A leading Japanese financial institution turns infrastructure complexity into a strategic growth partnership with GDT
Summary
Customer overview
Our customer is a leading Japanese financial institution with more than 5,000 employees across approximately 35 offices in the Americas. Its diverse financial services business depends on infrastructure that is secure, reliable, and built to scale — with zero tolerance for disruption to critical banking operations.
The challenge
As the organization consolidated its Americas operations, its incumbent provider couldn’t keep pace. Inaccurate quotes, slow turnaround, invoicing errors, and thin technical bench strength turned routine infrastructure projects into recurring headaches — right as the business was gearing up for its most ambitious network and data center initiatives yet.
The stakes were high: any new partner would need to reduce complexity and execution risk without disrupting mission-critical banking operations.
Key challenges included:
- Inconsistent quoting and slow turnaround times
- Fragmented ownership across projects and vendors
- Thin bench of specialized technical expertise
- Increasingly complex, multisite deployments
- Zero tolerance for downtime or execution risk
The solution: A strategic partnership that scaled from a Cisco platform into full infrastructure transformation
The partnership launched with a five-year Cisco Enterprise Agreement/CX-EA — a platform win that gave the customer a stronger technology foundation and tighter alignment across the customer, GDT, and Cisco.
That early trust quickly turned into more: GDT expanded on-site with dedicated data center and deskside staffing, embedding GDT expertise directly into the customer’s day-to-day operations.
Key elements of the solution:
- Five-year Cisco Enterprise Agreement/CX-EA
- Embedded on-site data center and deskside staffing
- Multisite data center transformation
- Centralized staging and coordinated shipping
- Structured cabling, patching, and installation
- Rigorous testing, tracking, and project closeout
- Common program governance across projects and locations
- Ongoing networking and managed services initiatives
The approach
Trust was built one delivery at a time. Weekly working sessions kept every project moving, while regular on-site meetings and executive check-ins kept GDT, the customer, and Cisco tightly aligned.
As the relationship grew, GDT unified teams across networking, staffing, data center, and service delivery into one coordinated program. Centralized staging, logistics, installation, and governance simplified even the most complex multisite projects — reducing rework and giving the customer full visibility and accountability from planning through deployment.
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The results
What began as a single platform engagement has grown into a full infrastructure transformation partnership. GDT now supports the customer across networking, staffing, data center operations, and strategic modernization initiatives — with the trust to keep expanding.
Key results include:
A stronger, more scalable technology foundation
On-site experts embedded across multiple locations
Coordinated data center transformation across multiple U.S. sites
Centralized staging and governance for consistent, repeatable execution
Greater transparency, accountability, and responsiveness at every stage
A proven, scalable model fueling continued modernization
GDT data center transformation and staffing solutions
Discover how GDT can help your business modernize data center operations, reduce execution risk, and simplify multisite deployments. GDT combines embedded staffing, centralized staging, and program governance with deep technical expertise across Cisco and other leading technology providers to design, deploy, and manage infrastructure built for today’s distributed environments. Learn more: Hybrid Data Center & Cloud – GDT
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