Before I joined Acumera, I worked as a contractor supporting IT infrastructure for multi-site businesses—quick-serve restaurants, convenience stores, fuel stations, car washes, and a few specialty retail chains. My job was to keep their networks running, secure, and PCI-compliant across hundreds of remote locations. And let me tell you—it wasn’t easy.
Back then, I was constantly weighing the pros and cons of doing things ourselves versus outsourcing. And that’s how I first came across Acumera. I was brought in to evaluate managed service providers (MSPs), and after doing the deep dive, Acumera was the clear winner. Fast-forward—I work here now, and I can confidently say I made the right call.
Let me break down what I learned from both sides.
Why Multi-Site Networks Are So Tough to Manage
No matter the industry, if you’re running a business across multiple locations, your network is under pressure from all angles:
- PCI-DSS Compliance: Every location needs secure, PCI compliant payment systems. That’s a moving target with evolving standards.
- IoT Overload: We were adding devices constantly—security cameras, digital signage, back-office systems, kitchen displays, customer Wi-Fi, refrigeration monitors…the list never ends.
- Emerging Tech: EMV cards, wireless POS, tablets, digital scales—supporting new endpoints meant constantly adapting our infrastructure.
- Downtime = Lost Revenue: A slow or offline site doesn’t just hurt sales—it frustrates staff and sends customers elsewhere.
- Limited Onsite Help: Most sites had zero IT presence. When something broke, I was either flying blind or dispatching someone who wasn’t trained to troubleshoot.
If you’ve tried managing that kind of environment yourself, you know how fast the complexity and cost spiral out of control.
Why DIY Fell Apart
At first, our team tried the DIY route. On paper, it seemed cheaper. In practice, it was anything but:
- We had to build and maintain a 24/7 network operations team.
- Monitoring was fragmented, and we often learned about problems after they’d already caused downtime.
- Every new site added more manual configuration, more hardware, and more opportunities for mistakes.
- Scaling got painful fast—what worked for 20 locations started falling apart at 80-100.
Eventually, we realized we needed more than just “managed services”—we needed a partner who knew retail, lived PCI, and could scale with us. That’s when we brought in Acumera.
Why I Chose Acumera—And Why I Work Here Now
When I evaluated Acumera as a contractor, three things stood out immediately:
- The AcuVigil™ Dashboard
I’d never seen this level of real-time visibility from an MNSP. One glance and I could see the health of every device and circuit, with color-coded alerts to help prioritize issues. And an integrated help desk tied everything together. - Retail-Specific Expertise
This wasn’t a generic MSP trying to force an enterprise solution into a QSR. Acumera understood things like dual-payment paths, POS polling traffic, IoT isolation, and PCI-DSS down to the detail. That matters when you’re working in c-stores, restaurants, retail, and unmanned environments. - 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC)
Their team didn’t just monitor—they resolved. Proactively. Fast. No chasing tickets, no surprise escalations, and the details were visible to my entire team. I could actually sleep at night.
After working closely with Acumera for about a year, I joined the company. I wanted to be part of building solutions for the very problems I had been facing in the field.
What Makes a Good MNSP? Ask These Questions:
If you’re in the same boat I was, here are the questions I’d ask any potential managed network security provider:
- Can they give me full visibility into my network—at every site?
- Do they specialize in retail, QSR, fuel, and unmanned environments—or just dabble in them?
- Do they handle security as part of their service—like managed firewalls and segmentation?
- Can they provide an AOC (Attestation of Compliance) and Roles and Responsibilities matrix to simplify my PCI-DSS reporting?
Acumera checks all those boxes—and more.
Final Thoughts
If you’re considering whether to DIY or go with a Managed Network Service Provider, take it from someone who has tried both. With Acumera, you’re not just outsourcing a headache—you’re gaining visibility, security, uptime, and peace of mind.
Let’s talk if you’re ready to simplify your network and scale smarter.
