Network Remedy

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a contractor company. Our company has technicians in multiple states, and we have a corporate office in Freemont [California]. We have between 18 and 20 employees in corporate. We offer services for companies. We do installations for data centers, cable installations, and fiber optics. We have 200 employees in total, office and field. Network Remedy supports only office staff, which is around 20 people. I’m the Office Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Network Remedy?

Network Remedy is helping us with our server, internet connection, any laptops, and any setup for new users.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They assist with everything that we need, software, machines, licenses, anything in regards to all the systems that we use and software for our company. We also have our phone system with them. We track our users and each device has a sticker, so every time that a new user needs services, they call a hotline number or they can issue a work ticket through email. Then we receive a response within 24 hours from one of the IT technicians. They have on-site support and also remote.

How did you come to work with Network Remedy?

When I started working with the company, the owner was already doing business with Network Remedy. This was six or seven years ago.

How much have you invested with Network Remedy?

We process payments on a monthly basis for all our users, around $1,100 per month total.

What is the status of this engagement?

Network Remedy probably started providing services right before I started. When I started, the company was really small; it was probably only ten people. Now we have up to 200 employees. The owner was already in negotiation with them, and it happened right after I started.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have a system we use when you need on-site assistance, you send that request, and it takes two to five days to send one of their IT guys to one of our locations. There are some times that we have new hires that need a laptop in one day. We do an interview, we offer the position, and we need to start the next day. They were able to help me a couple of times with a new setup within 24 hours. I sent a request to the coordinator, and she was able to send one of the guys to my office the same day, and the laptop was up and running the next day for the new user. Even though they still have that window from 2 to 5 days to get someone in our location to take care of the new setup, they were able to help me for a couple of situations within 24 hours.

How did Network Remedy perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a couple of different options. If we need assistance with something that is not urgent, we either issue the ticket through email or we just call in. If we have something that is urgent like a request for a new user who needs a laptop and we need to set up everything, then we contact our representative, and she schedules the on-site service. I send her an email, she asks me for the details and what’s the service that we need. Then she contacts her team, and they send one of their IT guys to our office.

What did you find most impressive about Network Remedy?

I feel there has been big progress in the last five to six months. They have new staff, and they have a new process when we create a help ticket. They follow-up. In the past, we used to have open tickets for a while, and we didn’t know if they were still open or what their status was. I can see progress now that they have a new system. We issue the ticket for remote support; if they cannot get a hold of our employees, whoever requested the ticket, then they will follow up. They follow up 3 times until the ticket is resolved. If for any reason they cannot contact a user to give them remote access, they will send me an email saying all the details: “We contacted the user on this date. We were not able to get a hold of the user, but we will call tomorrow.”

The follow-up thing is a huge help for us. I’m more aware of what’s going on. In the past, we had a couple of issues. We didn’t know if the ticket was still open. Users were asking me if I can get a hold of them or if they should expect a phone call. Now the follow through is better.

Are there any areas Network Remedy could improve?

Since they have new staff, when they send on-site techs or even in remote, I expect that the new staff knows about our company and what we need. For all our users, we have set up the same information, same systems, same software, same licenses, so I expect when we create a ticket that their staff knows what we need. I hope they know the type of devices and technologies we have. This way we won’t have issues when we have a new user that needs to use the printer, for example, they already know what type of printer we use, and they already know what’s the code that they need to set up the printer with the user. To sum it up, just knowing what we need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization is a general contracting firm. We build things in healthcare, science and technology, education, and structures and interiors.

My role is the Best Practices Leader, and the department that I run is responsible for IT, BIM [building information modeling] services, sustainability, lean construction, operations technology, operations process, design, build, and QA/QC [quality assurance/quality control].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Network Remedy?

The challenge was getting an IT solution within our company. We had a previous company that was also a managed service provider that we had outgrown over the last couple years. They didn’t have the ability to grow at the pace we were growing, so we were forced to look for somebody else.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide the backbone to our infrastructure, all of our job sites, and all of our networks at our three main offices. There are dozens of job sites and they are set up like temporary offices, typically in trailers, as we’re building the buildings, which is not the ideal situation. They also provide all of the end user support when anybody has any technical issues. We manage all procurement, hardware and software included, but they do all of the computer setups, the disbursements of the computers to the users, and also set up all of our software and work with us on all solutions around all of those items.

How did you come to work with Network Remedy?

We went through a request for proposal process and Network Remedy was the winner. We brought them in to take over all of our IT services at the company.

How much have you invested with Network Remedy?

We’re between $25,000 and $30,000 a month. Their services are billed per-user-per-month. We’re just under 300 users a month. So, it’s a per-month basis, and then job site setup and tear down are what we call “project costs” – those are additional. That takes care of all of our needs, including all of our network infrastructure, switches, servers, cloud-based stuff, backups, everything in one.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March of this year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s only been a few months, so it’s hard to have metrics at this point, but in comparison to what we previously have had, they definitely have a lot of resources. It doesn’t seem any strain on them when we need additional people to help out with things. They make it happen. In fact, we have two full-time resources dedicated to us. One is a person who’s always on-site like another employee. He has an office and a desk on-site. We have another employee that’s part time but swaps out every now and then with other people so we always have two people on-site. That’s a huge benefit for us.

We’re a very niche company when it comes to technology. Having this service has been a huge success for us in getting end users what they need when they need it. I think that the unique need is that we aren’t a technology company; we’re a construction company. A lot of our users aren’t very tech savvy, so they have a hard time getting on to the computers and doing some simple things. Network Remedy provides solutions for that and helps with the training of these people, which becomes very handy. We also have the uniqueness that we do have BIM software. We run a lot of Autodesk suites in our work, which most IT companies are scared of, at least, in my experience. They aren’t intimated by it and do a great job. We also have the remote sites, which usually presents another problem just because we have sites that go up and down on a daily basis. We could have four or five job sites start up in a week simultaneously while two or three are shutting down, so it’s a constant motion of people moving all over Northern California.

How did Network Remedy perform from a project management standpoint?

Right now, I’m the person responsible for managing them. I have daily contact with the person on-site here. We work very well together. Then we have a weekly meeting with the greater team at our company and with the people at Network Remedy for an hour. We review everything. Everything is listed in Basecamp and we just go through Basecamp making sure we’re making progress on things, trying to see where the holdups are and then help each other to try to get those items off the list. Aside from that, they also have a ticketing system on which end users can put in tickets when they have issues, which is a separate system from Basecamp that monitors the end users’ needs and gets the help that they need as well.

What did you find most impressive about Network Remedy?

So far, their communication. It didn’t start out as good, but their communication is becoming very good. We’re starting to work really well together and cover all the bases. To me, that’s a huge strength. When communication stays up, everything usually gets done. I find that when the communication starts lacking, that is when things get left behind.

Are there any areas Network Remedy could improve?

We are having some issues with some of the end user support. Some of our job sites are feeling that they aren’t getting as expedient access to support as needed because they are remote. They are ordering things that need on-site presence, and we’re trying to work right now on a better process for assisting the users out on the job sites. Network Remedy has been very responsive to our needs as I have brought them up. In fact, we’re meeting this afternoon in person to try to get a solution for some of the issues that we’re currently having.

There is an SLA [service-level agreement] in place. The SLA in this situation doesn’t take precedence because they are responding. The problem is getting these ticket items in the door and being ordered, things like large monitors and stuff that we don’t typically stock. It’s not necessarily their issue as much as it’s an issue of the circumstances.

It’s been a work in progress getting to where we are, and it seems like every time there is an issue, they step up and provide a solution and a process for moving forward as well. I like the way that they’ve been handling things with the open communication and all of that combined. Jumping on issues when we have them and getting resolutions and documenting them is a continuous improvement. Their quality seems to keep getting better as we’re working together.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is a small biotech company that specializes in preclinical research of the central nervous system. We provide services for academia, small biotech firms, and big pharmaceutical companies. Our company tests hypotheses or new chemical entities for their possible usefulness in the clinic. I’m the head of the Bioanalytical Department. I also head up the IT Department, which is responsible for the IT services we use.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Network Remedy?

I was looking for a faster and more efficient way to maintain all the computers that we have. We were a small business; we started out with 1 person and then went up to 5, 6. Up until that time, I could manage everything pretty well. The issue was I couldn’t support everybody; it was taking too much time. Also, sometimes several people would need to work on the same document. We needed a better internet connection and management of our systems. Our company also needed a better firewall and security options. Lastly, we wanted to improve collaboration by using a cloud service.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Network Remedy helped us find and use a better firewall. The switch we made addressed safety concerns against hackers and that kind of stuff. Then we moved over to managing computers. They set up an active directory server with network drives that gave everybody access to each other’s documents. Plus, they helped back up all our data to the cloud so if something happens, we can still retrieve our files.

How did you come to work with Network Remedy?

We were looking for a provider so we could professionalize our IT better. I asked around and learned about Network Remedy through word of mouth. I felt that Network Remedy would best meet our requirements, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with Network Remedy?

We paid about $650 monthly for the cloud server and management of the computers. The installation of the infrastructure cost us about $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them 2 years ago. Since we are in low maintenance, we’ve got a pretty good deal. Plus, we are slowly trying to extend our workflow. Since it’s harder for me to maintain everything, we are increasing the services we obtain from Network Remedy.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When I started to work with Network Remedy, I got a lot of my time back. They resolved a lot of pending issues. Plus, since we now have a cloud server, people can now work from home and access the data we have in-house. In the beginning, we didn’t do that due to security issues. I was concerned about the safety of working on a cloud or sharing data on the internet. Now that Network Remedy manages that for us, I feel more comfortable about working from home and accessing our data remotely.

How did Network Remedy perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m a person who likes to have control over everything. What I find really pleasant with Network Remedy is that they acknowledge that quality. Although they manage everything, they still give me access to everything and they don’t do things because they think I would like it. They really acknowledge the role I still like to play in things. That has really given me peace of mind.

What did you find most impressive about Network Remedy?

Our interaction with Network Remedy is tailored to what I like. If I were completely uncomfortable with working with computers, then they could do everything for me. But since I don’t feel completely inadequate, they let me have a role in the project. Plus, we don’t need a full, smooth, big corporate type of IT support. They customize the interaction to what the customer wants. I really like their flexibility.

Are there any areas Network Remedy could improve?

There are things that could improve slightly. But that would be more my doing, being a control freak, than being on their side.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations manager of the largest nonprofit agency in our category in Santa Clara County [California]. We're a $44 million company that receives state and federal funds. Our agency serves over 3,000 children and families in the Santa Clara Valley. We work with children who are 0 to 8 years old, as well as their families and other providers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Network Remedy?

We needed a total restructure of our IT. That was the challenge when I joined the company around 5 years ago. Initially, we brought another company in to start fresh and rebuild. We moved into a new building and they just could not do it. They did not have the capacity. Also, we needed to restructure our childcare sites. It was almost like they [our remote sites] were treated like step-children because they couldn't get on our computers. They couldn't get on Timeclock or the Internet. Communication was very difficult and we had to drive out to the physical sites. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Network Remedy restructured everything you can imagine. They handled the logistics in our server room, migrated us to Office 365, rebuilt old computers, ordered new equipment, and implemented time clock services. We switched over from the old Timeclock to the new Timeclock system. They worked with our vendors for copiers, so they brought a new copier company, too. We have 6 departments that use different systems; they're all differently contracted, either from the state or federal. The Network Remedy team know exactly which applications went with which department. They implemented the systems and made sure there were no holes. Network Remedy also helped train some of our staff as well, which was one of their main responsibilities.

How did you come to work with Network Remedy?

About 2 years ago, we met Amon [Prasad, CEO] and his team. We were interviewing a lot of IT companies and we ended up working with Network Remedy. I'm not sure how my boss, Alfredo Viasenior, found them. He made the final decision based on several factors, like their good work history. Aside from that, Amon is an excellent leader, motivator, and businessperson. He's very easy to work with and very reliable. I think Fred knew of those qualities.

What was the scope of their involvement Network Remedy?

[Confidential].

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe we started working with them in July 2014 and we still work with them. We've been working with them for 2 years now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It changed all of our teachers' lives since they can now communicate with us better. They are able to clock into Timeclock and get help. They all have access to their computers now which wasn't there before. We have a lot of happy people and our internal communication has improved. Network Remedy’s turnaround is great and their service has been invaluable to us.

How did Network Remedy perform from a project management standpoint?

We had 1 to 2 people on staff here every day. Usually, it's someone named Justin [Grizard]. He's the top guy and he's amazing. He's an excellent tech manager who has been here the whole time. We have biweekly meetings with Amon and Justin and anyone else we need on the team. They have an IT office here on-site. They will bring in as many people as they need if we have a crunch on a new project or there's something that's being implemented. They're very consistent, very here-and-now and with you. Justin will meet me usually every morning about 8 o'clock. He's in my office just talking about what's going on in other departments and any urgent issues. They're very open and easy to work with. Network Remedy was very hands-on with all of their tasks.

What did you find most impressive Network Remedy?

They're excellent communicators, I have to say. If there's anything that I need, I know we'll have a good conversation over whatever the item is. I get feedback quickly. They'll work on something for me immediately, whatever it is, no questions asked. They're there to help, and you can really feel and see that. The accountability and the communication are excellent. Amon is a pleasure to work with and he's always there for the company. In fact, they just put on a barbecue for us last week, for 120 people. It's a full circle, so it's a pleasure working with them.

Are there any areas Network Remedy could improve?

I wish they had two Justin's. No, I don't have any complaints about them at all.