GenCare

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of facility operations at a modest-sized YMCA association in Southern California. I oversee maintenance and run capital projects for all three of our facilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GenCare?

We needed someone to provide IT services and manage our cloud-based network.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

GenCare handles the IT side of our operations. They've helped us on a number of projects. For example, they regularly upgrade various elements of our systems, including our wireless access points and servers.

The team has also facilitated our transition to cloud computing, and they continue to manage our network. In our most recent project with GenCare, they helped us adapt to Microsoft Teams-certified phones.

What is the team composition?

I've worked with around 3–4 teammates, including Jeff (Account Manager), a lead technician, and two help desk representatives.

How did you come to work with GenCare?

Our relationship with GenCare precedes my employment here, so I'm not sure how the relationship started.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent close to $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in January 2008, and it's ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's not easy to quantify their impact, but their work has definitely improved our operations. They manage our network well, and we've never been down for longer than 24 hours. Overall, they're a responsive and knowledgeable team.

How did GenCare perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform very well in terms of project management. We communicate via phone calls and email. Typically, we only reach out to them if we have an issue, and their response times are typically within a few hours, which is good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our long-standing relationship with GenCare is the best representation of their exceptional business acumen and character. Additionally, their turnover rate is low, so the teammates we currently work with have been involved in the project from the start. It's very convenient to collaborate with someone already familiar with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think they have anything to improve. GenCare gets the job done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to gain some awareness of how much time you're going to spend on each project. They're not going to do everything for you, so it's good to know the extent to which you have to be involved in the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager at a corporate law firm. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GenCare?

We had multiple offices and servers, and we needed IT support. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

GenCare is helping us with all our hardware and software needs, including installation and configuration. They offer both on- and off-site support. Whenever we run into IT issues, their team provides ad hoc assistance. 

Additionally, GenCare is also managing our Microsoft 365 account and our hosting platform. They also advise us about software and cloud services.

What is the team composition?

I work with one contact person who delegates work to their team. 

How did you come to work with GenCare?

We knew them for a long time.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2000, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

GenCare has been our partner since I started working here in 2000. We’ve been happy with their recommendations about hardware and software.

How did GenCare perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through emails, calls, and texts. 

GenCare does a good job with project management. We’re delighted with their response times — if we need them, they get back to us within 5–10 minutes. We like working with their team, and their support has been great. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are easy to work with, understanding, and they facilitate teamwork. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could recommend better legal software. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager at Phoenix Spine and Joint, a collection of ambulatory surgery centers with 30 employees across four locations. 
 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GenCare?

We were looking for a managed service provider that was both reliable and capable of supporting our fairly complex IT needs. 
 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

GenCare provides the full scope of managed services — they are our external help desk whenever our on-site or remote teammates have any technical issues. They manage all of our support tickets and solve IT issues as they arise. Recently, they also began providing us with consulting services. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with five different support technicians from GenCare on a regular basis. 

How did you come to work with GenCare?

We were referred to GenCare by a previous business partner. Our help desk at the time had not been meeting our expectations, so we decided to give them a shot based on the positive recommendations from people we trusted. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with GenCare in September 2018, and our engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been really pleased with GenCare’s support. Our employees are far more willing to submit tickets because they’re confident that they’ll get a quick response from the helpdesk. 

How did GenCare perform from a project management standpoint?

Typically, we don’t have many long-term projects with GenCare, but they’ve done pretty well with ticket management as a helpdesk. All of the tickets that we have submitted have been acknowledged and resolved as quickly as possible. Our employees communicate with the GenCare team almost daily through their ticketing system.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any specific improvements to list.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

GenCare does a good job!
 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of finance for The Beach Club. We’re a company in the social club industry in the Santa Monica area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GenCare?

I work hand in hand with GenCare. They provide us with IT services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

GenCare manages our Microsoft 365 and other software licenses, access points, technology, and all of our IT services. They’re in charge of configuring and maintaining our internet network, camera systems, cybersecurity systems, and everything else related to our server. Overall, they make sure that we are up and running.

Apart from taking care of our server, they help us whenever we have to purchase anything, from different software programs to new computers. We don’t make any direct purchases; we tell them what we need to purchase, and they assist us with that process. Once we approve the purchase, they make it, and we then pay them for it.

GenCare works remotely, but one of their technicians comes to our offices every month to ensure everything is okay. I then get a report from them explaining what they found and a schedule to attend to any issues if required.

As for our software, they were involved in implementing our POS, Clubessential, our camera system, and our maintenance software. Anytime we need to implement anything that will touch the server, they get involved to ensure it is done properly.

What is the team composition?

I work with four people from GenCare, including a project manager, their CEO, and a customer service technician.

How did you come to work with GenCare?

When I came on board, they were already working for the club, and they were highly reputable in the club industry.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent at least $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

They came onboard around April 2016, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although I love being involved in our technology side, and I’m good with those kinds of things, I’m not an IT expert. Since I’ve been working with GenCare, I don’t have to worry about that part of our business, nor do I need to figure out how to solve IT problems when they arise. I rely on their responsiveness.

I love that everyone on their team, including the CEO and the technician, is very responsive and personable. They don’t provide a generic IT service; they know our names and who we are.

GenCare has also created a great ecosystem for our file management, and our POS doesn’t crash, which is important. What they’ve purchased for us is of good quality, and we are now able to run our business seamlessly.

If our server were to go down, serious things would happen because everything is linked to it. Not having experienced any critical issues like that is proof that they’ve set everything up well.

Additionally, we have such a good rapport with GenCare that we take their recommendations seriously. For example, we’re going through a big construction project right now, so we were trying to find a vendor to rewire the ethernet. Based on their recommendation, we engaged with one particular vendor. We wouldn’t have gone with that vendor if GenCare hadn’t recommended them.

How did GenCare perform from a project management standpoint?

GenCare has been excellent. I’ve worked very closely with the IT team at the University of California, so I know exactly how a great IT service should be, especially for big projects. I see the technology used at our club and how they maintain it, and they make their work look easy. They’re absolutely top-notch.

They’re very reachable through email, and their responses are immediate. They have ticketing systems in place, so whenever we create a ticket, we get a confirmation number. Additionally, they’re reachable by phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

GenCare’s service is impressive. Although I have some IT knowledge, I like the fact other members of our team with no IT knowledge can call them. They’re very approachable, and they’re not intimidating for people with no IT background. That is why they’ve earned my respect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be good if GenCare had more frontline support. For example, I ordered a computer, so I made the request, and I got a response from their CEO. I love that the CEO responded to me, but it was a request so rudimentary that it didn't need to be escalated to that level. However, I know that they don’t do it to make us feel uncomfortable, and I think it is just a sign of humility from the CEO.

The other thing that needs improvement is the process of connecting remotely to our computer. When I first came on board, I had to get the POS system installed on my computer. They asked me if they could get access to my computer, and they then just did it right away. My mouse just started moving, and the technician took control.

I was surprised by how informal that process was. At my previous companies, we would go to another website, type in an access key that the service technician provided, and record our approval for them to take control of our computer. How GenCare managed it was very informal to me, so I think that they should consider an improvement in that regard.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

See what type of organization you are and what type of IT service you want. You should also talk to GenCare’s CEO because he is reachable and really good at explaining the breadth of what you need. Talking to him can really make a difference in deciding whether to go with GenCare or someone else.

If you are a smaller business, you should definitely consider them because they provide a personal touch. The type of service I experience from GenCare is very personal, but I don’t know how sustainable it would be for a larger organization. In that sense, I really consider them to be an excellent option for smaller organizations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager of a small manufacturing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with General Networks?

We didn’t have the knowledge to complete some of our higher-level IT work. We reached out to General Networks to help with that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

General Networks did a lot of work with Microsoft Azure and Server 2016. They also handled multifactor authentication and network security, among other things.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 2–3 people from their team.

How did you come to work with General Networks?

They were referred to us by another company that had worked with them in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to their work, our security footprint expanded significantly. We also met certain compliance standards in our industry. They did everything efficiently and timely.

How did General Networks perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very organized. If things dragged on, we had contact with the people involved.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their expertise was most impressive — they knew what they were doing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We were pleased with all of the work they did.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as detailed as possible. If you want things done fast, it helps to have someone on the other end who knows what they’re doing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of IT at Frasco Inc., and we’re a law practices firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with General Networks?

We needed help with the aspects of our IT consulting and operations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They do the heavy lifting in the data center; they manage terminal server configuration, Microsoft Azure active directory, firewalls, SonicWall appliances, and all the core network operations for our business.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with several people over the years, but our primary contacts are Jeff (VP), Herb (Treasurer), Charles (Director of Technical Services), and Lee (System Engineer).

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $1,000,000 on many projects with them over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 1992, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been working together for almost 30 years, and that’s because they do great work for us.

How did General Networks perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good at meeting deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re happy with the services they provide for us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s something they can improve on at the moment. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Work closely with them to ensure they understand your needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of SurrogateFirst, a small consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with General Networks?

We were transitioning off multiple platforms, migrating our email and other CRM systems. We needed General Networks to help us with the migration into these platforms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I was looking for an easy transition with my staff because they're not very technical. We had calls to get our team ramped up on the system and encourage a smooth transition. General Networks has helped us migrate to a platform improving our security and access, like our authentication process and swipe data from active data.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with some people, but I mainly communicate with the project manager and their Help Desk. 

How did you come to work with General Networks?

We found them through a referral from one of their clients.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, the project was about $5,000–$7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2021, and our employees now reach out whenever we have any issues.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They met our goal: to have one platform where we’d get to store our content. The General Networks team was accessible, helpful, and very quick problem-solvers.

How did General Networks perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through Teams, and we’d met in person with the account manager. We talk once or twice a month.

What did you find most impressive about them?

General Networks’ ability to manage their projects has been good. They are pretty thorough and detailed. Moreover, they’d summarize what the needs are, confirm it with us and execute on it. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they're good.

Any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with them about your needs. It doesn’t have to be in technical terms. They are very good at relating whatever your needs are to the requirements. If you’re not very sophisticated in terms of what you think you need, General Networks is a good company to speak with because they make you feel comfortable and translate your needs into solutions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the assistant controller for a private equity country club. One of the functions of my job is to provide onsite IT support for our team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with General Networks?

For the higher-level IT issues that I can’t handle on my own, we’ve brought them in to help me out. They either let me know how to solve the problem or simply solve it themselves.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They monitor all of our IT services, providing support related to cybersecurity, user accounts, server management, and infrastructure. Most of their work is remote, but they’ve come on-site before for hardware-related upgrades.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Jeff (VP of Technical Services Sales). He helps us with purchasing and guides the scope of our engagement based on industry best practices. Day-to-day, I deal with four of their help desk team members. They provide troubleshooting and setup support. For on-site work, I’ve worked with another member of their team.

How did you come to work with General Networks?

I’ve worked with them in a previous position. They were already working with my current company when I started in my present role, so I was happy to continue the partnership. Whenever the topic of a new IT vendor has come up, we’ve decided to stick with them due to their hands-on nature, their prominence in our industry, and their pricing.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $2,000 each month for their general services, with work being added on as needed for an additional fee.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together since I started in this position in February 2017. They had been working with the company since 2015, though.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve always been satisfied with their work. They’re very up-front about what they can do, how much their services will cost, and what IT best practices dictate for any given project. Their team is also well-connected, so if they don’t provide a service they can connect you with a firm that does. They’ve done whatever I’ve asked them to do for a fair price.

When you don’t hear about IT, it generally means everything’s running smoothly. They’ve been great at limiting issues by being proactive in anticipating problems. Jeff provides us with a five-year outlook on how to continuously upgrade our infrastructure to keep up with new technological demands.

How did General Networks perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s nice having an external IT team operating in the same region as us. We’ve never had any communication issues. They’ve always stayed within budget as well. There are never any surprises.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service is great, which is important for keeping our IT infrastructure running smoothly. We’ve even received support on Christmas Eve when we’ve needed it. I can always count on them for a quick response.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t fault them for this, but we’ve had fewer on-site visits since the beginning of the pandemic. They also recommend mostly HP products. It would be nice to see them offer a greater variety of brands.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Pick their brains and take advantage of their expertise. Spend a day with them to get their insight on what your business should be doing from an IT standpoint. They’re an honest firm and their pricing is fair, so they won’t steer you wrong.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT Director of BrandVia, and we’re a company that makes promotional marketing materials — in layman’s terms, we make swag. We put labels on things, from a water bottle to a widget.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with General Networks?

We were moving from Google to Microsoft as our main business platform, and I wanted some help to make sure everything went smoothly, even though I felt comfortable enough to do the process myself.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

General networks has basically been my primary Microsoft partner ever since. The initial contact with them was around helping us migrate from Google Business, to Microsoft 365 from a platform standpoint.

Right now, we’re moving a little further into the Microsoft 365 platform, meaning we’re going to start leaning more into their security like Azure Active Directory. The second thing they’re helping us with is migrating our phones to Microsoft Teams Business Voice.

Additionally, we’re also leaning on them to help us with SharePoint. I’m trying to create a learning environment for my team, myself included, so we can do as much heavy lifting as possible while General Networks looks over our shoulders. Typically what happens is my team will sit down, plan out everything, and we'll then go to General Networks, who will guide us throughout the process. What ultimately ends up happening is my team gets a strong knowledge base.

What is the team composition?

My primary contact from their organization is Jeff (VP of Technical Services Sales). I also work with Charles (Director of Technical Services), who is my technical contact, and the one who helps us with the SharePoint project. The last person who I directly work with is Annant (Help Desk) who acts as my primary technical counsel.

How did you come to work with General Networks?

My introduction to General Networks came from another vendor, who wasn’t able to fulfill our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably invested somewhere around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project with General Networks started in March 2020, and it’s been ongoing since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Jeff is very knowledgeable and he has helped out in understanding the Microsoft licensing, which is quite a lot to digest. Charles is also great in helping us with SharePoint in the early days, which was tricky, because we were essentially taking a bunch of Google sites and converting and translating them into SharePoint sites — which requires a bit of retooling.

His knowledge and expertise played a big part in that. It wasn’t something that he had ever done before, but he knew how it could be done. He figured it out and helped us out a lot with that situation, because he had the tools and resources to do it — so that was great and I was very happy with the results.

As far as current projects go, Annant stays on top of everything. I was looking at some information on a Microsoft site, and he went ahead and told me that the information was outdated. He found me some resources that proved that point, and found out that Microsoft’s website is not always the most current, at least now.

How did General Networks perform from a project management standpoint?

We typically communicate through email because it’s way more conversational. Thankfully we haven’t really had any actual problems where we need real technical support — they’ve just been brilliant with managing the project.

We have weekly standing meetings, where typically at the end of it, my team would have a task list to work on. Then if we have any questions or anything pops up, we just simply email them and they’ll reply.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re very impressed with their knowledge and their willingness to help. There are two key things that I look for and those are I need to know if you know your stuff, and if you’re going to extend your hand and help. The way our company collaborates with vendors is we don’t want them to do all the work, we want them to teach us how to do the work.

I will always take the opportunity to learn and teach my team as well, but with General Network's guidance because I don’t want to create problems for my company. Having someone like General Networks at just a phone call or email away, makes things so much easier and cleaner. They’ve been super helpful, super knowledgeable, and they’re everything I can hope for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At this point, I don’t know. We haven’t worked long enough together and there haven't been any real problems so far. They’re all great, they’re all responsive, so I can’t think of anything right now.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is a produce shipping company, called Kennedy Produce, Inc., and I’m the president. We’re a shipper of fresh fruits and vegetables to the state of Hawaii. We handle the buying, logistics, and quality control on the frontend of produce transactions for foodservice distributors, as well as some food-processing customers. We buy fruits and vegetables, truck them to our cold-storage facility, build orders based on customer requests, and then load air and ocean containers to send them to Hawaii to be distributed among a number of customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with General Networks?

They’re handling our computer maintenance and management, including our server environment. I was looking for security as well, as I hear a lot about ransomware attacks and know someone that happened too. Additionally, we wanted someone accessible to our business to field calls and help fix computer issues.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We use an in-house server, but we’re in discussions about how to transition to the cloud for storage and such; there are just a few hardware issues to work out, as well as requirements around internet speed and capability. I’m in a difficult physical location that isn’t serviced well.

I consider them my managed service provider. We turn to them for new equipment (computers, laptops) or helping us decide how to proceed on those decisions. We rely on their expertise.

What is the team composition?

My primary point of contact is Jeff Baker (VP & Sales Director). He sells their services and manages their customers. We also work with their help desk, where we call-in directly. I’ve spoken to a number of their phone reps and they are very knowledgeable. Anant is one of their outside technicians, and he does service calls every quarter or six months or so to our buildings to make updates and address any concerns that we have.

How did you come to work with General Networks?

They were recommended to me by my former accountant, who was familiar with them. I’d been working with a computer resource that wasn’t as thorough with the work as they could have been, so I called General Networks. Based on that conversation and the recommendation, it seemed like a no-brainer to make the switch. I didn’t do a lot of other shopping around.

How much have you invested with them?

On a monthly basis, outside of equipment costs, we pay them $600-$700 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since July 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They respond to us quickly, and they possess remote capabilities. They fix things that slow us down and cause problems to our workflow. Produce companies operate early in the morning, and we can contact their help desk by 6 am. They also offer after-hours support — though it may be fee-based, it’s still available if the need arises.

They’re a very good partner to have. Maybe it’s only in comparison to my other resource before General Networks, but General Networks never speaks down to us. We’re not at the level of a computer operations expert, but there’s never a dumb question with General Networks. They walk us through our issues and explain what’s happening.

How did General Networks perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good at initiating communication and following up. I get easily distracted, and they provide gentle reminders. They’re never pushy, but they remain persistent if something needs to be scheduled so no issues or delays arise.

We haven’t had failures on tasks. I have a new hard drive for our server that needs to be updated, and they purchased it and sent it to my office. Someone is coming on-site to update it because it’s a bit older, and there have been some indications that it might fail. This proactivity will make sure it doesn’t crash or cause any downtime, and it’s an affordable fix.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their level of knowledge is vast, and they’re willing to work through a problem until they solve it. If we’re struggling with something and the solution isn’t obvious right off the bat, then they’ll spend the time to work through the issue with us. For example, we had a printer issue where it wasn’t linked properly to our server, and they solved it. They talked us through what to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There aren’t a lot of areas where they’re not meeting my needs. They do a good job staying on top of costs and contracts as well, and the work has been good. We don’t have to hunt them down at all.