and how we might provide specific assistance to help you achieve your needs in the context of your project. This typically involves understanding, at a minimum, the scope, time, cost, and quality constraints for your project. In some cases we can provide additional assistance with quantitative/financial modeling to help measure return on investment (ROI) as well as update project status in terms of earned value management (EVM).
Our specific project deliverables would typically be formalized in a signed contract, scope of work, memorandum of understanding, or written email communication (in the case of smaller projects in the context of a managed services agreement). In the event that the project would yield a new/replaced managed service, we will provide a mechanism to seamlessly transfer your project into a managed service.
We offer both scope-of-work and hourly project arrangements. Scope-of-work projects are subject to change orders if/when requirements change. Typical project cost is lower for hourly than scope-of-work projects.
How Does it Work – Month to Month?
Most clients receive a monthly invoice for services provided in the previous month and pay by check or direct deposit. We can offer invoice payment by credit/debit cards, but require this as a specifically requested contract term or modification to an existing contract since we normally invoice cloud infrastructure, software licensing that we procure on your behalf, and third party fees at cost and card processing fees require a slight adjustment to the contract cost structure.
An example invoice for a client hosting a small hosted dedicated Minecraft server with us: Assume a negotiated hourly rate of $75/hr for support/requests, a 2 hour minimum service fee, and ~$20/month in infrastructure (passed on from amounts billed by cloud providers like Amazon/Google). In this case, the client would be billed $170.00 for the month. Assume similar conditions, but the client uses 3 hours in relation to requests for the month (ex. installing custom behavior/texture packs or enabling additional instances/worlds), 2 hours would be absorbed by the service minimum and the monthly bill for that month would be $240.00 (effectively just the 1 hour difference from baseline).
Software licensing and other services that we procure on your behalf will also be billed via the invoice. This includes annual renewals and periodic expenses (ex domain name registration/renewal). If you procure software licenses, you may provide them to us for use on your managed services (ex. Microsoft licensing).
Helping You Secure a Low Risk Provider
We work hard to keep risks to you and your organization low:
- If you are looking to try out our services, we would recommend starting with a smaller “pilot” project or service to see if our project style works well with your organization.
- We allow services to grow/adapt organically over time (ex. you might start out relatively small with basic hosted application or website administration and find that you need mass email/newsletter support and we can help you meet this need as it is identified).
- Straight to experts based in the United States: We don’t use a dedicated help-desk function. Your request will be handled directly by an expert on your project/managed service.
- All project and managed services contracts involve simple terminations (in the unlikely event that it is needed):
- In most cases, managed services termination involves a 30 day notice period and payment of any final service transition costs (ex. final data transfers, handoff to in-house IT or other vendors, domain names, etc)
- In most cases, project/scope-of-work termination involves a short notice period and payment of any accrued fees or contractually defined items (ex. partial completion or unbilled hours at time of termination).
- We are always a 1099-MISC independent contractor (our principal consultants, subcontractors, and employees would not be your employees). We will ensure that the contract states so and that both your and our behaviors indicate to interested parties that we are independent contractors.
- Virtually all engagements involve some level of confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement and identification of confidential/proprietary information and trade secrets provided to us. Although we typically apply confidentiality with client engagements, we don’t routinely sign non-compete agreements or confidentiality agreements that limit our ability to work with others or independently develop similar works or ideas.
- We have flexible intellectual property arrangements for custom software and databases that we develop, ranging from copyright ownership transfer/work-for-hire to royalty and non-royalty licensing. Full copyright ownership transfer/work-for-hire arrangements are typically more expensive (no reuse from other successful projects that we retain ownership for).
- We don’t publicly host or provide client lists, but can provide references in the event that they are needed.
- Insurance/bonding may be available on a case by case basis. Please ensure that any insurance or bonding requirements are provided up front so that we can ensure that they are included in our signed agreement.
- Security levels for services provided/hosted data are matched to infrastructure that meets regulatory and contractually obligated security levels and we employ a commercially reasonable defense-in-depth strategy for ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of client data/services.
- We stay up to date on system/software platform updates as well as dependencies in software that we build (limiting vendor-included library risks). In most cases we don’t deploy beta/pre-release software, but maintain stable versions and patch levels. We also generally minimize dependencies where possible in applications and systems that we build.
Ready to Get Started?
Use the form below to tell us about your project or managed services request. More detail is usually better, but feel free to include less if you would like to establish a non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement prior to in-depth discussion.