Case Studies

For Lee Tech Staff, Freddie Mac Is Home Sweet Home

CUSTOMER: Freddie Mac INDUSTRY: Home Mortgage Market APPLICATION: 24/7 Mission-Critical Staffing BENEFITS: Reduced Risk Faster Response Times More Uptime Improved Morale

With mortgage rates at all time lows and the use of Information Technology at all time highs, people have lofty uptime expectations for the data centers of Freddie Mac. However, finding and retaining people with the skills, experience and resources to staff mission critical facilities has become increasingly difficult.

Fortunately, mission-critical infrastructure specialists like Lee Technologies have developed a win/win solution: Staffing customer sites 24/7 with Lee's own highly trained Facilities Resource Technicians.

Taking Ownership of Technology

Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress in 1970 to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders in support of homeownership and rental housing. Since its inception, Freddie Mac helped increase the homeownership rate in America to record levels by purchasing more than 41 million mortgages. Freddie Mac has long recognized the benefits of using technology to help reduce the time and cost of getting a mortgage loan, which in turn helps consumers obtain affordable, quality housing.

In February 2002, Freddie Mac purchased an existing 105,000 sq. ft. data center. The facility was urgently needed and management wanted the facility retrofitted, staffed and operational within two months. Tim Prime, Freddie Mac's Director of Facilities, knew he needed additional manpower to provide afterhours coverage for the new data center and several smaller computer rooms throughout Northern Virginia.

At Freddie Mac, like most service-driven, technology-reliant businesses today, a small but dedicated in-house technical staff was constantly busy reacting, moving from one alarm situation to the next.This left them unable to focus on proactive measures or long-term goals. Internal staff was stretched to the breaking point.

Considering the challenges of finding, hiring and training personnel internally, outside staffing offered a very attractive alternative. However, the facility's critical nature demanded expertise and responsiveness few firms would be able to provide.

Looking for a reliable and experienced partner, Freddie Mac placed Lee Technologies on the short-list of firms capable of meeting this ambitious deadline. Freddie Mac had been Lee Technologies hardware customer for nearly a decade and Lee had an excellent track record for quality products and responsive service. Lee Technologies was ultimately selected over the other bidders based on professionalism, expertise and responsiveness. In addition, Freddie Mac had met, and was extremely impressed by individuals that would be onsite ensuring maximum uptime in the missioncritical facility.

Retrofitting and Future Staffing

Retrofitting a facility in a matter of months is a challenge in itself. In addition, newly mandated post-9/11 disaster recovery procedures would need to be implemented. Freddie Mac was also expanding its 24/7 operations to accommodate the growth of online mortgage transactions. And of course, the growth of IT in general, had led to a shortage of qualified, experienced technical staff in the region.

Beyond a general shortage of qualified mission-critical manpower, most in-house human resources personnel are generalists, tasked with hiring everyone from accountants to administrative assistants. Recruiting missioncritical infrastructure experts is a specialized process. Mission-critical staffing requires a unique blend of technological expertise and real-world, hands-on experience with electrical and mechanical systems.

The People Behind the Technology

The Lee Technologies' Staffing Solution placed highly-trained Facility Resource Technicians at the Freddie Mac site.The Lee Technician supervises and performs maintenance tasks associated with the mission-critical environment as well as conducting daily walk-throughs of the facility.

Since mission-critical support is Lee's core competency, headaches and guesswork are eliminated. Lee technicians have worked in the world's most advanced data centers, providing customers an unsurpassed knowledge base. Furthermore, Lee provides the depth and "bench strength" organizations like Freddie Mac need to ensure that qualified personnel are always available.

According to Freddie Mac's Tim Prime, "Lee Technology quickly ramped up to provide around the clock coverage and was flexible enough to take on all jobs associated with Mission Critical support."

In addition, Lee Staffing services relieve pressure on the Freddie Mac HR department. Lee Technologies' own screening and hiring process has been carefully designed and refined to identify candidates with qualifications needed for mission-critical environments. Lee Facility Resource Technicians also receive ongoing training and evaluation programs that ensure highperformance and steady career growth.

Uptimes for Freddie Mac

With Lee Technicians onsite, faster response times and Lee's legendary maintenance procedures provide more uptime, higher productivity and improved morale. The Freddie Mac facilities staff is freed to focus on proactive rather reactive tasks. Risk and downtime are dramatically lower, with response times reduced from 30 minutes to immediate.

And since Lee is onsite to perform regular maintenance on key systems such as HVAC and batteries, fewer failures occur and back-up systems are always ready. In fact, in the past full recovery of IT from a data center failure could take as long as 80 hours.Today, thanks to redundancy, staffing and focused maintenance scheduling, the same recovery is accomplished in just minutes.

Freddie Mac sees Lee Technologies as a trusted partner and part of the Facilities Management team. Lee Technologies has also provided added services which the client cites as “above and beyond" the call of duty.

Freddie Mac has added a second 24x7 Lee Facilities Resource Technician as a roving position covering 7 sites throughout the Northern Virginia. Lee now provides 7x24 coverage for all sites and is the first response for alarm situations.

"Lee did an excellent job meeting the challenges that faced them," said Prime, "It is clear that they strive to develop strong client relationships. They've certainly succeeded in assuming the demands and responsibilities of mission-critical staffing."

At the end of day, Lee technicians have found a home at Freddie Mac.

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