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Solutions for Managing Content and Infrastructure

4.9
13 reviews

General Networks Corporation delivers technology consulting services for customers who need to manage and process critical business content.

  • Since 1984, we have brought together business strategy, specialized application expertise, and creative and technology professionals to solve business problems.
  • We help our clients create effective solutions for automating any document intensive business process, from simple electronic libraries to complex document assembly and workflow.
  • Our depth of experience reduces the time and risk of implementing IT solutions.

General Networks is a Clutch Top IT Services Firm in Los Angeles.

 

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$5,000+
 
$150 - $199 / hr
 
50 - 249
 Founded
1984
Show all +
Glendale, CA
headquarters
  • 3524 Ocean View Boulevard
    Glendale, CA 91208
    United States
    818.249.1962

Portfolio

Key clients: 

Arcadia Unified School District, Kelley Blue Book, LA County Employee Retirement Association, BreitBurn Energy Company and LA County Sanitation District.

Reviews

4.9
13 reviews
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IT Services for Facilities Service Firm

“I’ve been doing office administration work for 20 years and this is the best IT support company I’ve had.”

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4.5

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
4.5
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
 
Mar. 2015 - Ongoing
Project summary: 

General Networks provides managed IT services. In addition to daily support and maintenance, they offer complex solutions like transferring company files to Office 365 and SharePoint.

The Reviewer
 
51-200 Employees
 
Los Angeles, California
Patti Spenrath
VP Business Operations, Thoreau Services
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

Integration of Office 365 has increased operational efficiency by enabling intuitive organization of essential documents. General Networks perform various support services with expertise and integrity. The staff is communicative and personable. Their billing process could be improved.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of business operations for Thoreau Services. We’re a nationwide janitorial company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with General Networks?

We needed a new firm to provide managed IT services. Our previous provider didn’t have the knowledge or resources required to adequately support us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged General Networks to utilize their understanding of personal computers, networks, and workspaces. They assist us daily by eradicating computer viruses, troubleshooting glitches, and setting up new workstations. They also migrated our files and email from a localized server to Office 365 and SharePoint.

What is the team composition?

An account manager serves as our administration contact. We also work directly with four different support team members on a ticket-by-ticket basis.

How did you come to work with General Networks?

They were hired by someone who’s no longer with the company. As a result, I’m not aware of how General Networks was found or the criteria they were matched against.

How much have you invested with them?

Their services cost roughly $60,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2015 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Integrating Office 365 has been positively affected our business by making daily operations more efficient. I have a lot more control of company-wide documents and everything is organized in one place. This accessibility facilitates easier workflows in every department.

How did General Networks perform from a project management standpoint?

The account manager communicates pricing and works through extensive solutions with me. If a task is outside of their wheelhouse, they’ll happily offer referrals. For the most, they’ll attempt any task you give them. Overall, I’m happy with the communication and availability that is provided through their ticket support system.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Some IT support companies can be defensive or unpleasant when you approach them with issues. Contrary to that, General Networks and their team are always respectful, patient, and helpful. They’re well-liked throughout my entire 40-person staff. I’ve been doing office administration work for 20 years and this is the best IT support company I’ve had.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their itemized billing isn’t as detailed as I’d prefer. The monthly support bill is fine, but the issue occurs when we request extra work. They do a lot for us, so I’d like to know what exactly was performed and who put the hours towards it. Also, they frequently forget to use the purchase order numbers I give them on their invoices. It’s frustrating, but some companies are worst than others at filling out paperwork.

4.5
Overall Score
  • 4.5 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 4.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

California Utilities Organization Open Text Upgrade

"General Networks does what they say they’re going to do for the amount that they’ve quoted, and their work product is very good."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
 
Aug. 2011 - Aug. 2012
Project summary: 

General Networks performed a complete transfer of an OpenText project management system from eDocs to Content Server with the goal of expanding the use of document management.

The Reviewer
 
501-1000 Employees
 
San Francisco Bay Area
Judicial Agency Employee, State Government
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The number of system users has sharply increased due to new functionality. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. General Networks was involved in every aspect of the project and responsive to all problems quickly. The project came in under budget due to General Network’s great value.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Please provide a brief description of your company?

I work for an agency under the California state government that regulates investor-owned utilities, gas, electric, communications, and water. We also have some safety responsibilities for various transportation companies and agencies within the state such as limousine companies, Bay Area Rapid Transit, and other railroads within cities.

What is your role?

I work for a quasi-judicial agency with judges that hear cases. These cases range from the very complicated, when PG&E is asking for a rate increase, or relatively simple, where an individual consumer will have a complaint against PG&E. I am an information systems analyst responsible for document management, Web publishing, and electronic filing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your organization’s business goals for this particular project?

We had a document management program also from OpenText, but it was getting old. It was going to be phased out, so we wanted to switch to a modern document system that would include all of our business processes. Processes include publishing our documents to the Web and publishing electronically filed documents to the Web. We had to migrate millions of documents from our old document management system to the new document management system, which is Content Server from OpenText. We were using eDocs before.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting OpenText? 

We felt that there was a better chance of operability between eDocs and Content Server since both are owned by Open Text. We looked at other document management systems including FileNet from IBM and Oracle. We thought OpenText had a longer track record with document management. IBM also has a long track record, but we felt it would be a very difficult task to try to import our existing eDocs into FileNet. So, we decided to purchase Content Server.

What was your process for selecting General Networks?

We had a long relationship with General Networks going back to the late 1990s, prior to the acquisition of eDocs by Open Text. They had been a partner for what was then called TC Docs. They helped us develop our web publishing system. They knew us very well. They knew our business processes very well, and also procurement was easy because they were on the California master work schedule. It was a combination of knowing them well, knowing that they were a good company, and knowing that they worked with us successfully in the past. Plus, procurement was easier than it would’ve been if we needed to solicit large-scale bids.

Can you tell me about the scope of the project?

General Networks was involved from start to finish. We had an internal library, which was very large. We also had smaller libraries, which contained our Web published and electronically filed documents. General Networks wrote specific codes for us to migrate the internal documents. They also wrote other specific code to migrate the Web-published and the electronically filed documents. The electronically filed documents are probably the most important because they are now the document of record. If a case gets appealed to the California Supreme Court, those documents have to be collected and sent to the court for review.

Besides OpenText, were any other technologies used?

There were codes written in DotNet. We had specific code written on top of Open Text by General Networks prior to the migration to Content Server. That was rewritten for Content Server.

Can you give us a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or personnel hours?

It was approximately $500,000, and it was for what the state called four full-time person years. Four full-time employees worked on it for about a year.

When was the project completed?

The project was completed in August of 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement?

Our goal was to expand the use of document management. eDocs and its predecessors were unpopular and not widely used outside of the team involved in web publishing and electronically filing. We had about 30 out of approximately 1,000 employees using it back then. After some time, we had 250 full-time heavy users, and we’ve now doubled that and hope to triple it. Content Server has been much more popular. It’s much closer to the look and feel of Microsoft Windows. People seem to be using it more than they did eDocs. Employee feedback has been overwhelmingly positive with only a few glitches reported occasionally.

Do you feel you made the right choice to use OpenText?

I think so. Our only issue right now is a licensing dispute. We were not really aware of this issue when we started the project, but the actual technology itself is working just fine.

How did General Networks perform during the project?

They performed wonderfully. They knew us coming in. We were able to sit down with them, and tell them what we wanted to do. Since they already knew us, General Networks had a good idea of how it could be done. They planned for a week and said, “Here’s the plan. What do you think?” They worked with us for the schedule, planning, and the migration. There was a lot of testing, and they were there the whole time, very responsive.

The project was successful?

Yes.

What’s unique or special about General Networks compared to other vendors you may have worked with?

It’s the responsiveness. When there have been minor glitches, they have a deep knowledge of my organization and Open Text. We send them an email or call them, and they’ll respond immediately, usually with a solution. The General Networks team is just very friendly. They rarely if ever make mistakes.

Is there any area that you think General Networks could improve upon or maybe you would do differently?

The step that caused the most problems was migrating millions of documents. I think if we had to do it all over again, we would’ve started on that much earlier than we did to identify problems earlier. There was some scrambling in the middle of the project trying to figure out why certain documents weren’t getting migrated. There were some issues making sure all of the metadata was getting into the right places. We should’ve started earlier. These problems are more the fault of my organization than General Networks.

5.0
Overall Score General Networks does what they say they’re going to do for the amount that they’ve quoted, and their work product is very good.
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    They’re very good about that. They have their own project manager who worked with our project manager. They had a weekly budget meeting to track progress and work hours. They were aware of our state budget constraints and the project came in under budget!
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer
    Yes. I have recommended them to state agencies in and outside of California as well as private businesses.

Utilities Company Open Text Project

"General Networks has good reporting, good communication and their group is very professional."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
n/a
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
Project summary: 

General Networks implemented an Open Text product and created a custom web portal. Services included product installation, configuration, custom development, support, and enhancement.

The Reviewer
 
10,000+ Employees
 
San Diego, California
PR Manager, Large Energy Utility
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

General Networks performed all services needed at the promised budget. All work times were transparent and meticulously logged. The product has been successful and General Networks is highly recommended.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Please provide a brief description of what your company does

We’re a utility company based in California that reports to the state government.

What is your role?

I am a Project Manager

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your company’s business goals or reasons for undertaking the project with General Networks?

Basically, it started with negotiations with Open Text itself. We needed to find a reasonably-priced professional services firm for implementation of Open Text. Our Open Text sales representative suggested using General Networks. I did the initial research on three total companies and the other two companies didn’t perform well. General Networks was selected out of that group of three

SOLUTION

Why did you decide to use Open Text?

It is one of the biggest three companies and famous for acquiring smaller companies and one of the best offerings in the industry. My organization wanted to partner with a large company that had a diverse product set.

What parts of the project was General Networks involved in?

They were involved in installation, configuration, custom development, support, and the enhancement stages.

Besides OpenText, were any other technologies used for the project?

We are using a combination of Open Text and General Network’s products and custom-web development. Our system is based on Dotnet development and we have a custom website to retrieve and view the documents and metadata associated with it.

Can you give us a sense of the initiative in dollar terms?

About $500,000.

Is the project completed or still ongoing?

The main project is completed and we are currently running enhancements. The latest round of enhancements are related to CPUC findings and we need to implement some of the changes into review cycles for our documents.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any stats or metrics to track improvement from the project?

No, unfortunately we don’t have the resources to track improvement but it’s been successful.

Do you still feel you made the right decision to use OpenText?

Yes, it has worked well for our needs.

How did General Networks perform during the project?

Very well, we’re really happy with them.

When working with them, was there anything unique or special about them compared to some other companies that you’ve worked with?

General Networks tracks their work down to the minute, which is very unique. They track all activities by the minute so it’s very transparent.

General Networks has good reporting, good communication and their group is very professional.

Is there any area that you feel General Networks could improve upon or you would do differently?

Nothing that I can think of.

Would you recommend General Networks to others?

Yes, of course and I already have.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
    That one is close to five basically, because they never went over the budget in any single payment. It was always exactly the price they estimated.
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
    Nobody deserves five.
  • N/A NPS
    Willing to refer