Wingman Solutions Inc

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of finance at an alcoholic beverage agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Wingman Solutions Inc to accomplish for your alcol beverage agency?

We needed an IT service provider to operate our IT infrastructure.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wingman Solutions Inc provides IT services for our company. The team has built our physical network and operates it. In addition, they manage our cloud services and cybersecurity.

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–5 teammates from Wingman Solutions Inc.

How did you come to work with Wingman Solutions Inc?

Someone referred Wingman Solutions Inc to me. I chose them over other options because they had high ratings, were close to my geographic location, had pricing that fit our budget, had a great culture fit, offered good value for the cost, and had company values that aligned with ours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Wingman Solutions Inc provides high-quality services, extremely quick response times, and great problem-solving. Thanks to their work, we have an always-available service with virtually zero outages. Given that they’re very quick with problem-solving and available 24/7, all logged issues are resolved within a few hours.

How did Wingman Solutions Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

Wingman Solutions Inc’s project management is very good. The team is very well organized, solves all problems with the highest professionalism, and always delivers on time. We communicate via in-person meetings, virtual meetings, and email or messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Wingman Solutions Inc is always available and responsive. If we log an issue, their support team usually contacts us within less than 10 minutes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They don't need to improve anything; I can’t remember any issues or improvement areas.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Director of Furniture Bank

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Furniture Bank is a Toronto charity and social enterprise that redistributes donated furniture to people leaving homelessness, violence and displacement, funded largely by our own paid furniture removal and corporate volunteering services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Wingman Solutions Inc to accomplish?

• Migrate roughly 65 staff from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace without disrupting daily warehouse and delivery operations
• Replace reactive, ad hoc IT support with managed IT, security monitoring and a reliable staff onboarding and offboarding process
• Reduce recurring IT and software licensing costs so more of our budget goes to the charitable mission

SOLUTION

How did you find Wingman Solutions Inc?

Online Search

Why did you select Wingman Solutions Inc over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Wingman Solutions Inc were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Wingman first migrated us from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace. That covered mail, OneDrive and SharePoint into Google Shared Drives, calendars, and the DNS cutover on our live domain. They sent us the exact MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records to change and the window to change them in, and they put people in our building to sit with staff who were not confident doing it on their own.

Since the migration they have run our IT as a managed service. That covers helpdesk and ticketing for roughly 65 staff across an office, a warehouse and a delivery fleet, endpoint management and patching, security monitoring with alerting on unusual sign ins, laptop procurement, imaging, repair and inventory, and a standard onboarding and offboarding process for every new hire and departure.

They also replaced our office and warehouse network when the previous licensing ran out. That included a new firewall and access points, a new cable run to an access point that could not carry the speed, and signal testing through to the back of the warehouse.

On the advisory side they scoped our Google Workspace licensing and archiving for departed staff, staff on leave and records we are legally required to retain, and they moved us onto Google Workspace for Nonprofits. They also deal with third party vendors on our behalf, including our camera and NVR system, banking security tokens and various software platforms.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The migration went live on the date we set and we did not lose an operating day. Mail, files and calendars were available to staff the next morning, and the handful of calendar gaps that did appear were re-migrated within days rather than weeks.

The network replacement was done in a single afternoon scheduled around our operations closing, so no shift lost access. One printer dropped off the network the following morning and was working again within an hour of us reporting it.

Moving to Google Workspace for Nonprofits took a recurring monthly cost off our software budget permanently. For a charity that is money going back into furnishing homes.

Security is the clearest measure. Every login from outside Canada has been flagged to me by a named technician the same morning it happened, not by an automated alert nobody reads.

Onboarding and offboarding is now a tracked ticket per person rather than something we have to remember to do, and new staff get a one to one setup call before their first day.

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

Everything runs through a ticketing system with case numbers, and work gets scheduled around our operating hours rather than theirs. When the network had to come down, they came in at the time that suited our warehouse shift, not the time that suited them.

Deadlines have held. The migration went live on the date we picked. The network project was quoted, the equipment ordered and the install done on the schedule they gave us.

Responsiveness is the strongest part. Most things get a same day reply, and anything that stops daily operations gets dealt with quickly.

The one friction point is the ticket system. Tickets sometimes move to a hold status waiting on a reply from us when we were never actually asked anything, which means chasing. Escalations to third party vendors on our behalf have occasionally needed a nudge too. Both times I raised it, Amit, their CEO, replied personally the same day and put the right person on it.

What was your primary form of communication with Wingman Solutions Inc?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They give advice that costs them money. When I asked how to handle accounts for departed staff, staff on leave and matters with legal exposure, I got a written breakdown of our licensing options, what each one involved and which was cheapest, with an offer to talk it through. No upsell. They then helped us move onto Google Workspace for Nonprofits, which permanently lowered what we spend on software.

The second thing is that they understand we are not an office. We have a warehouse, a loading dock and a delivery fleet. When they upgraded the network they walked to the far corner of the rear warehouse and ran the speed tests there, rather than reading numbers off a dashboard at the front desk.

For a nonprofit that combination is rare. Every dollar of IT spend is a dollar not spent getting a bed to a family, and Wingman behave like they know that.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Wingman Solutions Inc could have done differently?

Two things, both small.

The ticket hold notifications need work. We get told a ticket is on hold awaiting our response when no question was actually put to us, which means going back to ask what is needed. Having the hold email state the specific question would fix it.

Second, when they are chasing a third party vendor on our behalf we lose sight of where things stand. A short status note when a vendor goes quiet, rather than waiting for us to ask, would save some back and forth.

Neither has changed our view of them. When we flag something, it gets dealt with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical director of Stainless Piping Systems (SPS), a company that designs, fabricates, and installs high-purity piping systems for complex industrial projects. We serve clients in Canada and internationally across various industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wingman Solutions Inc?

We needed help managing our IT support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wingman Solutions Inc offers remote support for our team and performs proactive monitoring, optimization, and security of our system. The team also provides cybersecurity training and supports our transition to Microsoft 365 (M365) and cloud computing. Regarding M365, Wingman Solutions Inc handles migration, setup, training, and ongoing support.

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–5 teammates from Wingman Solutions Inc.

How did you come to work with Wingman Solutions Inc?

Someone referred Wingman Solutions Inc to us. We chose them over other options because their company values aligned with ours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Wingman Solutions Inc in October 2023, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Wingman Solutions Inc has ensured a smooth transition without downtime and provides support as needed. Since partnering with them, we've greatly reduced IT issues and improved system uptime.

How did Wingman Solutions Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

Wingman Solutions Inc delivers on time and provides the support needed to keep our business functioning during the transition. We communicate via virtual meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Wingman Solutions Inc is consistently available to ensure our needs are met.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the office manager of an architectural sheet metal and cladding company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Wingman Solutions Inc to accomplish for your business?

We hired Wingman Solutions Inc to set up our network.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wingman Solutions Inc set up our network and all the hardware, including computers and internet.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an unknown number of teammates from Wingman Solutions Inc.

How did you come to work with Wingman Solutions Inc?

Someone referred Wingman Solutions Inc to me. I chose them over other options because they had high ratings, their pricing fit our budget, they offered good value for the cost, and their company values aligned with ours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together for the first time in October 2015, to present date.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Wingman Solutions Inc took the time to understand the issue, explain things clearly, and find practical solutions without making things complicated. Their support has made a big difference in keeping our business running smoothly, especially when we have unexpected technical issues. Overall, we experienced less downtime, faster internet speeds, and improved security.

How did Wingman Solutions Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

We were extremely happy with the IT service and support we received. The team was professional, knowledgeable, reliable, and always quick to respond when we needed assistance. We communicated via in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are always available.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any.