Altanora (formerly Malicis)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO at a law firm with about 540 employees in the Canadian province of Quebec.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Malicis?

We purchased Citrix licenses but didn’t have the technical expertise to be able to use the tools for what we wanted to do, so we reached out to their team to help us develop a working environment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After we initially partnered with them to build out our Citrix environment, we brought them on as our regular IT provider. Over that time, we’ve worked on a variety of different projects, including replacing and upgrading the Citrix environment, deploying Citrix VDI throughout that, and even issues with any other elements of our IT infrastructure.

What was the team composition?

Over the course of the relationship, we have interacted with the entire team, primarily through the owner of the company.

How did you come to work with Malicis?

They were referred to us by some of the general IT professionals that I interact with, and after talking with their president and owner I decided to move forward with them.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent about $1 million Canadian with them (approximately $740,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first project with them was finalized in September 2013 and the partnership with them is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work has had an almost immeasurable impact on the situation of our company since we started working with them. We were at a point just before our partnership where we thought we were going to have to give up on Citrix, which would have meant undoing our entire operating environment and basically eliminating those capabilities until we could find a better solution.

How did Malicis perform from a project management standpoint?

For a variety of reasons, we have had times where projects we were working on exceeded either schedules or planned budgets, but that has been usually due to more or less unavoidable factors such as changes that we make during the course of the project.

Like any consultant, they have particularly strong performances and then others where we don’t quite hit the mark as accurately. It’s not something that I would hold against them, however, because it is so situational and can be impacted by a wide variety of factors.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The level of expertise that they possess with regard to Citrix is by far the best part of the collaboration. I don’t think would be able to find another team with as much experience and ability to manipulate the environment to our needs as they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Project management could be improved, especially by implementing some sort of project management tools so that we have greater transparency on our progress in each project. I think that would enable us to stay on top of the work together a little bit better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We tried working with another firm at one point and were very dissatisfied, so I would certainly recommend working with Malicis, but I would just recommend keeping very close track of everything going on and follow up to make sure you know what is outstanding, what changes have been made, and what the next steps in the plan will be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an architectural firm and I’m in charge of IT. I particularly oversee 3D modeling in the office.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Malicis?

Our previous IT provider had failed us, so we were looking for another partner. We needed infrastructural support with our servers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Working remotely, they served as our IT department. They provide virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and they implemented Citrix Cloud for us. If we experience downtime, they’re proactive in explaining the source of our problems.

What is the team composition?

Yannick (Systems Virtualization Consultant) was my main point of contact. It varies, but I’m guessing there are at least 5 people that go on rotation to support my team.

How did you come to work with Malicis?

I found them online.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been very well-served; their work improved our IT support greatly. Our previous provider did a mediocre job, but Malicis really managed to take over and own the work.

How did Malicis perform from a project management standpoint?

While external circumstances might keep us from staying on schedule, they’ve always delivered responsibly. Everything has been done in its due time. We utilize a ticket system and do follow-ups on the fly using Microsoft Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really listen to their clients’ needs. They deliver what they say they’ll deliver.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing specific that I can think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a good plan so they can help get you what you need. Having said that, they’re also pretty good at just picking things up and going with it. They’re quick to go into solution-mode.