i.t.NOW

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Riverton Family Health Center is a family practice medical group that has been in business since 1996 in Riverton, Utah. We have expanded to three office locations, and we have about 10 providers who offer family practice medicine. I am the CEO and I handle all of the operations of all three clinics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ITNow?

ITNow has been a fixture with us since before I started at the company, and I have been here 10 years. They've grown tremendously and have been partners with us right from the beginning.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, they were handling the infrastructure at our office locations, setting the cabling up and managing the ISPs, and now they remotely access the infrastructure when we need it. Their work spans everything from our infrastructure to our machines, our servers, backups, and email hosting.

They helped us transition out of our own old analog phone service system a couple of years ago, making everything digital. When we opened the two additional offices and increased the size of our network, they were right there assisting to set that up. They've helped us transition on many different levels.

Another transition they helped with occurred when we were about to open our two newer offices. At that time, we were using desktops for everything, along with laptops that we would drag from one exam room to the other. From a maintenance viewpoint, it was very expensive and cumbersome.

ITNow suggested we do a thin client architecture with a nice terminal server. With this thin client architecture, we have dummy terminals so we don't have to haul laptops everywhere or have to pay to maintain and buy new ones as they break. It was one of the best decisions we could ever make.

As of a week ago, we are now ready to take the next step and transition to HDMI sticks, which are half the price of thin client architecture. This will save money and this switch is going to make them more efficient with managing our network.

What is the team dynamic?

Currently, Morgan Frame [Account Manager, ITNow] is our main contact. He's very responsive and always there for any kind of need we may have.

How did you come to work with ITNow?

They were here when I first started, almost 10 years ago. Our service level agreement then was a little different. Now, we use their services more heavily because we're so much bigger. About two or three years after me being here, we moved to a remote service contract where they log on to our machines remotely and then diagnose our problems.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have had a connection with ITNow for 14 or 15 years at least.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the best things about them is that they have kept us from having emergencies. The last thing you want to have is a major crash, and we haven't suffered anything like that. They monitor our network really closely and if any sort of red flag comes up, they're on it really quickly, which has avoided any sort of serious server malfunctions or things of that nature.

How did ITNow perform from a project management standpoint?

They've offered to give us monthly reports, but I prefer our quarterly meetings. We also have a ticketing system installed on every machine so we can log a ticket right from the corner of our desktop. Of course, we can also call if needed, and usually get a call back within an hour and often it's even within five or ten minutes, which is a great response time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do annual customer appreciation events where they invite all of their clients, provide lunch, and give a forecast of what's new on the technology horizon. They are really good about reaching out to their clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been a few times where we've had some challenges with machines that have gone to their bench department and have taken some time. They have to rely on Dell and other big manufacturers for tech support on their level, so sometimes that slows things down.

We have been able to talk about those challenges with them and they always accept our constructive criticism. That is a rare trait—a lot of times people aren’t humble enough to take direction from their clients. I think that's why we've had such a good, long-term relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a partner and the medical director at a comprehensive infertility clinic in Salt Lake City Utah. We have four different offices in Utah and southern Idaho area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ITNow?

In order to provide the best care possible, we needed excellent electronic medical records and an information technology team that could keep our system up and running across multiple offices and multiple platforms. We originally had a high school student who was involved in helping with some of the basic computer systems when I arrived in 2004. Once we started to expand and bought our first server, ITNow got involved. As we've grown they've taken good care of us.

How did you come to work with ITNow?

It has been so long, that I don’t remember how we found them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They've been our long-term partners and they've helped set up our IT Infrastructure at all of our locations. Each time we expanded, they have been part of the team to make sure our IT systems would work at our our new offices, which is a several month-long process. Each new location has its own unique situation and challenges so we would gather the input, meet with the project team from ITNow, and then and figure out the best way to implement the options. They've also been very helpful in making sure that we had access to a Windows only system on various platforms whether it be iPad or a Macintosh. At one point, we had implemented Citrix and more recently we moved to Windows Terminal Services, but we've also used virtual private networks for remote logins because many of the physicians work from home. Additionally, they've been very good at making sure that our systems work day in and day out with excellent backup, because if we go down we have a very difficult time taking care of our patients.

What is the team dynamic?

We have had several dedicated resources over the years and we meet at the beginning of each year and go over the plans. They do an excellent job predicting what we might need for the year since they know our infrastructure very well.

How much have you invested with them?

I think we're somewhere in $60,000 to 70,000 a year range and that doesn't include the equipment that we're purchasing or special projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

It has been a seven or eight-year relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

ITNow has been very good when we've had questions about what technology we should try to implement, including advising on the best options for phone systems and internet providers. Security is obviously a critical issue for us, and they have helped us with this over the years as we've upgraded systems and advised us about certain software.  For example, Windows XP was going to expire it may not be supported so they helped us get the systems logs so that we use the appropriate patches so that we maintain the best security this was reasonably possible.

How did ITNow perform from a project management standpoint?

They have an excellent system that automatically logs emails into their database system. You can then view that database and see the progress. It is a good tracking system. They do an excellent job of following up after they've completed the task or completed the problem. We have consistently given them very high ratings for the efficiency at which they are able to complete the issues that come up.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Before I came to Utah I was the CEO of a 40 million dollar company called Genetics and IVF Institute so I had the experience of being ultimately responsible for the IT systems and a very large share company. Compared to that, ITNow has been excellent. They have been proactive in predicting what we needed. They have been very helpful in helping us be cost efficient and providing excellent service while keeping fair prices that we could afford.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. Sometimes it would be nice to have an IT person on site all the time. I'm sure they can do it for a price, but I think that their current model is very cost efficient.