Envizion IT

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the global manufacturing lead at a company that produces components for the automotive, commercial vehicle, agriculture, household appliance and office furniture industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Envizion IT?

Our company employs hundreds of employees across 8 sites in 4 countries. Envizion IT manages all of our IT needs, from infrastructure (networks, servers, etc) design, implementation, and maintenance, to proactive IT project work, to new employee and device set up, to basic help desk activities.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Mark and the Envizion team are knowledgeable, professional and well-rounded. They are on the leading edge of technology, but understand the constraints of and are willing to work with some of the legacy framework already in place. Their experience in the manufacturing environment and understanding of the demands (cost payback models on projects, 0 downtime requirements, etc) of our business was a major advantage.

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package.

Envizion is our sole IT service provider. We have requested they staff 1 person on-site at our Michigan campus (it rotates through a few of their IT specialists each week) to be available for walk-ins, manage spare parts, and execute proactive projects. Of course, we have access to their whole team via the "IT Help" ticket system as well. They are also responsible for keeping our technology working and improving in the background.

They do all of our IT purchasing and PO approvals, all our network, wireless, server and PC maintenance, manage all our new employee setup, all our contracts (microsoft, phones, clouds, etc.), and many other things that most of us don't even know is happening. They are trusted to take ownership of our entire system and to make decisions like it is their own. They meticulously track their time to individual jobs and have a portal where we can view a breakdown for all their work.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have worked with almost every Envizion employee at some point. Bill is our account manager, but most of our employees directly interface with the support team via a helpdesk ticket system or directly through the on-site support person that Envizion staffs. I personally spend more time working with Bill and Mark on the larger, more costly projects (server upgrades, cloud migrations, licensing structures) and they distribute the work to individual experts on their team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have access to a ton of expertise without needing to staff, train, and grow those employees on our own IT team. A company our size has plenty of projects to execute, but can't really afford a full time network person, and a full time server person, and a couple full time help desk people, and an IT manager, and... Envizion has been able to give us access to these experts as needed and has allowed us to cut our costs and improve our support, infrastructure, and IT "headaches" over staffing our own IT team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our team has direct access to the Envizion team through both their in-person support staff and through an IT help system (e-mail and phone). From a data standpoint, we have direct access to a portal that tracks all billed time, broken down to individual tickets and projects that we can analyze together. I trust their team's analysis of the trends in that data to make decisions on how, when, and where to do all of our ongoing IT projects.

It is very rare that I notice a trend in the data before they propose a solution to that trend. We have recurring rhythms with and also have direct access to Bill and Mark if it is ever necessary to escalate concerns.

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

I love having access to all of the expertise without staffing and managing my own IT group. That is enough of a selling point to keep me coming back. I also love that the Envizion team thinks proactively and is always looking for ways to make things better (even if that means they make less money off me in the future). The other unique thing about Envizion that I admire is their desire to serve the broader community.

In sideline conversations with their team, I have learned that they are all encouraged to do volunteer work with local organizations and they donate a lot of their time, expertise, and even retired devices to blessing others in our community.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Mark, Bill and I have an open channel of communication, so any concerns I have get dealt with immediately and are reconciled fairly. The only other thing that comes to mind is that we are a multi-shift operation and though we have access to emergency support on "off shifts," Envizion's support is best / quickest during "normal" hours (6am-6pm). Most of our work is not "shift specific," so fixing something the next morning is not a big deal to us most of the time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a used cars dealership.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Envizion IT?

With our previous IT services methods, we had a lot of downtimes, unreliability, and lack of communication, so we needed a new provider.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Envizion IT provides IT managed services, cloud-based solutions, and hardware.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with Corbin (IT Support Technician); he comes to our dealership weekly to check in and ensures that our computers don’t have problems. Besides him, we are also involved with Jeremy (Team Lead).

How did you come to work with Envizion IT?

I knew Jeremy personally, and after talking and telling my struggles to him, he made a pitch to us, which sounded great for everyone on my team.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $100,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve improved our downtime, and we haven’t had any complaints from our customers; it sounds simple, but it’s important for us because Envizion IT takes care of everything within minutes. We’ve also been reaching our goal to lower the number of hours we work with them, which means our platforms are solid.

How did Envizion IT perform from a project management standpoint?

They always make us feel like we’re a top priority to them. In terms of tools, we use a ticketing system, emails, text messages, and phone calls. They also send us monthly reports with their service hours, which is a huge point of communication because it enables us to manage their involvement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service is the most outstanding feature of their work without a doubt — it’s the best one we’ve had! They’re on top of everything and care about our company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve — we’ve been delighted with their work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with Corbin, Jeremy, and John; I can guarantee a great experience if you work with these people because I know how they work.