Mindsight

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a Christian TV station selling air time to other like-minded content providers, as well as creating our own programming. I am the chief financial officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindsight?

We outsourced our IT work to another provider in 2011. They were bought on by a different company. After that happened, the service level went way down. Staff members from our initial provider moved over to Mindsight, given that they also didn't like the company's direction. We knew those individuals and liked them, so we decided to make the shift.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mindsight has overseen our internet, email, server, and backups. We don't have in-house IT specialists, so Mindsight has taken over this role. Mindsight also handles purchases of new infrastructure. Technicians have come to our headquarters in order to facilitate installs. We haven't experienced any significant downtimes since working with Mindsight.

When an issue comes up, I can contact the person who handles our implementations, but we also have a ticketing system for email issues, forgotten passwords, and so on.

How did you come to work with Mindsight​?

Mindsight had been handling our phone system for a number of years. I don't know how that relationship started. After some of their more senior accounts people moved over from our previous provider, we followed them.

How much have you invested with Mindsight?

The total cost of Mindsight's services has been around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

In terms of IT work, our system went live in July 2016. The conversion process started in April, and we'd been in discussions with Mindsight since the fall of 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Mindsight has been extremely responsive throughout both the ticketing system development, and when contacting the specialist who handles our implementation. Turnarounds are quick, and Mindsight is very communicative with us.

How did Mindsight perform from a project management standpoint?

Turnaround time for fixes has been quick.

What did you find most impressive about Mindsight?

Mindsight wanted to learn about who we were and what we doing before sitting down and proposing solutions. This is something that any company should do, but when our original provider was handling the work, they didn't care who we were or what our needs were. Mindsight understood that we are on the air 24/7, and can't afford to have downtime.

Are there any areas Mindsight could improve?

So far, we've been beyond happy to be working with the same people that we were using before. The service is great, and the price is better than what we were paying.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We specialize in skilled nursing, which is offered through our facilities. I am the vice president of operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindsight?

We needed a managed services partner for our infrastructure. We spun off from our parent company and were forced to implement our own network in a new location.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mindsight has mainly offered services relating to our infrastructure, partnering with our former provider in order to setup the network. Mindsight currently maintains and monitors that network. Procurement was handled by us while Mindsight helped with hardware configuration.

We worked with two or three people from their team and use a colocation facility managed by Mindsight. We're currently working on a project for setting up our phone system.

How did you come to work with Mindsight?

We found Mindsight through a recommendation from a friend. We talked to five other providers in total, both local and national ones. We selected Mindsight based on their reputation. I was aware of the company even before the recommendation.

How much have you invested with Mindsight?

The cost of Mindsight's services has been around $150,000 in 2016.

What is the status of this engagement?

The network setup/configuration was proposed as a three-month project. We maintain a managed services contract with Mindsight.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Of all our managed services providers, Mindsight was the most responsive and came to the table with very creative solutions to our problems.

How did Mindsight perform from a project management standpoint?

We work with Mindsight through an account manager. They also provide us with a ticketing system, and we conduct weekly meetings with Mindsight.

What did you find most impressive about Mindsight?

Out of all our other providers, Mindsight worked the hardest in understanding what were the challenges that we were having, before prescribing a solution. Mindsight did the best job in terms of customizing the solution to our needs and didn't try to sell us a bunch of things that we didn't need.

Are there any areas Mindsight could improve?

No. Mindsight is my favorite managed services provider.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is a global food manufacturing corporation. We have 13 sites in North America, including manufacturing plants, a R&D [research and development] center, and a data center, with a headquarters in Aurora. We produce processed meat and other foods for various high-profile, branded customers, including McDonald's, Chipotle, Subway, Domino's, and IKEA. We have made a couple of division acquisitions over the years for retail food products.

I am the manager of technical services. I oversee the infrastructure portion of IT for North America, including networking, computing, and storage.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindsight?

We needed support and maintenance on virtual desktop environments. Mindsight had already been engaged when I came onboard. My predecessor was undergoing a migration towards virtual desktops for both our plants and the headquarters. Because we had lean IT staffing at the time, we needed a partner who could offload the day-to-day configuration, maintenance, and monitoring of our VMware and Heroku desktop environments.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mindsight's support has been recently expanded to also include monitoring for network devices, including our CISCO switches, Exchange server, and storage devices. Mindsight also maintains our wireless controllers and some virtual servers.

How did you come to work with Mindsight?

I think that Mindsight was recommended by a channel partner. Mindsight was working with my previous company, so they have a very good marketing strategy for getting their name out. I've known about them for the 3 years in which I've worked in this area.

How much have you invested with Mindsight?

The total cost of Mindsight services over the last year has been over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Mindsight has been very good overall. Infrastructure management can be a challenge, depending on the systems that are in place, how hard they're being pushed, and the company's staffing. Some of our locations are rugged environments, especially the manufacturing plants, so we experience many power outages and other issues. Mindsight's job has been to respond to this. Just last night, we've had a power outage at a Wisconsin plant. Mindsight responded, engaged the on-call engineer on my team, and got the problem resolved. We've had a positive experience and have recently expanded our partnership with Mindsight.

How did Mindsight  perform from a project management standpoint?

Mindsight provides a ticket management system, and we also use a SolarWinds Orion portal through which we can see all of our sites, the condition of our switches and ports, and their uptime. We have a weekly status call with Mindsight every Friday, where we talk about tickets for every plant. We have a personal relationship, instead of simply seeing tickets on a screen. I know most of Mindsight's team. When working with a regional partner, there will be a more intimate, localized collaboration. We sometimes go out to lunch, which is important to me. I've gotten to see the human side of Mindsight's team.

What did you find most impressive about Mindsight?

I appreciated the personalized nature of our relationship. I can pick up the phone and call someone from Mindsight's senior management. We can talk everything over, which is important when dealing with larger support partners. For me, the fact that Mindsight is only a phone call away is a big advantage. Mindsight has a system in place for providing good responses, they're good negotiators, and they take pride in delivering a good service to us. There have been times when Mindsight overlooked services which they could have charged us for, which fell into the personalized service that they gave us.

Are there any areas Mindsight ​could improve?

There were a few issues in the beginning, but they have been improved. A year ago, there were a few communication gaps, but they were as much to do with us as with Mindsight. My predecessor had some health issues at the time, but when I arrived and improved the staffing on our side, the gaps were filled. Mindsight also made an effort in order to up the communication piece. We're now cruising along pretty good, and I can't think of any major pain points. We're in good shape.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Lindemann Chimney is a full-service chimney company, handling manufacturing and distribution of service materials to other chimney businesses. We have locations in Georgia, New York, Chicago and the West Coast, and close to 20 certified technicians working on the field every day. I am the office manager of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindsight?

We've been growing quickly. When I started working with the company in 2012, we were getting ready to move to a much larger facility. This meant having a new phone system put in. We started having problems with it relatively quickly and, after trying to deal with them for close to a year, we chose another provider. Our problems persisted, so we found Mindsight. We've been happy ever since.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mindsight manages our Cisco IT phone environment. When we moved to the new building, the phone system that was put in place was undersized for what we needed, so we're now managing the problems that we have with the system through to the end of our contract with the phone company. We're using Mindsight to troubleshoot issues and make the best out of what we have.

Mindsight has also provided troubleshooting for other severe issues in our distribution centers, including the implementation of the firewalls in our network.

Most of our work with Mindsight has been remote. We've upgraded our phone system to an MPLS line for a more robust service. Much of this has been remote work, with a few on-site visits from Mindsight members. The Cisco ASA firewalls that are being installed by Mindsight will also require on-site work.

How did you come to work with Mindsight?

I was handed the duty of finding a vendor, as we started having problems. I found Mindsight through a referral from my wife, who used to work for a much larger company. We interviewed 6 other candidates but, the moment that I spoke to Mindsight's systems architect and their sales rep, there was no doubt in my mind that they were the right people.

How much have you invested with Mindsight?

The total cost of Mindsight's services over the last year has been between $15,000 and $20,000. After our new system is put in place later in 2016, the costs will skyrocket. We work through a managed services contract.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with Mindsight for one year and have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The main issue we were experiencing prior to working with Mindsight was a high volume of frozen calls. We're dependent on our phones, with many customers calling for chimney services and orders. We often picked up the phone and had no audio, so anyone calling us heard dead air. It was an embarrassing situation, and we needed to figure out if it was to do with the backend, our phones or with the provider. It was a maze, but we've solved 95% of our issues with Mindsight's help, increasing our presence for customers.

How did Mindsight perform from a project management standpoint?

Mindsight provides a ticketing system which works very well. If our New York location went down, for example, I could call Mindsight and register a high-priority issue with them. Mindsight usually resolved our problems in 15 minutes to an hour. I was able to call Mindsight at 2 AM and talk to someone on-call.

We've moved to a managed services model with Mindsight. When we first started working together, we were simply buying blocks of hours in order to hack away at the problems that we had, which were snowballing. Mindsight actively looked at all the tickets that we'd put in, trying to see how many of them would have actually been covered under a managed services agreement. It turned out that 90% of those would have been covered, which is why we changed our contract. The majority of issues with our legacy phone system are covered, so we don't experience many out-of-scope situations. Once we've upgraded our phone system, even the existing problems will disappear.

What did you find most impressive about Mindsight?

I mostly work on the service side of our business and know how important it is to maintain a relationship with the customer. If someone calls because they saw an ad for our business, their first impression will be set by the person they talk to on the phone. If the rep isn't very friendly, it will set the tone. My communication with Mindsight has always been pleasurable. I know everyone in their company well at this point, having worked with several of their members. Mindsight does a great job of listening. When someone calls us with a problem, the main focus is listening to what the client needs. Mindsight did a great job of finding out what our problem actually was, instead of pushing the latest and greatest technology. Compared to the previous 2 providers that we used, Mindsight's team was very attentive to our needs and problems. They actively had a stake in getting our situation fixed.

Are there any areas Mindsight could improve?

No. Compared to my experience with the previous providers, Mindsight is a different caliber of company. I've dealt with disaster after disaster. If we're not the best at something, we like to hire someone who is. Mindsight came in as an extension of our team and we've given them full control.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a local park district. We provide recreation services to the community and maintain the grounds. I'm the Information Technology Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindsight?

We were looking to improve the local infrastructure, to get our servers into a data center and change out our phone systems. We didn’t have the necessary skill sets to complete all that work, so we went searching for a partner who could do it for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They manage the backbone of our network and maintain servers. They have completely rebuilt our hosting environment and configured it with our digital properties. We keep them on the payroll for other issues as they arise. We use another third party for the data center, but Mindsight has access to the equipment there, and they take care of patching, security upgrades, and other issues.

Part of the initial hiring was strategic planning for the future, in relation to our backbone: servers, routers, and access points. During the initial setup, there was a gap between staff ITs. They did the necessary onsite work. At the moment, we work with them remotely, except for occasional cases, like switching routers.

How did you come to work with Mindsight?

We submitted statements of work and evaluated a number of proposals. I'm not sure if Mindsight had the lowest bid or offered the best service, but they won our project work.

How much have you invested with Mindsight?

We've invested $90,000 per year for the last three years. Their services include not only tech support but also hardware.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship started a little more than a year ago [2014].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We had to restore several servers with them. They were quick, and brought them back up flawlessly within a day, despite the fact that they all had to come from backup.

We reach out to them when any technical issue arises. We primarily contact them through their helpdesk support. We did another restore of a server from backup, which was also very timely, only taking about four hours, and that was mainly due to the size of the server. They’ve been on the ball when it comes to resolving issues.

How did Mindsight perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is always good with Mindsight, and we rarely have misunderstandings. They go out of their way to get feedback and ensure that they know exactly what needs to be done.

What did you find most impressive about Mindsight?

A couple of techs there make the company particularly great to work with. I met one of them when we were finishing migrating to the data center and we were between techs. He was brilliant. It took him only moments to resolve complex issues. Their techs make them worth using, more than any other parts.

Are there any areas Mindsight could improve?

They're great at networking, and not so great at the implementation of our phone system. They need better phone technicians. When it came to planning out the system, they struggled. It was sort of an ugly process. For as great as they are at networking, they're opposite on phones. I couldn't recommend them for this area, but it’s definitely something that they could remedy and improve if they brought on some more experienced staff members.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Carver Pump is a manufacturer of centrifugal pumps. We design all of our products for various industries. A large percentage of our business is with the United States Navy, followed by a broad range of industrial projects. Mostly, we'd be considered an engineered products company. We're privately held and located in Muscatine, Iowa. We've been in business since 1938 and have about 100 employees.

I'm the Chief Operating Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindsight?

Carver Pump has been developing its own network organically through the years. You could say it's a step above hobbyist level. We did fine through the 1990s and mid-2000s. After that, the technology grew past our ability to manage it without a ridiculous number of assets. We needed to move out of our back room, and into a data center. We didn't have the product knowledge or general expertise with IT [information technology] to do it ourselves, so we were directed to find a vendor that could help us make the transition.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their services have been both to source new servers and to provide the work required for transitioning our network from the back room to the data center.

The local portions of the network had been upgraded to a certain degree, but the routers and other equipment were in good shape. The box servers were moved to a data center in Chicago that Mindsight manages. At this moment, the contract is extended to the data center, file servers, and everything up to the wires connecting to the PCs, which we manage with local assets.

We're just now completing the project, and moving on to the management part. We've retained them to be our advisors for network management. We sit down on a quarterly basis, review what is being done; if we're on par with current technology, and what it would cost to become more current – the basic things that someone would do from a strategic perspective. We view them as an extension of our IT department.

How did you come to work with Mindsight?

We interviewed a number of organizations that provide managed services. Their company was the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with Mindsight?

The total until now has been $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

It's a little early for meaningful numbers. Just tonight [December 2015], we're decommissioning the old file servers. People have been using the new system for a month to six weeks with positive sentiments across the board, at least for now.

Our policies and procedures were sufficiently undocumented to start with, that there were tons of things to be fixed and patched. Even though the transition was a little on the long side, had we not had Mindsight to help us, I think it would have been a horrific nightmare.

How did Mindsight perform from a project management standpoint?

Mindsight have been terrific to work with. They're very efficient in terms of responding to the issues we gave them. Having watched the transition, I can say that we've gone from trying to manage it internally and having them support us, to almost reversing the roles and having them manage it. The more we had them do, the faster the pace went and, I think, the higher the quality, too.

Communication has been informal, which is one of the reasons why things got off to a slow start. We use Spiceworks for helpdesk ticketing. It's done fine for passing information, identifying bugs, and managing the projects we're working on. We will have a weekly tactical review session, and a strategic, big picture, monthly meeting.

What did you find most impressive about Mindsight?

They're extremely responsive, even when they might not have the resolution at hand. They maintain very open communication and provide administrative support when needed. It's important that we're never left in the dark, and Mindsight would not let that happen, which is the support reliability we need.

Are there any areas Mindsight could improve?

They've done a superb job. I've dealt with many contractors, and Mindsight stands out as being very responsive. Things can always be improved, though. How they could do that, I'm not sure. Perhaps they could do a better job exposing what their leadership was doing for the client on a more regular basis. It's nice to know that the leadership is involved and trying to keep the business innovative.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a small producer of food products – specifically marshmallows. We make and distribute them to retailers around the United States.  I'm the former IT [information technology] director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindsight?

It came down to having more technical resources helping us with our physical and digital infrastructure. We were at a point where we couldn't manage it on our own. There's only one other business analyst working under me, and we had too much on our plate. We knew we needed to modernize our servers and move to the cloud, we also needed our site and database migrated and reconfigured. In the long term, we wanted to have a provider that would take care of our network and provide ongoing support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Once we hired them, they handled everything I mentioned before. They've now grown with us, and we work on other projects together. They've helped us resolve issues as they come up, and they make sure our site is secure and performing optimally. They're now completely responsible for our hosting environment and can recover all out data in the event of an unexpected issue. The major implementation and migration work is done now, so everything they do is support related, like monitoring our site and data and updating our software and hardware.

How did you come to work with Mindsight?

I wasn't actually involved in that process, but they were one of the several companies around the area that we were considering. We reviewed all the proposals and went through interviews, I'm sure. Mindsight fit us the best so we went with them. 

How much have you invested with Mindsight?

At this point, it's definitely more than $100,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

There are no real figures to share. Our experience has always been very positive. They have a very proactive rather than reactive approach to maintenance. They make sure our software and hardware are updated and ensure that our data is always secure. We've not had any critical issues with our site or digital infrastructure yet. They've been extremely useful when it comes to helping us strategize and prioritize our IT [information technology] needs, too. Management here has been very impressed with them in all respects. 

What did you find most impressive about Mindsight?

I would say that their professionalism and responsiveness stands out. They have some very talented people on their team and everyone we've interacted with has been top notch. Communication has never been an issue, and they're always able to make sense of things for us. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Cayan has been around for approximately 15 years. We largely serve small to medium-sized merchants that require basic payment processing capabilities in the form of credit and debit card payments. During the last couple of years, we have migrated to a more product and technology-driven orientation. We deliver the product to the merchant's counter top and cater not only to the traditional forms of acceptance I mentioned, but more progressive ones, such as EMV [Europay, MasterCard, and Visa], near-field communication, or the acceptance of loyalty and reward programs. This manifests itself through a product that we call Genius. It has been on the market for two years, and not only serves small to mid-sized businesses but is also getting acceptance from the larger merchant community.

I am the Chief Technology Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mindsight?

We recently migrated to a Cisco-based on-premise selling system. We did not have the internal IT [information technology] knowledge and experience to manage, maintain, and configure said system. I reached out to Mindsight after evaluating several providers and went with them because they brought the subject matter expertise that we didn't have in-house. It was also a discipline that we had no interest in bringing in-house. The focus on it would be a distraction for us. They not only helped with basic IT at a system level, but they've also been involved in some functional enhancements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They are focused on our on-premise hosting and contact center solutions. Proactive maintenance and support along with issue resolution are the main things they provide on a daily basis. There are times when we also collaborate on long-term priorities around our infrastructure.

How did you come to work with Mindsight?

We reached out to several partners. It was multidimensional in terms of the selection criteria. It was a matter of sophistication that they demonstrated in their approach to monitoring a configuration as well as general subject matter expertise when it comes to understanding the operation of the Cisco platform. Pricing was also a consideration and the flexibility in the services they provide – the ability to pick and choose from a variety of services that we felt met our needs.

How much have you invested with Mindsight?

The total invoices to date have been less than $25,000, but this is still a relatively new engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

There are no real figures that I can share.

How did Mindsight perform from a project management standpoint?

We're definitely satisfied with them. Outside of the technical acumen that they bring to the table in regard to our Cisco platform, we've been extremely impressed with the project management side. They mobilize on both our side and theirs, from a PM perspective. They keep everyone on track and provide constant updates. Mindsight provides us with an issue-tracking system that we use to exchange tasks and feedback.

They've been reliable in terms of their execution of problem resolution. We've had issues with the system, which were unrelated to Mindsight. The previous implementation vendor left us with a sub-optimal configuration. Mindsight was able to come in and identify the shortcomings of the system and stabilize them as we rolled it out. The work was primarily done remotely.

By shadowing them through some of the troubleshooting they've done, the helpdesk staff here has acquired the knowledge organically to do some basic level things. Mindsight is available to provide us training if we so desire. It is up to us to decide how far we want to move that. It's the fine line between self-service management and leveraging Mindsight for the work.

What did you find most impressive about Mindsight?

We've only had one other provider, which initially installed the system, and was going to take over maintenance. I have insufficient data points but, so far, it's been night and day, from the project management aspects I mentioned to the technical know-how and ability to resolve issues quickly. We were very impressed with their level of knowledge and with their communication. They could come always describe a problem or solution in terms everyone could understand easily.

Many vendors that we've worked with in the past are overseas. It helps tremendously, with regard to logistics, that they are a stateside presence.

Are there any areas Mindsight could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.