Gastonia, NC · Charlotte metro · Gaston County
A part-time CIO for Gastonia, NC industrial firms.
Textile and industrial companies halfway through replacing old systems, with reports that have to come from both the old and the new.
Systems common in this market. The figure is city population.
The market
What Gastonia looks like from here.
Gastonia's industrial base is textiles, advanced manufacturing, and distribution, and much of it is partway through moving off older systems. That leaves you running new cloud tools next to a server in the back office that still holds the production history. Month-end reporting pulls from both, by hand, and the people who know the old system are close to retirement.
A Gastonia firm typically runs an ERP or an industry-specific system for production and accounting, Microsoft 365, a sales system, and month-end reports exported from two directions. We list every system you run and make one decision for each: connect it, export from it, leave it for later, or leave it alone. Some of the old systems are worth leaving where they are, and we say so. The AI rules for pricing and customer data get written before anything connects. Gastonia sits in Gaston County, and industrial firms on the western side of the Charlotte metro run the same mix of new and old systems.
What we would expect to find here. Industrial firms here run new cloud tools beside long-standing on-site systems. Every system gets a connect decision, including the ones we recommend leaving alone.
A decision for every system
Much of Gastonia's textile, manufacturing, and distribution base is partway off older systems. New cloud tools sit next to a server in the back office that still holds the production history.
The applications assessment makes one decision for each system: connect it, export from it, leave it for later, or leave it alone. Some older systems are worth leaving where they are.
Gastonia is a service area, not an office. One team, based in North Carolina, works in your own systems.
Where this has run
A profile close to this setup.
Reporting was three exports reconciled by hand.
Light manufacturer · ~120 staff
Industries in Gastonia
Who we work with here.
Start here
- AI Use Policy — Advisory review
- Applications assessment — Assessment
- Base dashboard deployment — Deployment
Where we work
Around Gastonia and across NC.
Where are you based and do you work remotely?
Third Shift Group LLC is based in North Carolina and works with firms across North and South Carolina. Most of the work runs remotely, against your Microsoft cloud account and your systems. Policy meetings and leadership sessions can be on site where that helps. See where we work for the regions and towns we cover.
We still run an older system. Can it be connected?
An older system can usually be connected through a scheduled export rather than a direct connection. The applications assessment gives every system a connect decision, including the ones worth leaving exactly where they are. You learn the effort for each before anything is built.
What happens to the server that still holds production history?
It gets its own decision. The assessment can say connect it, export from it, leave it for later, or leave it alone. Month-end reporting currently pulls from that server and from the newer tools by hand.
Does an applications assessment ever recommend leaving a system unconnected?
Yes. Some of the old systems are worth leaving where they are, and the assessment says so. People who know those systems are often close to retirement, which is why the decision is written down.
Start here
The first step is the same in every location.
Advisory first, in Gastonia as everywhere else: a written assessment you own.