OVERVIEW
UES is a national engineering and consulting firm with over 100 locations and 4,000 team members delivering environmental, geotechnical, and construction services across the United States. As UES pursued an aggressive acquisition strategy, the company faced mounting IT complexity that threatened both operational stability and continued growth.
INDUSTRY
COMPANY SIZE
LOCATIONS
Engineering & Consulting
4,000+ Team Members
100+ Across the US
CHALLENGE
MANAGING THE IT COMPLEXITY OF RAPID M&A GROWTH
UES grew quickly through acquisition, adding company after company to its portfolio. But the technology environments those companies brought with them were anything but uniform. Hardware, software, collaboration tools, file storage systems, and security configurations all varied across entities, creating a sprawling, disjointed IT landscape that was increasingly difficult to manage.
ACCELERATING TECHNICAL DEBT
The problems were not just visible; they were compounding. Each new acquisition added to the technical debt without a resolution path in sight. Leadership recognized that the situation was putting the entire operation at risk. Without intervention, the growing IT inconsistency threatened to slow the company’s momentum and undermine its ability to integrate future acquisitions efficiently.
NO UNIFIED FRAMEWORK FOR COLLABORATION OR SECURITY
With 13 to 14 companies already acquired by the time the IT director joined, there was no common foundation for how teams worked together or how security was managed.
Standardizing environments for collaboration, file storage, and security across a continuously expanding portfolio became an urgent priority — one that required outside expertise to solve effectively.
“There was a definite moment when I realized we needed help. We were acquiring companies very quickly. The problems were not going away. We were increasing our technical debt, and I knew that if something didn’t happen quite quickly, then it would put the operation of the company at even more risk.”
SOLUTION
A PARTNERSHIP BUILT ON TRUST
The relationship with DataTel began not as a vendor engagement but as a genuine advisory conversation. When UES’s VP of IT asked how to move from a chaotic environment to a more stable, standardized one, DataTel’s team offered guidance.
It was precisely that approach that built the trust needed to move forward. DataTel reassured the VP of IT that the direction UES was heading was sound and helped map a path to a more manageable IT environment. That initial conversation became the foundation of a growing partnership.
“The conversation with DataTel wasn’t about me seeking services for any particular problem. It was having a conversation with one of DataTel’s teams who offered their time just to help me out with some questions around how we would shift from this very chaotic IT environment to something more stabilised .”
PHASED ROLLOUT ACROSS ACQUISITIONS
Rather than attempting an enterprise-wide overhaul overnight, DataTel began by supporting a single acquisition. That engagement went exceptionally well. UES then expanded the partnership to the next acquisition, and the next, progressively building out the unified framework company-wide. Each phase reinforced the model and deepened the collaboration.
ONE TENANT. ONE FRAMEWORK. 30 COMPANIES.
The result of DataTel’s partnership is a unified IT environment that brings all 30 acquired companies under a single tenant with a common operational framework. Collaboration, file storage, and security are now standardized across the entire organization, creating the operational foundation UES needs to continue scaling through acquisition with confidence.
PROACTIVE SECURITY MANAGEMENT
With DataTel handling security monitoring and response, the VP of IT is no longer consumed by daily alerts and incident triage. Threats are identified and addressed quickly, reducing the likelihood of disruption and allowing serious issues to be contained before they escalate. The result is stronger day-to-day resilience, less operational distraction for internal IT, and more time for leadership to focus on strategic priorities instead of reactive security management.
“My day-to-day working with DataTel is significantly different. Not having to worry about security alerts, knowing that they are being handled quickly. Anything that could be a serious event, I know is solved before that happens.”
RESULTS
STABILITY, STANDARDIZATION, AND SCALABLE GROWTH
What began as a single advisory conversation evolved into a long-term partnership that reshaped how UES runs IT. The most important outcome, in the VP of IT’s words, is stability: a consistent, standardized environment that reduces operational risk, supports continued acquisition activity, and gives leadership greater confidence in day-to-day execution. With a unified framework in place, UES can integrate new companies faster, operate more securely, and scale with far less disruption.
- Consolidated 30 acquired companies into a single, unified IT tenant
- Standardized collaboration, file storage, and security environments across all entities
- Eliminated IT instability that was accelerating technical debt during rapid acquisition growth
- Established a scalable IT framework that supports ongoing M&A activity
- Freed leadership from day-to-day security burden through proactive managed services
- Improved integration readiness by giving newly acquired companies a clear path into a common IT model
- Reduced complexity for internal IT by replacing fragmented tools and processes with a standardized operating framework
- Enabled IT leadership to focus more time on strategic priorities instead of reactive operational issues
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