A line of business application is the software a company actually runs on, the one system that would stop the work if it went down. RJ2 Technologies supports, integrates and troubleshoots those applications for companies across Chicago and the Chicago suburbs, and has done that work since 1998 from the northwest suburbs, where it is headquartered in Deer Park, Illinois. That means the ERP or accounting system, the practice management software in a medical or legal office, the inventory or warehouse system, the CRM, and the industry-specific package that only exists in one trade.
What is a line of business application?
It is the specific software your business runs on to do its actual work, as opposed to general office software like email or Word. If it went down and your people could not do their jobs, it is a line of business application.
Every industry has its own. A distributor runs an inventory and order system. A law firm runs practice management and document management. A medical practice runs an EHR and a billing system. A manufacturer runs an ERP and something on the shop floor. An insurance agency runs an agency management system. They are usually bought from a specialist vendor, not from Microsoft, and they are usually the least documented and most fragile system in the building.
Isn’t our software vendor supposed to support it?
Your vendor supports their software. They do not support the server it runs on, the network it crosses, the workstations it launches from, the backup that protects its database, or the other five systems it exchanges data with. Those are the things that break most often.
That gap is the reason this service exists. When the application is slow, the vendor checks their application, finds it healthy, and tells you it is a network problem. Then your IT provider checks the network, finds it healthy, and tells you it is an application problem. Somebody has to own the whole path, and that is the work.
What does RJ2 actually do with a line of business application?
RJ2 owns the environment the application depends on and acts as the technical contact with the software vendor on your behalf. Practically, that covers the server or hosting the application sits on, its database, backups and restore testing, the network path between users and the system, workstation configuration and client installs, user access and permissions, and version upgrades and patching coordinated so they do not land in the middle of your busy season.
It also covers being the person on the phone with the vendor’s support desk. Most businesses do not have anyone who can speak to a software vendor in the vendor’s own terms, which is why those calls go in circles.
Which line of business applications does RJ2 support?
RJ2 supports the infrastructure under any business application and has worked with the systems its clients run. That covers several applications across different industries, both on premises and in the cloud.
Can RJ2 support an application it has not seen before?
Usually yes, because most of the work is infrastructure and process rather than knowledge of one vendor’s menus. The starting point is documenting how the application is actually deployed, what it depends on, who has access, and how it is backed up, which in most environments has never been written down.
What happens when we are moving to a new application?
RJ2 handles the technical side of the move, meaning the server or cloud environment the new system will run on, the network capacity it needs, workstation requirements, data migration coordination with the vendor, and cutover planning so the old system stays available until the new one is trusted.
Shawn Meyer, Director of Professional Services, owns infrastructure rebuild engagements. He has over 30 years in the industry and 21 of them at RJ2, which matters here because the failure mode in an application migration is almost never the application, it is the thing underneath it that nobody checked.
Does RJ2 support line of business applications in Chicago and the Chicago suburbs?
Yes. RJ2 Technologies is headquartered at 21660 W. Field Parkway, Deer Park, IL 60010, in the northwest suburbs, and supports businesses throughout Chicago and the Chicago suburbs.
Most application support is delivered remotely, which works anywhere. On-site work covers the Chicagoland area, and RJ2 also serves Rockford and northern Illinois, southeastern Wisconsin, and northwestern Indiana, with nationwide support for larger clients that have multiple locations. Engineers working downtown use a drop-in space at 333 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 2700. It is a working space, not a staffed office.
How do we get started?
Call the corporate line at 847-303-1194 and ask for sales, or email sales@rj2t.com. Existing clients with an application problem right now should call support at 847-303-1193.
A first conversation is usually about which systems you run, what breaks, and who you call today when it does.
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Further reading: Cloud Migration Services in Chicago: What the Move Actually Involves
