Previously, I worked for a large public university as a senior systems administrator on a small team that managed all centrally provided Microsoft services for the entire university. We planned and deployed new services while also maintaining and supporting current services.

I’m an advisor to our customers regarding the technologies they’re using (or sometimes struggling with). I analyze what customers are currently doing and offer expert advice on what they can do to maximize the services and technology that they already pay for. At Parex, we are skilled in helping customers see the value of what they have so they can improve on what they’re already doing.

One of my recent memorable projects involved helping a customer streamline their Exchange environment, which was an odd configuration across two AD domains. What made it truly stand out was the collaboration with the customer’s team—everyone brought a positive attitude and willingness to learn, which really helped make it a successful engagement.

On the technical side, the challenge stemmed from their legacy AD domain still hosting Exchange attributes, while both the old and new domains were syncing to Azure AD. To complicate matters, the user logon names (samAccountNames) weren’t unique across both domains, causing conflicts when they introduced a new AD Connect server. After mapping out the dependencies, I worked alongside their admins to migrate the necessary Exchange attributes to the newer, production domain by developing and using custom scripts.

It was a careful process of planning, scripting, and testing—ensuring there were no more naming collisions. In the end, we successfully retired the legacy domain, which resolved their syncing issues and simplified their overall environment. Ultimately, it was the teamwork and open communication that made this project truly rewarding. The satisfaction I felt at finally decommissioning the old domain and having a cleaner, simplified environment made all the effort worthwhile.

I try to always start simply and never make assumptions. Too many times in my career have I made assumptions about something and skipped to more complex steps before ruling out the more basic and simple potential causes first, which resulted in wasted time and lost productivity.

To this day I still have to occasionally remind myself to take a step back and confirm the basics. From there, I rely on a structured, step-by-step approach: gathering relevant data, reviewing known issues, and confirming configurations before progressing to more advanced options. Throughout this process, clear communication with the client is key. I provide regular status updates, outline potential next steps, and make sure customers understand exactly where we stand. This open collaboration not only builds trust but also helps us tackle any complex issues more efficiently, ensuring we can deliver proactive solutions that truly meet customer needs.

Purchase support hours with a plan for how you would like to use them (instead of buying hours just because that’s what you’ve always done) so that your money is not wasted. Additionally, it’s imperative to communicate with all stakeholders in your organization to assess those needs so that your entire team is on the same page about how those hours should be utilized.

My last piece of advice is to keep the door of communication open to your consulting team. This type of support needs to be a partnership, not a one-way street. Doing so will help your team maximize your investment instead of treating it as a simple transaction.