When organizations discontinue their services or are acquired by competitors, they often require the expertise of an experienced bankruptcy management firm to wind down their operations and liquidate their assets. Getzler Henrich & Associates, a management and consulting firm, specializes in guiding banks and bankrupt organizations through the logistics of their final days.
As they were handling the bankruptcy process for the College of New Rochelle, Getzler Henrich & Associates encountered a significant challenge: The college’s CTO and the majority of their IT team were departing before the bankruptcy was finalized. As a result, the organization needed a fractional CTO for the transition to be successful.
Through their ongoing managed IT support relationship with Cubex Group, Getzler Henrich & Associates knew our president Dave Rubin, using the resources of our team, was their ideal CTO of choice. They recognized he had a mindset that merged technical expertise and business strategy that could simplify the challenges and hurdles of the wind-down and liquidation process. After explaining the circumstances, Dave agreed to the role.
The Solution
As with any wind-down, the fractional CTO needs to quickly obtain a 360-degree view of the business while remaining cost conscious. After holding a conversation to determine the scope of the client’s fractional CTO needs, Dave knew he needed to strike the right balance. Another college would assume some educational assets, but New Rochelle still needed to sell off some assets to pay creditors.
“The wind-down process is a combination of keeping things up and running, keeping costs down, and managing the IT portion of the bankruptcy from start to finish while all your staff is leaving,” said Dave.
Dave began to develop a sweeping understanding of the hardware, software, data, systems, and other IT assets of the private college. Once he understood the full scope, Dave leapt into action. He handled asset management and valuation and offered continuity as assets transferred, leveraging other Cubex Group resources as needed.
Additionally, Dave worked to maximize the efforts of staff members who remained, balancing their contributions with his numerous on-site visits. He would assign them to scrub computers, inventory assets, and disconnect equipment to not only to leverage them but justify their employment until they found new work. As a result, workers stayed happy, and the client and liquidation buyer continued to look good.
When issues arose, he used his deep business and technical acumen to address them. For example, their phone system was old and was being disconnected early in the process, yet our client’s stakeholders needed a transitional way to address incoming inquiries. Dave used his relationship with a VoIP vendor to port over necessary numbers in less than two weeks, functioning almost seamlessly as the old system shut down.
Even then, no one could have anticipated the major hurdle coming their way: the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the world shut down, timelines shifted, and Dave had to adapt. Though most of the project was complete, some final activities required his attention. Throughout it all, Dave and Cubex Group remained committed to providing exceptional fractional CTO support.
Results
Eventually, the process came to a close and our management and consulting client transitioned the remaining assets over to the liquidation buyer.
Throughout the process, Dave and Cubex Group remained available. We even provided some coverage after the official end to prevent any responsibilities from falling through the cracks.
Bert Weil, Managing Director at Getzler Henrich & Associates, had this to say:
“David was like a maestro orchestra conductor. He identified the critical issues, the task list, and the required human and electronic assets required. Then, he developed an implementation plan. His fees were impressively reasonable, and his project execution was well above expectations.”
Bert and the Getzler Henrich & Associates team know they can reach out to us for their future fractional CTO needs, leveraging our years of experience and command of numerous verticals.