DataEndure

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the former IT director for a healthcare company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DataEndure?

We needed a partner to help with cloud computing and other related projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DataEndure has worked on a variety of projects. They worked on our storage and backup planning, creating a backup strategy to secure our data. They analyzed our system and migrated us to an upgraded version of Exchange, with little downtime for our 17,000 users.

What is the team composition?

The team varies, but we interact with an account manager.

How did you come to work with DataEndure?

They were a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $1.5 million a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

They partnered with us in October 2014, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their backup strategy was vital, and the secondary infrastructure helped us meet compliance criteria.

How did DataEndure perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide consistent follow-up with the developers, project manager, account manager, and CEO. They foster a relationship that is more of a partnership than a vender-client relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The CEO is incredibly proactive, making sure that all of our needs are met. They regularly seek feedback in order to improve the services they offer. Unlike many other firms, they took time to understand our business and unique challenges. They take full ownership of their projects and optimize our relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should hire more senior engineers in order to take on more work.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be transparent about what you want and keep them informed. If you invite them to collaborate, they’ll come up with great solutions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of IT at the software company eMeter Corporation. Our set of business applications for the energy industry help manage the flow of data and data warehousing. The analytics and business intelligence we provide utility companies, and other energy-related businesses help them manage and extract more information from their data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DataEndure?

We’d been using the other sets of storage technologies for over five years, so it was time for a change, and we were primed for a significant upgrade. To help us, we were looking for partners to buy various tools, hardware, software, and solutions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The most recent work DataEndure performed for us focused on security and threat assessment. They also took a full evaluation of our storage technologies so we could make more informed decisions. 

We knew we needed to tweak our storage to maintain capacity and performance level for our projects and help our developers accomplish what they needed to do. Based on what we had in place, they put together a thorough analysis that ultimately helped us select options in the storage landscape to purchase and implement.

On the storage front, DataEndure has worked with NetApp and AWS. They used a third storage hardware, as well.

What is the team composition? 

We have a dedicated sales rep from DataEndure. An internal partner supports that client-facing resource. For our larger projects on solutions and reporting, they include other technology folks on the inside that will sometimes be part of meetings or conference calls.

How did you come to work with DataEndure?

We worked together about 20 years ago when they were in a slightly different business and restarted the relationship after many years of absence. Since I was new to the company, I needed multiple trustworthy partners.  I was building the foundation for a partnership to buy technology solutions.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $200,000 annually.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2008 and have an ongoing partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Compared to other teams who’ve supported our projects, DataEndure is above average. I continue to work with them based on their understanding of our goals and the outcomes they secure. 

We’ve always a strong, positive experience working together. Typically, we’ve tapped them for higher profile and more important projects or initiatives. They make it easier to stay within budget. They give the whole experience an elevated touch. Based on the quality of our p interactions, they feel like a family run business. They give us much more attention compared than their competitors.

Transitioning from traditional on-premise storage to a combination that included cloud-based was a big jump, so we were more nervous than we are for the average project.  DataEndure delivered time and even slightly under budget. Everybody at our company is pleased with the new system. They helped us scale up our storage from 10 terabytes to more than 100 terabytes, which was a big hike in capacity. We saw a threefold increase in performance.  

How did DataEndure perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re above average. The reports they've written for us are always on point, from the analysis they conduct and are delivering where we are today and their interpretation of where they think we should be or asked them to get us, is always on point. They’re helpful and use direct communication. Conversational communication over the phone is one of my favorite reasons to speak with them.

We have a really solid relationship. Our conversations are always productive and enjoyable. They have some turnover, and we sometimes get somebody new in a role, but they seem to be very good at picking people.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DataEndure’s strength and depth of technical ability are above par and unchallenged by their competition. While we probably haven’t tested them on every technology discipline, they’ve always assigned us the right people for the task at hand. They’re simply a pleasure to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I couldn’t ask for anything more regarding our experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I value the relationship they’ve established with us, which extends beyond one person. We’ve had great interactions with everyone we’ve met company-wide over the years. The caliber of support from each member of such a large group of people has been astonishing. All their staff members give our partnership a personal touch, which is tough to pull off. That’s one of the most important things they’ve accomplished.