Computer Solutions East

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I run the in house IT for the company. We distribute plumbing supplies and fixtures to stores and showrooms across the country. We're based on the east coast in a facility with around 100 employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Computer Solutions East?

To provide end-to-end help in bringing all our teams to Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM. In addition to customizing CRM to fit our business, Computer Solutions East built an integration with Infor ERP to bring Sales and Financial information to CRM.

Our Sales and Customer Service teams are able to work with our customers and provide valuable support that ranges from Lead to Ticket management.

What were your goals for this project?

A cost-effective solution, easy to manage, and reliable in a Microsoft platform. It was important for us to make sure that this solution would work well with all other Microsoft products such as Outlook, Excel (for ease of reporting).

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have worked with Computer Solutions East for the past 12 years on Managed Services. They are a Gold Microsoft partner and we rely on their services to manage our data-center, Office 365 and Azure cloud.

Describe the project in detail.

We were looking for a flexible product that would require minimal development on the front end. Something that would fit our own processes and our business. Our sales team was constantly asking questions about Customer's orders or product inventory. Our CSR team was adding support notes to Customer's orders in a note field.

Additionally, we didn't want to have it inhouse, but a cloud solution. Dynamics allowed us to have a centralized hub of information and record keeping so that we can understand where our teams spend their time, provide forecasting revenue to the sales team and ensure that our CSR team is following up on Customers' escalations.

Computer Solutions East listened to our problems and developed a strategy to meet our budget needs. Additionally, they brought in experts that were able to decode Infor's API and build an integration from Infor ERP to Dynamics without compromising our data security.

What was the team composition?

CSE: Solution Architect, Project Manager, Developer.

Durst Corp: COO, IT Project Managers, CSR Managers, Sales Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have the whole company using Dynamics for the past couple of years. Computer Solutions East manages the day-to-day support of CRM.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a project manager (PM)assigned to the project. Computer Solutions East was extremely engaged and managed all the communication, including speaking to Infor about the API.

Their knowledge of Dynamics, senior Dynamics and .NET developers helped overcome barriers on integrating with Infor. The PM was extremely engaged during the project and worked directly with our COO.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are engaged and work hard to make us successful.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at this moment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of operations at ChoiceWORX, which is a fairly new software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Computer Solutions East?

At that point, we had a growing team that needed to all be on the same platform so that we could present ourselves as a unified company. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Computer Solutions East provides ongoing IT services for our company. One of the larger projects was migrating our previous email to a new email on ChoiceWORX and integrating our calendar into Office 365. They did all of the initial account setup and helped guide us through the process.

Currently, we continue to use Office 365 and all the products and services that come with it—email, calendar, SharePoint, OneDrive, and more.

What is the team composition? 

Ramon (Inside Sales, Computer Solutions East) is my main point of contact, but I go to Deep for day-to-day support. There’s also a financial lead who handles our invoices.

How did you come to work with Computer Solutions East?

The owner of ChoiceWORX did extensive research on platforms and whittled our choices down to Office 365. From there, Microsoft recommended that we work with Computer Solutions East.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent between $10,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with them since August 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Getting all of us on Office 365 worked out really well. Our team frequently uses all of the different products, and we haven’t had any major issues with our requests. 

How did Computer Solutions East perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done well. For the email and calendar migration, Ramon set everything up, and I worked directly with another person to execute it. The whole process was so smooth because of their planning.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Computer Solutions East team is beyond responsive, and they’re so cordial in their emails. It’s not just that they’re fulfilling our requests, but they take the time to add nice notes like “I hope you’re having a great day.” It’s their friendly exchanges that make them stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re terrific. Ramon came out to meet us to see how they could better address our needs, and I didn’t have any suggestions. They’re customer-focused, aren’t overly aggressive, and are just nice partners to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
 
Work through their point of contact to communicate your needs, and everything will be extremely easy.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of legal affairs and HR for Okeanos. We’re a company that developed a technology that made single-use plastic products using stone.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Computer Solutions East?

I was looking for a team to provide technical support. Because I’m not a technical person, I was struggling with purchasing licenses and other issues. I was originally using Microsoft and submitting tickets for my issues, but it was taking too long so I wanted a dedicated partner. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I contact them and they basically resolve whichever problems I ask them to help with. They serve almost as a helpdesk, so I can call in and they resolve my issue. Every week, I call them for support in purchasing licenses or other related tasks. If a license isn’t appearing in the right user, they work with me to fix it. They’ve also helped me keep contact information for users. 

What is the team composition?

I have one main person that I always contact.

How did you come to work with Computer Solutions East?

After realizing that I wanted more support, I went to the admin center within Microsoft and saw Computer Solutions East in the list of partners so I picked them. 

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $700 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with them in May 2019 and the relationship is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our team is pretty happy, especially since they don’t contact Computer Solutions East themselves and can go through me. Typically, they solve all of the issues very quickly so our team is satisfied. 

How did Computer Solutions East perform from a project management standpoint?

I email my contact directly, but if the issue is too technical or is an accounting issue, he puts me in contact with the appropriate person. Everything is handled really quickly and they also do a screen-share with me to solve the issues. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The speed in which they respond has been really amazing. My experience with them has been great. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their website has had some issues. For example, I sometimes have to contact someone when I can’t purchase a license and they solve the problem on their site. It happens often, so they probably could improve the website.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would 100% recommend them. If you aren’t a technical person, they’ll provide a solution for you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the IT Director of a food-based manufacturing, wholesale and distribution company called Sahadi Fine Foods.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Computer Solutions East?

Microsoft 365/Office 365 - as the Microsoft partner of record.

What were your goals for this project?

To migrate the Microsoft 365 licenses from our direct control and billing over to CSE as the partner. We also wanted to establish an ongoing relationship with CSE for future projects.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

CSE became out VAR for Microsoft Surface devices some time ago. A few key members of their staff paid me an onsite visit to introduce themselves and their company, and to show me all that they had to offer. That visit was the reasoning behind my decision to use CSE going forward for more than just Surface purchases. Their portfolio of offerings fit perfectly with my company's needs, and we are at the beginning of a fruitful relationship.

Describe the project in detail.

We established CSE as our Microsoft partner for our Microsoft 365 tenant. We then successfully migrated the billing for our licenses from our company credit card over to the CSE billing portal.

What was the team composition?

I worked with Luke and Ramon directly to get this done.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The licenses were successfully migrated.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We handled almost everything through email and one conference call.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their attention to detail and their follow ups stood out. You can tell they were eager for our business, but not overly so. Their desire to help me out - both with services and just advice - as well as their personable and friendly staff have all been very impressive to me so far. I feel that we will have a good ongoing relationship for some time to come. It was a time to make change for our company, and CSE fit in nicely with what we envision for our future endeavors.

Are there any areas for improvement?

So far - none.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

COO Drinkfinity, a PepsiCo venture

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Computer Solutions East?

Looking for a solution to implement a backup strategy.

What were your goals for this project?

To back up our laptops. We were looking for a solution to backup our users’ data and recover in case of a disaster. We preferred a solution that would require data to be saved locally in our servers for security and policy reasons.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Online search on Microsoft solution provider website. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/solution-providers/home

Describe the project in detail.

We needed to backup end-users information in our local servers without adding complexity to the users day to day operations. It had to be a seamless solution. The user will be backed up every time they connected to the network. The goal was to have a real-time data protection and retention policy of 60 days in case we needed to roll-back the data.

What was the team composition?

We worked with the Sales Rep, later with the remote engineer to setup the data backup strategy.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

After some testing and fine-tuning, we started backing up our data to our local server. We are able to review our backups and ensure the data was. We tested the recovery of a couple of users to be sure the solution was working. We used Acronis for the backups.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a project manager assigned to the project. The project manager handled all loose ends.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They deliver and will make sure to translate the technobabble into something you get. Ex: great step by step diagrams

Are there any areas for improvement?

Their website can be faster.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

owner marketing consultant

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Computer Solutions East?

Disaster recovery strategy. We were looking for a solution to back up our system and recover in case of disaster. We preferred a solution that would require data to be saved in the cloud and not locally

What were your goals for this project?

cost effective solution easy to manage and reliable

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Word of mouth Computer solutions east was referred to me by another Co

Describe the project in detail.

I presented the problem to Computer Solutions East, and they explained to me in detail the best practices of Business Continuity and Disaster recovery The cost was a factor for us and based on my requirements they advised me to g with Enterprise back up strategy

What was the team composition?

We worked with Sales rep, solutions Architect and later remote engineer to set up the data back up strategy

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

In less then a day we started backing up our data to cloud. We are able to review our backups online and ensure the data is synchronizing in real time we are going through our first disaster recovery this week

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a project manager assigned to the project. The project manager handled all loose ends

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were extremely knowledgeable of technology and its nuances.

Are there any areas for improvement?

nothing I can think of at this moment

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of a general contracting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Computer Solutions East?

We hired their team to help support our computer needs on an as-needed basis.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their services range from setting up computers, establishing new employees’ profiles, and ensuring the technology is working properly. Everything is done remotely, unless something catastrophic happens and we need them to come to the office.

What is the team composition?

I communicate with a few people from their team. 

How did you come to work with Computer Solutions East?

I found them through Microsoft. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent under $5,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2017 and our engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They’ve been an excellent organization to provide this support for us. 

How did Computer Solutions East perform from a project management standpoint?

All of our communication is online. They’re very cooperative and prompt. Depending on the need, they’ll get back to us right away or within a few minutes. They’re very amenable and respond in a flash. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their deep knowledge of computers combined with their promptness is what makes them impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing they could improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They know what they’re doing and if you have a question, they’ll answer it directly. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of a behavioral health treatment center.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Computer Solutions East?

They provide me with systems for my business like our CRM, and they support me with our exchange accounts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Most of their role is to advise me on using tools like our email solution and SharePoint. They serve as our consultant and vendor for all things Microsoft.

What is the team composition?

I've worked with 2–3 members of their team in the past, depending on what we were working on at the time.

How did you come to work with Computer Solutions East?

Someone who was working for me in the past found their team and suggested that they would be a good fit, so we decided to try out the partnership and see how it went.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent a few hundred dollars with them over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together for about two years, starting in September 2018, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I'm very happy with the level of support that they provide. They support a lot of our operations as a company, and it gives me a lot of peace of mind to have their backup.

Any time I have a problem, they respond immediately and are always very good about explaining whatever I need to know in a way that I can understand without an existing tech background.

How did Computer Solutions East perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very available by email and will also occasionally come into our office for in-person meetings to talk about different products that might be helpful for the company.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everything is going very well, which is hard to find in a partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don't think they need to improve on anything in particular.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don't be afraid to reach out to them with any questions or concerns. It can be easy to wait too long to fix a problem because it doesn't feel big enough to warrant their attention.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a financial investment fund.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Computer Solutions East?

We needed to replace our IT services provider.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Computer Solutions East migrated all of our files from our former IT provider. It was a stressful task; our former provider made it difficult for Computer Solutions East to do their job. However, once they got it done, they set us up with email and enterprise-level Microsoft Office 365 licenses. 

They also advised us on various software options; when I was considering a cloud storage solution, they advised me away from Dropbox and set up Microsoft OneDrive, which saves us money. They now provide remote troubleshooting as needed. Any time that one of our laptops goes down, they’ll clean it up remotely.

What is the team composition?

We work with two people.

How did you come to work with Computer Solutions East?

We visited our local Microsoft store and asked for recommended IT vendors. They gave us three names, and after we received proposals from each, we selected Computer Solutions East.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in August 2018, and the migration took place in November of the same year. Computer Solutions East remains our IT service provider. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re happy with their work. We now rely on them for all our IT. There haven’t been any problems since we moved over.

How did Computer Solutions East perform from a project management standpoint?

They were responsive during the email and file migration. Even when our former provider was causing problems, they remained patient yet ready to go the whole time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

At one point before we started working together, Computer Solutions East asked us if we’d consider moving our systems onto Microsoft Azure. However, once they saw our needs, they told us Azure would be overkill. That’s just one example of the many times they’ve saved us from overspending on software we don’t need. I appreciate their transparency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d love to have access to remote IT help from Computer Solutions East as early as the start of my workday. However, I don’t think it’s an industry standard to do that without charging extra. Plus, the few times where I’ve needed them earlier than they could do, I had other options that let me work around the problem.

Any advice for potential customers?

Go speak to other vendors, but if you reach out to Computer Solutions East, I think you’re going to receive a very fair offer and good service from them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Infrastructure & IT services Manager of Kari-Out

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufacturing

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Computer Solutions East to accomplish?

• MSFT Partner
• Network & Security assistance
• Hardware Provider
• Human Resources

SOLUTION

How did you find Computer Solutions East?

Via word of mouth

Why did you select Computer Solutions East over others?

• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Computer Solutions East were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

CSE Assisted with migrating from a physical server to the Azure Cloud

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Most projects completed ontime and within budget

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

90% of items delivered ontime.

Response time to our needs is within accepted timeframe

What was your primary form of communication with Computer Solutions East?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The talent and skill level of the team are impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Computer Solutions East could have done differently?

Would be nice if back office communicated more with engineers performing the work.