Acting as the IT Department for a Global Media Company Across 15 Sites
A small, budget-constrained IT team running infrastructure in fifteen countries needed an extension of itself — engineering due diligence, vendor negotiation and global logistics.
Client: a global, multi-brand media company operating across fifteen international sites
The challenge
The company runs complex infrastructure across fifteen international sites with an IT organisation that is small, understaffed and budget-constrained. The bandwidth simply was not there to run the analysis, procurement and coordination that estate demanded.
They needed guidance on what to upgrade, when and onto which platforms; help comparing cost-effective options across competing vendors; a way to work within hard budget limits; coordination of international hardware logistics; and relief from tracking hundreds of renewals across dozens of vendors.
What we did
BlackHawk Data operated as an extension of the internal team rather than a supplier to it — engineer-led due diligence with real analysis and product comparison across vendors, so recommendations came from engineering rather than a price list.
Acting as the customer’s agent in procurement, the team negotiated with vendors using competitive alternatives as leverage, and structured budget-aligned approaches including trade-ins, leasing and structured financing so required upgrades could happen within the money available.
Global white-glove delivery ran through a third party: shipments coordinated internationally, inventory validated at the New Jersey warehouse, and equipment delivered to sites in India, Milan, Spain, Germany and Mexico City.
Outcomes
- Top 10 — strategic vendor, alongside global technology giants
- 15 — international sites supported
- 5 countries — white-glove delivery to India, Milan, Spain, Germany and Mexico City
- NY + London — trusted across IT, networking, security and purchasing teams in both