USWired Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m chief of finance and administration for First 5, a public entity. We’re a grand tour to community-based organizations for children’s programs with about 50 employees. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with USWired Inc.?

We were in the process of eliminating in-house IT positions and decided to put all of our IT services under contract with a consultant.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After we made the decision to eliminate our in-house IT position, I worked with Damian so they could get up to speed and have keys to the kingdom. Depending on the problem, a different person with expertise from their team jumps in to provide support. 

The two techs on our account can handle most things pretty well. For example, all of our hardware was really old, so they did a complete inventory and made recommendations for upgrades to get us on web-based applications as much as possible. They’ve also rolled out some additional security applications that we didn’t have. They found a big glitch in our backup process and were able to get us into the 21st century. 

Another example is that we just rolled out half a dozen new laptops, and they set them all up and got them to the staff working remotely. 

What is the team composition?

My personal point of contact is Damian (VP of Operations). I worked with Robin (CEO) initially, but after everything was set up I switched to Damian. 

How did you come to work with USWired Inc.?

We went through an RFP process. There were about 4–5 proposals and we narrowed it down to interview three of them. I liked USWired Inc. the best, but our IT person at the time preferred a different firm.

We initially went with the different firm, but they didn’t perform at all so I reconnected with USWired Inc. after a few months, asking them to come on board. 

How much have you invested with them?

Our monthly contract is $11,400, so we’ve spent around $68,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020 and our engagement is ongoing. We have a contract with them for three years. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their customer service and support for our staff is the number one thing. Our employees give great feedback on how nice and supportive they are. 

They did an excellent job and jumped right in. Our employees are getting much better service. They have so much expertise they can draw upon from their staff. Whatever the problem is, the person with expertise will jump in. They've been incredibly helpful in updating the hardware. 

How did USWired Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a portal for support and have always been extremely responsive to our staff. They always follow-up within a couple of days to see how things are going. Their responsiveness is always really good.

We haven’t had any big projects, per se, but they handle it all, lay it out, and do it. They provide me and my boss with weekly updates depending on the nature of the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They perform, which is such a good thing to have in a team. Their customer service, especially with our employees, makes them stand out. They started working with us shortly before we had to shelter-in-place because of COVID-19, and they got us through that whole thing. Even though we were generally in good shape for working remotely, they made sure everything was smooth for our employees during that transition. 

I like their billing structure. They assessed upfront to see what hours we were going to need per month, and then they reassessed it after a few months. They’re honest about it and the option to roll hours over that are unused is great. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t think so. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My style is that I’m pretty bottom-line, so I’m very clear about what I expect and they are able to understand my goals and get me there. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Associate Provost of the California Institute of Integral Studies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with USWired Inc?

We had our own IT department in-house, but the director left without any notice. She had already engaged with USWired for some limited contract work prior to that, so we brought them on to handle full outsourcing of our IT support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team eventually took over all information technology services, support, and planning for our company. I partner with them to determine the specific needs that we have, and then they come up with the solutions and execute on them.

What is the team composition?

I deal primarily with Damian (Vice President, Operations), who is the highest official at USWired responsible for our account. We also have four of their employees based on our campus who work with us full- or part-time, and they bring in occasional expertise from other members of their company when necessary.

How did you come to work with USWired Inc?

Our previous director originally hired them to handle our network infrastructure, and we expanded the engagement from there. We did look at a few other vendors but decided to stay with USWired in the end.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of their work is about $700,000 annually, or a little over $2 million in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started working with them about three years ago, in August 2017, and brought them on full time in August 2018. They are continuing to provide services on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the most obvious positive results is related to the finances of the project. Whenever we need new equipment like desktops, laptops, or monitors, we make the purchases through US wired and are able to get additional discounts because of the bulk volume.

Of course, the other is that we can be a lot more confident that we’re getting the best equipment and that it’s going to last us a long time because of the care they take in their services. The upgrades they’ve made to our network equipment has made an incredible difference in our internet and site speeds and solved a lot of problems for our less-tech-savvy staff.

How did USWired Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team has a great customer service attitude, and they’re incredibly knowledgeable so we’re able to get almost all of our problems solved quickly. I honestly can’t imagine having better customer service support than we have now.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Just last week, we had an academic program that wanted a software for editing podcasts, and the USWired team researched the product and made sure we were making the right decision. They really go out of their way to make sure that we are consistently getting the right answer for all of our needs.

Their ability to combine the abundance of industry knowledge that they have with their extremely customer-friendly approach makes it extremely easy to work with them. Every once in a while, I get a request from faculty that I think may be a little ridiculous to ask, but Damian and his team are always willing to accommodate every request, no matter what it is.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Occasionally on more complex matters, we have a little bit of delay in the time it takes to get started addressing them because their more technical staff are stretched across more projects. But we’ve discussed that with them, and they are always apologetic and more than willing to make up for it. Everything else about the experience has been extremely positive for everyone involved.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just sit down with them and be as direct as possible about the needs of your organization and see how they respond from there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the system manager for a bankruptcy trustee that’s overseen by the Department of Justice. I coordinate all the system so that everyone else can do their job.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with USWired Inc.?

When we first started with computer systems, we had three computers in the office and everybody waited for their turn to input information. Since the whole tone of the internet has changed and hacking threats have increased, it’s been getting way too complicated for us. We don’t have anybody that’s trained to a full-time IT person—and we don’t need one—so we looked for a vendor.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

USWired sets-up networks for us and takes care of all our security basis, in addition to whatever needs to be done on a daily basis. They do all the research to keep us modern in the field and protected against the latest vulnerabilities.

When we started, we were on eight physical servers and they consolidated us onto four physical unites and a virtual server that users Citrix. They recommend hardware for us and handle all of our licensing.

What is the team composition?

We have an engineer that’s assigned to us.

How did you come to work with USWired Inc.?

The husband of someone who used to work here had used USWired before and introduced us to them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2005.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve helped out most with our peace of mind. We have another company that oversees and tests our security weekly, and USWired will fix any problems they find. We’re satisfied with them in that respect.

How did USWired Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

The engineer visits us on-site twice a week for four hours each time. They can also access our system remotely if we need additional help. If we need them to fix something without interfering with us they’ll handle it after hours. Overall, I’m happy with their level of communication and responsiveness.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re open to change anything that we want done differently. The original engineer they assigned left the company and the replacement engineer did not quite meet our needs. We talked with them for about 15 minutes and laid out what our needs are, and they assigned a new engineer who has been with us for the past ten years.

They’re great communicators. We know what expect from them and they know what to expect from us. We work well together.  US Wired has no access to our proprietary business software, and we do not access the systems we pay them to maintain.  We respect each other’s skills and areas of expertise.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have a suggestion as to an area of improvement. We are satisfied.