SugarShot

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company plans, promotes, and produces showcases for emerging artists in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Mexico.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SugarShot?

We were looking to partner with a team that could offer IT support and systems administration services to our website’s server network on a 24/7 basis.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In our ongoing partnership, they make sure our servers are running and address problems with downtime. SugarShot also assists with security efforts, ensuring we have the correct protocol in place. The team manages our SSL certificates, backups, and data recovery plan.  

What is the team composition?

We work with about five of their team members, one being our account manager who is our main point of contact.  

How did you come to work with SugarShot?

First, I did an online search for local managed services companies and eventually narrowed it down to two companies. After a few weeks of getting to know them both, which included them visiting our office, SugarShot seemed to be the right fit for our company. They were local, offered 24/7 systems management services, and their team had extensive security experience. Their skills and services were also within our budget, so we chose them.  

How much have you invested with them?

We are on a monthly agreement with them, spending about $2,000 each month. Here and there, we also pay additional one-time costs.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in March 2019, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Throughout the process, they’ve been responsive, knowledgeable, and great communicators. SugarShot is made up of a lot of dedicated team members with different areas of expertise, creating a diverse team addressing our problems on our schedule.

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

They accurately identified issues and worked with us to correct them, but there are a few problems we should’ve worked out sooner than we did.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Based on their work with us so far, we intend to grow the relationship over time, working with them in larger capacities. We plan on handing greater responsibilities over to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If issues occur, they are communicative and willing to talk through them to work with us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of the Assistance League of Los Angeles. We are a nonprofit organization that serves children who live in poverty, around half of whom are homeless or fostered. We have five different programs to help children get to school and stay in school. We serve around 22,000 children a year. We run a service enterprise as well, the revenue of which we put back into our nonprofit program.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SugarShot?

We decided to outsource our IT services because we didn’t feel that we needed an in-house person working full-time for us. We needed something that was set up more like a help desk, where we could call in when we had issues or needed help with certain solutions.

We have various satellite offices which face specific IT challenges. We felt that we needed people in the field that were accessible.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Primarily, they are a help desk function for us. They also manage some of our servers and our domain services as well. We have some proprietary software that they don’t necessarily manage, but they do troubleshooting for us. They also manage our ISP services in terms of making sure that everything is running. If our internet goes down, we can call them, and they will work on that. They do everything that an in-house IT person would do except that it is remote and as needed. They also help us with cybersecurity, offsite backup, and email management, as well as cloud services.

What is the team composition?

We worked with several people, including the CEO, COO, and project manager. If something is going to be outside of the scope of our monthly service or to check on the status of something, I will get in touch with the project manager. For basic troubleshooting, I work with the helpdesk.

How did you come to work with SugarShot?

They were recommended to us by another nonprofit agency that I worked with in the past. They had done a big overhaul of their IT and were letting go of the only in-house IT person they had. They had researched various options and one of their recommendations was SugarShot, whom they worked with for a while.

One of their strengths that we liked is that they have engineers all over our area should an in-person call be needed, because we can’t wait a week on certain things. A lot is done digitally, but there are certain times that things need to be set up, removed, or reinstalled.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in August 2016, and it is still an ongoing engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We feel that our cybersecurity is at a whole different level, which is very reassuring. They really manage that for us very well and they catch a lot of issues. Some things come through via email, but they have also done in-house training for all staff to make people aware of what to look for and what the signs are when there is any type of cyber sabotage happening and what it looks like. We forward anything that looks vaguely suspicious to them. They have taken us to a new level and that in-person training was very effective as many people learned a lot. The staff were very appreciative. We are always trying to offer our staff tools for their professional development and this was just one of them.

We have had a very positive experience with the alacrity with which the tickets go through and how the helpdesk responds. Before we worked with them, we were in a frustrating situation where things would get dragged out and became even more problematic. They have done a lot to help us up our game when it comes to responsiveness to any issue that comes up.

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

They have very good communication over at SugarShot. We have an ongoing monthly call with the project manager, to review all the tickets for the month, and just to check in and see where we are, as well as how we feel about the services and what they can improve on from an IT standpoint. We also have a quarterly meeting with the project manager and CEO onsite to review things and to go over any suggestions they might have for us.

We get an immediate response with the helpdesk ticket. We get a number which we can then follow up on and an engineer will reach out and communicate with us the whole way through the ticket.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility in being able to tailor their product to the customer stands out to us. When we bring something to their attention that isn’t working for us, for example, a process they might have, they are very good about addressing it and correcting it almost immediately. We have a dynamic relationship where they really tailor their services to us.

When we first started, their helpdesk processing really didn’t work for us in terms of letting us know what the status was and if someone was working on it. We had a call and it was completely changed by the next week and things were much more transparent for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been things that have come up over the last couple of years, but they have responded quickly when something wasn’t working for us. Their response rate and willingness to change things in order to meet our needs is exceptional.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about your specific needs because they will tailor their services to those needs. The less you leave open-ended, the more they are able to bring their strengths to the table. Give them a very clear understanding of the scope of work and what the needs are, as well as potential changes. They will bring their expertise and recommendations on the best ways to make things work.

As a nonprofit, having that hands-on personalization is very important to us. We may have gotten lost in some of the larger IT companies out there. There is never too much information that you can share with SugarShot because they really use that information to provide the services that you need.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CFO and acting COO of Norman Krieger Inc. We have import, export, and customs brokerage operations in Los Angeles, New Jersey, Hong Kong, and two warehouse operations at the Mexican border in Calexico and San Diego.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SugarShot? 

Our entire IT infrastructure was in shambles. We realized that our in-house IT manager didn’t have sufficient knowledge to handle all of our issues. We hired a different outsourced contractor, but they also weren’t giving us what we needed as an organization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We initially brought SugarShot on board to perform an IT audit. They made recommendations on how to clean up our infrastructure, and we hired them as a contractor to make those changes. They're in the process now of going through another audit of all our sites’ infrastructure. This is the first one we've done in two years. They're going through and inspecting every workstation to make sure that we're up to spec and everything is under control.

They provide the day-to-day IT support for all of our functions, excluding software. SugarShot provides one technician at a workstation at our location to handle internet, phone, wiring, and hardware support. He comes on board at six o'clock in the morning West Coast time, and he works exclusively for us between for the first three hours of the morning. He’s available to address any problems and be on call for our East Coast office. Their offsite support staff is available to us as well, and they can move a situation up to an engineer as needed. They also keep abreast of issues to make our systems secure from attacks.

What is the team composition? 

In consultation with us, SugarShot has hired other people of similar talent to the individual we have on site. That way, they’re able to rotate him out without any drop in service level. I don’t know how many people in total work on our account, but they’re all well-briefed on our company and our four domestic locations. 

How did you come to work with SugarShot? 

One of my vice presidents is a member of a professional organization. He met the owner of SugarShot at one of their meetings. We were so pleased with their initial audit that we brought them on full time. 

How much have you invested with them?

I’m not sure the exact amount. It's roughly equal to what we’d pay for a full-time employee with salary and fringe. We've probably spent between $100,000–$120,000 per year. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

Work started in April 2014 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Customs clearance is done electronically. If our system is down for more than five minutes, it's a problem. If a truck in Mexico gets to the front of the line to enter the US and our system is down, that trucker has to go to the end of the line. That can be a three-hour wait. Our customers would go to another company if those problems continue. SugarShot has been able to discover what the issues were and solve them. As a result of their hard work, we haven’t had an issue at the border in over three years. It used to happen all the time before they came on board, and now it’s a non-issue.

I’m very satisfied with the investment. Our previous providers had been making fixes for 5–10 years but there was no consistency to our IT structure. It took SugarShot about a year and a half to bring it into order because when they fixed one thing and they’d find another problem. Everything now is well-documented so we know where everything is and we know why it's there. It's what you would expect to find in a professional company. It's been quite impressive.

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

Their response time is immediate. We can put in a ticket electronically or make a phone call if there's an emergency. They’ll move a phone call up to an engineer right away to address any problem. If it's a regular issue, we'll get an answer through the ticket process within an hour. There’s also an engineer on call 24/7 in case something happens after regular business hours. SugarShot tracks our electronic connectivity so they often know if there's been a power outage before we do. Their level of service is dramatically better than what we had with other providers. 

We have one manager for all of our projects as our main point of contact. We have bi-weekly meetings each Mondays to assess how things are going. The manager is in charge of our account and keeps a pretty close eye on our issues. We also meet quarterly with SugarShot’s owners to go over any security threats.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

It was important for us to have a member of their team onsite. While several other providers said that wasn’t possible, SugarShot didn’t even blink. They were the only ones that were willing to make that happen. They said yes almost immediately, which is indicative of their high-level service. They're always willing to communicate. They took the time to learn what we do and why we do it. We're unique from most businesses, and they want to know what's important to us. SugarShot asks the right questions and listens to our needs. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, because we have a process for providing SugarShot constructive feedback through our weekly meetings. We talk to the contractor as if he was an employee. Every now and then something slips or gets forgotten. They take ownership right away, and then they work to solve it. They don't make excuses. They deal with any negative feedback with open ears and a constructive attitude. I can't ask for more than that. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Communication is key. Tell them exactly what you need. You may not know what the problems are, so I recommend to start by having them do a complete system audit. They'll come back with a complete report on existing problems and suggestions for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the managing partner of Hankin Patent Law, a law firm. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SugarShot?

SugarShot manages our IT systems.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SugarShot is our outsourced IT company. They make sure that our computers have the right software and lack glitches. They also ensure that we know what we need to do with our computer systems. The team also keep our desktop hardware up to date. We are backed up in the cloud, so neither they nor we touch our servers.

What is the team composition?

There are a few people I primarily deal with—we don’t have one person dedicated to our account.

How did you come to work with SugarShot?

I know Scott (Co-Founder, Director of Business Development, SugarShot) through a networking organization. Initially, I hired his previous company that specialized in outsourced IT. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $1,500 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2016, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SugarShot keeps our operation running smoothly. We've noticed less downtime, and we do feel more secure in our systems. The less we have to know, and the less interaction we have to have, the better our relationship. 

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

The team communicates well. We send an email, and then SugarShot creates a ticket and get back to us quickly, whether by phone or by email. The team will come onto our computers and talk us through our problems, collecting information to inform their ultimate solutions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SugarShot is helpful, friendly, and effective at what they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since SugarShot’s formation, they’ve grown their platform their services and now has a lot of work on their plate. Other than that, I can’t think of anything specific for them to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the COO at a nonprofit organization. We focus on supporting multiple myeloma patients by providing education regarding treatment options, as well as conducting research.  A current clinical trial we have in-process may be curing a subset of multiple myeloma patients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SugarShot?

Our organization was growing and we needed IT support 24/7. Our full-time employee wasn't able to handle all of our needs, so we started looking for a vendor to work with us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They set up computers for all of our team members, depending on the person's responsibilities. They also take care of our server and network backup, install antivirus programs, make sure our printers are working properly, and mange other IT needs that we have.

What is the team composition?

We mostly work with our account manager.

How did you come to work with SugarShot?

Our webmaster found SugarShot through an online search.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $90,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They're very knowledgeable and professional, and our internal team really appreciates their patience. Our systems are secure and we can be confident that our data is protected. SugarShot created all the proper firewalls and gave us recommendations on how we can handle things ourselves.

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

They use a ticketing system, so we can create a ticket if we have an issue. We can also contact our account manager directly for more serious issues. They're very responsive and available even after hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a wide range of skills with both Mac and PC, so they can resolve any issues quickly. Also, they're very proactive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Lately, some of our emails have been going into junk mail rather than an inbox. SugarShot has been looking into this issue and trying to resolve it, so we're already noticing the improvements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an office manager. Our company does investment management in agriculture, solar, and other renewable resources.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SugarShot?

About two years ago, our company roughly tripled in size over a period of 12-18 months. Our services were piecemeal and on an as-needed basis, but we were growing too quickly and needed support. We also entered the FCC regulated sphere and we needed better cybersecurity. We needed to migrate our email to a more secure email server, which was the initial reason we hired them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They primarily help with Outlook on our phones and computers. We submit tickets and requests to them to fix issues. They've helped with some bigger projects, such as the email migration. They've helped us with printer purchases, and they're currently researching data storage solutions for us. Outside those bigger projects, their day-to-day activity with us is more mundane.

What is the team composition?

I have a project manager and another contact I interact with regularly. Our contract is limited to specific projects, so we pay separately for employee onboarding and other tasks. I interact with one contact or the other, depending on the need.

How did you come to work with SugarShot?

We did some online research on companies that served our area. We emailed a few companies and got quotes from three providers. SugarShot offered the best proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend approximately $7,000-$8,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in either May or June 2017. The partnership is ongoing, and we have a three-year plan with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were a great help through a tough transition, and I couldn’t have accomplished the email migration on my own. They were very organized.

Most of everything else they do for us is fairly basic. In some instances, they make my life much easier, though certain things take longer than we were previously used to. I've never worked on this scale, so this may just be growing pains.

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very communicative, and our contacts are always quick to respond. We have a weekly call, and they're always ready to answer our questions and provide feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're great with big-picture issues, and they create long-term solutions to potential problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since everything has to go through a ticket-based system, the smaller issues occasionally take longer than we'd like.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the office manager at a financial company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SugarShot?

Our IT partner wasn’t very responsive or proactive in resolving our concerns, so we began looking for a new company. We wanted a firm that could design an IT system that worked for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After being hired, SugarShot audited our systems to see where we had issues and security concerns. One of our biggest problems was our backup, so they presented a better way of backing it up, which we agreed for them to do.

They’ve worked on other, smaller projects, but another problem we ran into was phishing scams. It made us realize our security needed to be improved, so SugarShot presented us with a few different options. We installed some filters and followed through on other security protocols, which alleviated some of the threats.

What is the team composition?

The account manager is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with SugarShot?

We found them online. We looked into about four other companies and talked to their CEOs and accountants. We then compared the prices and services and found that SugarShot was the best fit, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $20,000–$25,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in May 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their security enhancements have reduced phishing scams, and their team comes into our office to resolve problems if they can’t be fixed over the phone. Our old IT company couldn’t solve our phishing problem and almost never came into our office.

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

We hold two meetings a year, one to review what we’ve worked on and one to determine what we’ll budget for the next year. We’re able to email our account manager frequently, and she always responds quickly. They’re particularly responsive in emergency situations. I haven’t had any issues with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication is fantastic. The account manager always knows who can fix our problems, and we work together to resolve concerns. Our staff feels comfortable emailing them whenever there’s an issue, and their team responds promptly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve how they handle after-hours calls.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Take time to build a relationship and rapport. If you’re nervous or have a question, they’ll be more than willing to help you out.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was updated by the client on April 22, 2020. The original star ratings were: Overall - 4.5, Quality - 5, Schedule - 4.5, Cost - 5, NPS - 5. New content is below:

How has the partnership evolved?

They've actually been really instrumental in allowing my company to work from home during the pandemic [COVID-19]. The first two weeks were probably the hardest for us, as my company doesn't usually work from home. SugarShot was able to assist us in getting people taken care of right away. In the last few months, there's been a dramatic change in scheduling things better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of CARE

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

CARE Inc. provides early intervention, applied behavior analysis, and related services in the greater CA area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SugarShot to accomplish?

• Support IT Department
• Backup and secured our technology usage/computer, etc.
• Troubleshooting when needed

SOLUTION

How did you find SugarShot?

Online Search

Why did you select SugarShot over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Company values aligned

What was the size of SugarShot’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

They were great at meeting their deliverables.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Overall security

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

yes, they did great

What was your primary form of communication with SugarShot?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

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

Support and able to answer our questions and needs

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

none