Five Nines

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CFO/COO of SCORR Marketing, Inc

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Full service marketing agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Nines to accomplish?

• Manage all IT services, inclusive of on-site service rep

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Nines?

Online Search

Why did you select Five Nines over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Five Nines were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Day to Day helpdesk support. Onsite weekly IT support. Quarterly review of IT services. Annual review of hardware and IT strategy for our organization. Special projects - inlcusive of SharePoint transition, implementation of new SAN & Host and replacement of end of live Switches

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Minimal to no downtime; no work stoppages due to servers being out of space, etc.

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

They have been very timely in responding to our needs; and if they are not able to solve the problem within a short amount of time they elevate to another team member.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Nines?

In-Person Meeting

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

Their serivce model aligned very well with SCORR. They have an overarching account manager, along with systems specialists and technical support. We truly appreciated their flexibility and conscientiousness in selecting an on-site rep that fits in with SCORR's organizational culture.

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

The one area that we continue to discuss with the Five Nines team is improving the support to our MAC users. They are typically able to solve any issues, but sometimes there is more downtime for those users than our non-MAC users.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the IT Liason of a marketing company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a full service marketing agency primarily in the life sciences space providing strategy, branding, market intelligence, content development, website, video, digital, media, public relations, trade shows and events, and sales enablement to our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Nines to accomplish?

• Provide IT support for our internal team
• Increase IT security

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Nines?

Unsure, I was not in this role at that time.

Why did you select Five Nines over others?

Unsure, I was not in this role at the time

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

FiveNines provides us with helpdesk support for our internal team and oversees our IT cybersecurity and systems licensure (i.e. Microsoft).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

FiveNines was cruical in our rollout of Microsoft SharePoint in 2023, I was not in this role when we completed that portion of the project, but I am certain we would not have been able to complete it without FiveNines.

I am most aware of hardware updates, replacing switches in our two offices, and for maintaining education in cybersecurity. The switch replacement was successful and our office wifi has been running smoothly, with no interruptions since the switches have been implemented. Our cybersecurity has also improved, since FiveNines has been enrolling our team in PhishingBox training, the number of failed tests have decreased to almost none.

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

FiveNines is very quick to address any asks, and are highly communicative if a task is going to take longer than a day. 

What was your primary form of communication with Five Nines?

Email or Messaging App

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

FiveNines' team gives us support that we could not manage with one internal team member in the IT role. We trust their guidance and advice, and their expertiese and knowledge is unmatched. 

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

The feedback I have provided to the team has been accepted and I recognize they are trying to actively improve in this area. I am greatly appreciative of the partnership we have with FiveNines!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Howard County Medical Center, a critical access hospital in rural Nebraska. We have 10 beds available for patients and two rural health clinics. We employ nine physicians, five MDs, and four PAs. Because we're rural, access to specialty technology can be limited.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Five Nines?

We needed a partner in the area of specialty technology.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Five Nines provides IT-managed services, including cybersecurity, for our hospital. The team has provided an excellent system for us to report problems. Our IT person couldn't handle most things, so we used to be reactive regarding IT expenditures. Now, we're proactive and have gotten a budget together. Five Nines sticks to it and tells us when things are coming up. We can stagger it out over the years instead of waiting for things to happen and then having to find the money.

The team has helped us manage a lot of our infrastructure. The one thing we lacked was our internet connection. The team brought all the equipment throughout the facility and incorporated it into our new 17,000-square-foot wellness center. Five Nines used their technology to look for dead spots in our facility, put the equipment in, went out and looked for the market to see the best situation, and brought us choices.

Five Nines has also helped us with our yearly risk assessment, a requirement for critical access hospitals. The team looked at our network and came up with a solution. They even have a machine that walks around our facility and gives us the dead spots. Five Nines has put in two networks, one for our internal and one for guests, so there isn't any overlap. That helps our security, so people aren't getting onto our internal network.

They do most of their work off-site, but they bring people in when we have a project. It's 24/7. If our computer isn't working, we call them. If so, we go to their website and put in our problem. Five Nines also offers a company called Huntress, which monitors everything that comes into our facility. If there's a risk, they stop, analyze, and decide what to do with it. It's given us a lot of confidence.

We know that with cyberattacks, something will probably happen at some point, but Five Nines has given us a lot of confidence that we'll be able to manage it when it does happen and avoid it when we can.

What is the team composition?

Ben is our primary point of contact. He does all the technical things, and others help us from different standpoints. We've had some changeover with our account manager, but Ben has been our guy through the whole situation. He does a great job, and everybody they put into the position does a great job.

Sometimes their staff get other opportunities and move away from the company, but every time it has happened, they've brought in someone better.

How did you come to work with Five Nines?

Our partnership began in 2017 when Five Nines' founder did risk assessments for facilities like mine to see where our risks were in IT and where our shortfalls were. During that time, one of my IT people resigned, and Five Nines had to put together a plan to take over our IT services.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $2,000,000. We began at one service level but decided to upgrade from that. We renegotiated hourly payments about three years ago and now include services in our monthly assessment, at about $250,000 a year on five services.

We've made a substantial investment. Since we're in a rural area, fewer than 3,000 people are in our town. We service about a 5,000-person group. However, we need IT; it's essential to healthcare: our electronic medical record, just getting patients into the building, making sure that their tests are being run correctly.

If you found someone who could handle that all the time in your building, it would cost you more money than that, probably in a year. I've referred them to other facilities here in Nebraska.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The biggest accomplishment is the budget we work out. We work it out five years at a time and can stagger things. The things we buy in healthcare are costly, so when we can stagger those things and have someone help us manage them, that's the key. We monitor it every quarter and make sure we need to make any changes. My CFO gets a feel for it, so we're not surprised by something going down.

Five Nines excels at meeting deadlines and staying on budget. When the team gives us a price for something, that's what it costs. When Five Nines says this is how long it will take, that's how long it will take. The team leverages our IT person, a great employee, and helps her with whatever expertise they can bring. Five Nines doesn't leave her out, so it works well on budget and time.

How did Five Nines perform from a project management standpoint?

Five Nines is great at project management. They give us options and help us move things down the road. They're truly a partner. We don't work for each other; we work together. We've continued to look for ways to partner with each other.

The team has a ticketing system, and we can put in the level of urgency. We get a report every month of all the tickets that were put in and how they've been solved. We have quarterly meetings, and they are usually in person. Based on logistics, sometimes we'll do Zoom, but they like to come into the building and talk to us in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Five Nines devises solutions we didn't even ask for. When the whole process started, the team walked in with their assessment and told us the high, middle, and low priorities. We told them one of our IT people resigned, and Five Nines brought out a folder and said, "Here's a solution we were thinking could happen just based on our interview." It took the pressure off.

Instead of going out and trying to find another person, the team said, "Here's what we can do for you." Five Nines sees things that we don't see and gives us options.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Because of the nature of the business, it keeps growing and getting bigger. We'd love them to send me a solution and say, "Hey, let's get together. Let's talk about something we've seen that could streamline the way you do things or help you save money."

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Analyze your current staff and how they fit into it. Many people have great employees, but maybe they can't keep up. Five Nines is willing to make that happen. You don't have to lose the person you have. Look at the situation and the budget you never had before. Take the pressure off the people you have in your building.

We've got this system where people can call us 24/7. Five Nines can get our computer backup and our electronic medical record going. If we have a power failure, Five Nines can get all these people back up and running without the IT person having to be on site.

Our IT person can take a vacation without feeling like they're letting everybody down. That's given our employee a lot of flexibility, just family-type things, just living the life.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President/CEO of First Nebraska CU

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide financial services for credit union members.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Nines to accomplish?

• connectivity of ITMs
• efficiencies
• reliability

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Nines?

Referral

Why did you select Five Nines over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Five Nines were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We hired Five Nines to oversee the installation/implementation of several ITMs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Network Configuration, Connectivity, Traffic Monitoring

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

Excellent project management and communication through-out.  Timely response and explanation of steps in a non-technical format.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Nines?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They really strived to be a partner and not a vendor.

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

I can't think of anything they could have done differently.  They became an extension of our team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CFO of UNICO Group, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are in independent insurance broker offering all lines of insurance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Five Nines to accomplish?

• Replace and upgrade wireless network
• Provide onsite IT suppor
• Assist with IT security

SOLUTION

How did you find Five Nines?

Client

Why did you select Five Nines over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Five Nines were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Specification, purchase and installation of replacement wireless network.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Quoting after specifications completed. Notification of equipment arrival.  Scheduling of installation.

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

The project was primarily managed by email communication during the project.  Five Nine's assigned a project manager who was the primary person communicating to us on the project.  The project was delivered on time and the updates were timely and helpful.

What was your primary form of communication with Five Nines?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were able to fulfill the project from specifying what was needed to the installation and configuration.

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

Nothing to note.