“Hello, is this IT Support? My name is Aisha from Sales.”

“Yes. This is Tunde. How may I help you?”

“I cannot browse. Whenever I try to access any site, it keeps redirecting me to a page asking me to contact my system administrator. Something about subscription expired”.

“Hold on a second, let me check.” A few seconds pass by and Tunde replies “Looks like our data plan has run out. I will have to get in touch with finance to get approval to renew our subscription”.

“Does that mean I won’t be able to browse?” Aisha asked.

“I am sorry you won’t until the subscription is renewed. I will get to work on it immediately”

“You better do. I have an online meeting with an important client in a few hours and I need to conclude this research I am working on for the meeting.” She dropped the phone without waiting for a reply.

Renewing the subscription

Tunde quickly heads down to finance department with a requisition form to make payment for internet subscription and hands it over to the accountant – Charles. “What is this for?” Charles asks as he goes over the requisition form. “Didn’t we just make payment less than two weeks ago?”

Tunde replies that the internet subscription has expired and needs to be renewed. Someone in the corner of the office interrupts. “Hey Tunde, there you are. I just called your desk to complain that my emails are not dropping but you were not at your seat.”

“That’s why I am here Ahmed. The internet subscription just expired and no one will be able to browse, access emails or use any of our online services for now until the subscription is renewed.”

Charles still wanted more clarification from Tunde. “How come we didn’t know it was going to expire? Didn’t you get any notice? There’s no budget for this extra expense. Don’t we have a backup internet we can use? How do we even know that if we make payment now, it will not run out before the month ends? Do you have a report of how the data is being used?”

“Hold on with the questions” Tunde blurted. “The priority now should be restoring the internet so that everyone can get back to work. We will address the questions later.” Charles replies “These are the questions oga is going to ask when I ask him to approve the payment.”

“You are right” Tunde remarked. “I had not even considered that. The ISP actually sent us a mail last month that they will begin monitoring data usage and enforcing data usage limits on the FOS plan as they had not been doing this previously. I really didn’t think we were using that much data until I got an email yesterday that we had reached 70% of our data plan. I was going to discuss it with the MD later today only for me to receive Aisha’s call that she couldn’t browse”.

“So do you know who or what is consuming the data?” asked Charles. “I have no idea. I will need to find some monitoring tool to track the usage and also need a way to block any site not related to work.”

“Ah. I’ve been looking everywhere for you Tunde. We can’t work and there are deadlines to meet” said Chidi as he walked into the accounts department. “Our internet subscription expired and I need Charles to make payment to renew the subscription. Time is of the essence here.”

Charles nods in agreement, signs the requisition and beckons to Tunde “I think you should come with me, should he have any questions.”

Getting approval - In the MD’s office.

“Morning sir. We need to make payment for internet urgently. The subscription has expired and its affecting work as people cannot receive mails or access online services.”

“How much is it?”

“94,500 Naira only.” said Charles.

“Hold on, how come we are just paying for internet in the middle of the month. Why was this not paid upfront?”

“We have actually paid for the month, but we have exhausted the data allocated to us for the month and need to pay for a new subscription” Tunde replied.

“What do you mean we’ve exhausted the data? How much data were we allocated and how was it used?”

“It’s 275 gigabytes. We are… em… still trying to figure out how it was used.” Tunde stammered as he rubbed his nose.

“How many people are in this office that 275 gigabytes of data has been exhausted in just a few days? I am sure people are just watching videos instead of working. Tunde, I need a detailed report of how internet is used in this office and what we can do to ensure people are only using it for work related activities.”

“Yes sir.”

“Charles, give me the requisition so I can approve. Do you know what this money can do for this business? I can hire a new staff with change to spare. There’s no way I am doubling my internet cost per month. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes sir” they both replied.

“And when should I expect to have this report? This is the last unbudgeted internet expense I am approving. You are all aware of the state of the economy and how we are trying to reduce cost.” The MD said as he signed the requisition. “We can’t just be throwing money at every challenge. Tunde, I trust that you will come up with a useful solution” he concluded.

“I will set up a monitoring system before the week runs out and we will be able to see reports of who is using what. That way, we will be able to know how to maximize our subscription” Tunde replied.

As they both walked out of the MD’s office, Charles says to Tunde “I don’t envy you right now. I will get this payment sorted out immediately but I suggest you better get started on setting up the monitoring system you promised before this one too runs out.”

“Even I, don’t envy myself. I still need you to make payment quickly as I need the internet to do the research to find and download a solution to implement.”

“No problem,” said Charles, “I will call you once the payment has been made.”

Phone a friend

As Tunde returned to his desk, he makes a call to his friend Kenny who also works in IT Support at a nearby firm. “Hey Kenny, how you dey?”

“Not bad bro. You don’t sound excited. Hope no problem.”

“It’s this work o. Our internet just ran out and my boss has asked me to come up with a report for who is using what on the network and implement a solution that ensures we don’t exceed the amount budgeted for internet. At this rate we are going to have to double or even triple the internet budget.”

“Let me guess. You are using IPNX FOS” Kenny replied.

“Yes. How did you know?”

“A couple of friends have called with the same situation too. Our data would have run out too in a matter of, but we had already been monitoring the usage since we got the notice that they would be enforcing data limits and implemented some policies on the network”.

“What did you use? I need something free or affordable. I can’t afford to transfer the cost of new subscription to cost of software.” Tunde inquired.

“We implemented Untangle NG firewall. It’s a simple and affordable solution that allows us to monitor our network traffic. We were also able to setup a backup internet service provider which is on a pay-as-you-go plan. We also configured policies for peak and off-peak usage thereby allowing users to browse freely during of-peak hours but ensuring that only business related sites are visited during peak hours.” Kenny said enthusiastically.

Tunde was a bit skeptical. “Sounds interesting, but I doubt something that powerful can be that simple to setup and affordable” he said.

“Well, simple and affordable are relative terms. We had the system up in less than a day and we are on the complete package for up to 50 devices which costs us hundred dollars a month (about 21,000 Naira). We used an old PC for the setup and didn’t have to buy an appliance. It’s cheaper than having to pay an extra 78,750 Naira every month, and we are also able to see what’s happening on the network and provide management with daily and weekly reports. You know how people like to see charts.” Kenny said with a giggle.

“Anyway” he continued “you can also pay for just the web filtering app which is fifty dollars a month. Personally, I think the full package is a bargain as you get all the apps which if bought individually costs about three hundred dollars or more. You can look it up online and feel free to call me if you have any questions”.

“Thanks man.” Tunde replied. “You have been a real life saver. I will check it out and let you know how it goes”.

The end.

source: http://www.solutionsforsmes.com/where-did-all-my-data-go/