Ripple IT

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m currently the policy and advocacy manager for Food Well Alliance. Food Well Alliance is a nonprofit operating in five counties around the metro-Atlanta area to support community gardens and urban farms.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

We originally brought Ripple on board as our general technical support team. Food Well Alliance is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Our parent organization moved out of the building we shared with them, so we needed our own tech support services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ripple initially came into our office and helped us transition from our landline system onto the Vonage application, which was available on our teams’ phones. They established our wireless network too, helping us set up a contract with Comcast and implementing hardware to support our WiFi network. As we went remote due to COVID-19, their team also set us up with a new suite of laptops. Although they met our team, Ripple primarily supports us remotely. If we have issues, we send tickets through their system.

What is the team composition?

Our initial main point of contact left the company, so now our main point of contact’s Corey (Strategic Account Executive).

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

Our former executive director found them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent an estimated $23,000 on their services so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We originally engaged Ripple in January 2020 and have an ongoing contract with them for technical support.

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

Our team feels supported and confident in our technology. We brought Ripple on board shortly before we left the office due to COVID-19. Ripple executed our timely shift from desk lines to Vonage because we also moved to remote work. As we went remote, they also set everyone up with laptops. It was fortuitous because their team prepared us to leave the office.

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

During our onboarding phase, we migrated our Google Drive data and onboarded our staff. We had weekly calls with Ripple, which were really helpful. For any one-off issues, we submit tickets to their support email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We had complicated issues related to disentangling ourselves from our parent company’s tech systems. Our onboarding took longer than Ripple anticipated, but they really stuck with us. As we transitioned off of our parent company’s systems, they had weekly calls with our staff for several months. I appreciated their flexibility and ability to stick with us until the initial project was complete

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have a dedicated service representative. However, we send tickets through their general system and then the first available technician responds. That’s fine because it’s not a large team. It would be nice to work with just one person who knows our issues and could anticipate our needs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As much as possible, it would be helpful to have in-person meetings in the beginning. We found it invaluable to have them come on-site and meet our staff. It was helpful for them to have that knowledge even though it became a remote relationship.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief service officer of Pillow Pharmahealth. We’re a small prescription benefit management (PBM) company that began four years ago. We administer prescription drug programs for small-to-medium-sized companies throughout the country.

In my role, I’m responsible for all elements of service. That includes the way we serve as patients or the way we serve as clients — anything that has to do with the way we’re servicing people.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

When we started four years ago, we brought them on to set up the entire IT infrastructure for our small office.

What was the scope of their involvement?

When they were establishing our startup’s IT infrastructure, they came in and helped us choose our laptops. Their team also set up our network. Essentially, they were responsible for all our IT-related matters. Following that, we established an ongoing maintenance contract with them to help us with anything related to IT that may arise. If we change servers or have any laptop problems or power outages, they’re our go-to IT partner.

We have two ways of interacting with them. Anyone in our company can contact them through a toll-free number or send an email which will electronically open up a ticket. Once the ticket gets opened and assigned to one of the technicians, that technician reaches out to us with an email. They make an outbound phone call to us to talk about whatever the issue is. Issues range from not being able to boot up a laptop, receiving an error message, or handling a new software update release.

What is the team composition?

I work with Corey (Strategic Account Executive). He’s our go-to person when anything comes up with regard to our contract or any terms we need to negotiate.

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

The CEO of my company had a working relationship with Ripple IT’s CEO. The two of them negotiated terms on their own. Then, a small team was put together to participate and interview them for the final decision. I had conversations with a few people at Ripple IT. Everything sounded great, and I was happy with what I heard.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest approximately $25,000–$50,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in February 2016.

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

Their service has been outstanding. Items get resolved on the same day we report them. They provide a same-day turnaround. We don’t have any super challenging requests because we’re a small team. Everything is worked on so fast and beautifully; we’re absolutely thrilled with them.

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

Two or three times a year, we meet with Ripple IT to provide feedback in terms of areas for opportunity or things that are going well. We haven’t had any sort of opportunity list with them. Our meetings are becoming shorter and shorter because all of the feedback is positive and wonderful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their technicians have been special for us. We don’t have a lot of technical expertise within the organization so dealing with them has been a blessing. They’re able to explain technical things to laymen in an easy way. Their team always remains patient with us, we’re never rushed off the phone. We never leave with any open questions.

Everything is crystal clear in dealing with the agents on the phone. Each technician always knows exactly what they’re doing. They read up on our past issues so they’re informed. It’s clear that they’re doing their homework. This is all on top of the fact that their turnaround time to close issues is extraordinary.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything. I’ve asked them to make recommendations to us about things we may not be aware of or have on our radar. They’ve expressed that that will be a big focus in this upcoming year.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure they understand your short-, middle-, and long-term needs. Allow them to understand the business you’re in. It’ll help them know what sort of data they’re working with. Let them make recommendations and be open-minded to their suggestions.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an experimental design agency that started out as a production company. Now, we have a production arm, a creative arm, and a strategy arm. Our company mostly works with B2B events, although we do some B2C events, as well. Although my role started in operations, I currently work in HR.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

We were looking for a managed IT services provider who could work with both our Mac and PC users no matter where they were.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Ripple IT has worked with us for the majority of our company history, which has spanned 22 years. It’s phenomenal how they’re able to work with our team remotely to do pretty much everything IT-related. Whenever our employees are having technical issues, they’ll work with us to troubleshoot.

Besides the day-to-day IT operations, their team handles the onboarding setup for new hires such as granting access to company resources like our Egnyte cloud system. It’s the same for when anyone offboards — they’re very hands-on in any large-scale layoffs that we have to do. Typically, we just connect with them, and they’ll make all of the changes in real-time as needed. 

Several times a year, they audit our IT infrastructure since safety and security have become bigger concerns for us. That also involves testing our team on security practices and making recommendations. We’ve had ongoing conversations for the last six months about additional actions we can take as a company to up our cybersecurity, too.

As for some of their larger projects, we did a huge company rebrand back in 2017, and they coordinated with our website developers. They worked on our internal wiki, making sure that all of the content got moved over to the new domain. Then, obviously, all of our email addresses had to change, and they worked on a lot of the additional backend items (e.g., Calendars, Microsoft Outlook, License changes for Adobe).

What is the team composition? 

I’ve worked with a variety of people over the years. Anthony (Project Team Lead) is currently my primary point of contact. He’s my first stop before start doing anything. Then, there’s James (Senior Systems Engineer) who focuses on implementations. He’s been with us for such a long time that everybody who’s been with us for any amount of time knows and loves him. Aside from them, I’ve worked with several others day to day, including people who are no longer at the company.

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

This was before my time, but I can say that it was due to a relationship between our founder and the person who runs Ripple IT. Our company is a very people-first organization in just about everything, so it’d be no surprise that that was how our founder started working with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

Our current monthly bill fluctuates between $13,000–$15,000, running on a per-user cost. If there’s a special project, the price will increase to accommodate.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with them for 20 years, now, at least since January 2000, and the relationship is still going strong. 

Recently, we’ve started consulting with them on some things we need from our clients. Occasionally, a client will audit us, so there are some compliance items that we have to sort out. They help us with that process, which can be a behemoth of paperwork as they respond to questions about how information is backed up and how we keep our data secure.

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

I work with a lot of external vendors, and I’ve never run across a company that works with us as well and as flexibly as we need them to be as Ripple IT. They always respond immediately, no matter who is reaching out. I can’t think of a time when a team member has complained that they’ve reached out to Ripple IT and not heard back.

Over the years, we’ve gone through company audits to see where we can save on costs, and our CFO and CEO have talked with me to see if we’d benefit from hiring some internal IT members. The conclusion is always the same: there’s no way we can get what we need by hiring someone in-house nor going to another company that would afford us the same level of service as Ripple IT. They don’t just support our daily actions but are also consultants who can stand up to our ever-changing needs.

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

All of their logistical information like response time is tracked in their system, and I appreciate that there’s always a very open line of communication. The day-to-day items are processed through a well-oiled machine. For the bigger projects, I’ll typically meet with our account manager every week to schedule deadlines and review deliverables. They’ve never had a problem with getting anything done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re just good people! Some of that comes from how long I’ve known them since I now have a relationship with so many of their team members. It’s nice that they’re able to offer a level of personalization, considering how easy it is to get lost in the fray as a vendor becomes huge. 

Every time I have a bad experience working with another vendor, I’ll email Ripple IT saying that I’m reminded of how wonderful they are. They’ve maintained consistency in the quality of their service because we’ve been working together for so long. People have come and gone from their organization, but they’ve somehow been able to keep a sense of continuity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I know they used to send out newsletters that highlighted relevant news about tech, but it would be nice to have those include team members who are coming and going. Since we’re talking about cybersecurity so much, I’m always a bit skeptical when an unfamiliar name on their side reaches out to us. A newsletter that shares highlights about their company and any new hires would be helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can go to anyone at Ripple IT, and they’ll find you the right person to get you what you need.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of internal technology for Vector Solutions. We’re a continuing education company that supports both the public and private sectors. We provide training resources and help users earn credit to maintain their licenses. For example, we provide continuing education on equipment and procedures for people working in chemical plants.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

We originally brought Ripple IT on to migrate our email from G Suite to Microsoft Office 365.

What was the scope of their involvement?

After they migrated our email to Microsoft Office 365,  we asked them to migrate back to G Suite. Since then, they’ve become our go-to G Suite support provider. They manage all of our Google licensing.

We often bring them on board when we acquire a new company, too. They bring our new partners onto our email system to improve communications.

What is the team composition?

We have a consistent account manager, but whenever we start working on a new project, they assign a new project manager and engineers.

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

They were referred to us. I was deciding between Ripple IT and a couple of other companies. Throughout the process, we considered the price and the size of their operation. I felt like a very large company might not give us the attention we needed. After talking to Ripple IT, I felt like they would support us throughout the entire project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership began in August 2017 and is ongoing.

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

Their engineers are very talented and are very dedicated to helping us meet our goals. If they think something won’t work out for the best, they bring it to our attention and suggest a different approach. They think the box outside and come up with new solutions. Even if they aren’t what we originally scoped out, their ideas align with our project goals.

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

They communicate very well and do everything they need to in order to meet our deadlines. Recently, they worked all weekend, late nights, and early mornings to get a migration project done quickly. They didn’t give up until the project was complete. In that aspect, they’re amazing partners.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very diligent. They go out of their way to find answers for us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could build out their staff a little more, so sometimes I think they don’t have enough engineers, so

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront with them and let them know exactly what you’re looking for.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of TSWII. We’re a financial services company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

We brought them on to handle our managed IT services. They would essentially be taking those duties off of my shoulders because I had formerly been handling all of the IT for our company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handle our general managed IT services, and we’ve had different one-off projects. They migrated us from our local server to a cloud provider. They’ve also migrated our email services from one provider to another. Their team assists us with our cybersecurity, upgrades, as well as provides additional resources to strengthen our cybersecurity processes and infrastructure.

They handle our individual pieces of equipment and computers by getting those onboarded and secured. I work with an account representative who assists us in troubleshooting efforts or communications with the internal staff. We also have a senior technician who helps on individual projects. Occasionally, he assists on various things.

What is the team composition?

I work with our account representative and a senior technician. There are several others who are the on-call techs who assist us when we call.

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

We only run Apple computers and systems, and we’re a very small firm. Finding a managed IT partner who would take our account and could meet both of those needs was difficult. One of Ripple IT’s competitors recommended us to them. They thought we’d be a good fit. We were immediately impressed so it was an easy decision.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in December 2016.

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

All the projects they do have a successful outcome. They’ve consistently met our goals. Their team provides excellent customer service for our ongoing needs. They’re available, timely, and resolve our issues. Ripple IT is a great partner to work with.

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve only had one project with a hard and fast deadline, and they met it. Most of the time, it’s pretty flexible because everything is a process we knew would take some time to work through.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service is the best thing. Ripple IT has a good system in which they respond and let us know they received our inquiry and are assigning a technician to our case. They’re usually able to set out a reasonable timeframe. I appreciate our account representative's follow-up with us. He proactively reaches out to help us plan — that’s rare from what I’ve seen.

In our four years together, there’s only been one instance where we had a miscommunication. We went to him and set up a conversation to cure that. They did everything we could ask for in terms of making that situation clearer. They cured that hiccup within a very reasonable amount of time and ensured we were happy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’d be great if they opened an office where we are. All their services are done remotely. They’re willing to come up here if needed but we haven’t needed it. If they increased their footprint and opened an office here that’d be wonderful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communication from the beginning is very important. Scope out exactly what you expect. Maintain those lines of communication so everything is clear on the frontend.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a nonprofit theater that’s been around since 1929. As a nonprofit, we’ve existed since 1974. Our purpose is to maintain this very iconic, beautiful theater and share wonderful experiences with the rest of the world. Since March 2020 and the global pandemic, we’ve paused performances. I’m the CFO.  

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

This is the ninth nonprofit organization I’ve served as the CFO. In my experience, hiring an IT individual is not as effective as hiring a firm. It may be cheaper, but an individual IT employee is going to have to be a superstar to make things work. They have to know everything about software, networking, internet security, and more. Eventually, an individual IT person is going to go on vacation or leave the company as well. 

We were dealing with these issues in IT individuals that weren’t exactly superstars anyway, so we wanted to bring on a firm to take on IT services. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re our managed IT provider, so they handled any and all tasks that have to do with our IT systems. That includes infrastructure responsibilities, making sure our systems function, evaluating security, and ensuring systems are backed up. 

Once, we had a rather complicated situation with our phone vendors. They helped us untangle that and save us money. Another time, they facilitated major renovations with our displays and monitors all around the theater. We also have a major rewiring project that they finished about a year ago. They’ve helped us in tons of specific situations.   

What is the team composition?

We have a main point of contact with their team for organizational strategy. It’s also a bit of a unique arrangement because we have one of their team members on-site all the time. So, that individual serves as another main point of contact.  

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

I’ve worked with them on IT services for a different organization in the past. We interviewed three possible IT firms, and they came out on top. I was already comfortable with them because they’d been good business partners in the past. They also communicate about IT topics well in plain English, so I’ve always appreciated that.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $1 million with them.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since June 2019.

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

Especially moving into remote work during the pandemic, having a robust infrastructure with backups has really helped us. I haven’t dealt with any complaints about IT from our staff. Staff members aren’t coming to me with computer troubles or any other IT issues. It’s helpful to me to not have to deal with those issues, and I haven’t needed to step in since the start of our engagement with them. 

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good with communications. I speak to our on-site team member every day and check-in with our point person on a weekly basis. Deadlines are met with no problem. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a good business partner. They make proactive suggestions on how to aid the business that we haven’t even considered because they know our business so well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m a critical person, but I haven’t found anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As quickly as possible, get them knowledgeable about your business. In our case, they’d worked with us before with similar organizations and were already familiar. Whatever your industry, consider what’s unique about your business to get them up and running as fast as possible.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and co-founder of Matchstic. We do brand identity work.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

We hired Ripple to be our outsourced IT provider, managing all the inner workings of our computers and anything IT-related.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ripple handles all of our IT matters. This includes our internet and WiFi, telephone system, servers, computers, and wiring within our office. When we moved offices, they handled all of our technology in terms of packing and then setting up the new space. Ripple is over anything that’s connected to a computer or communication device and ensures they’re consistently up and running.

Their team fixes and resolves hardware and software issues as they arise. They also look forward and think about where we’re going as a business and what our technology needs will be. Ripple looks to the future and plans so we can be ready as our company continues to grow.

What is the team composition?

We work with an account lead.

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

I met Ripple’s owner through a mutual friend. Our company didn’t have an outsourced IT company because we were pretty small. As we grew, it made sense to have a company that helped us in this regard. We chose them because there was a lot of synergy and alignment between our two companies and culture. It felt and make sense to work together.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest between $40,000–$45,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in 2009.

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

Ripple’s team is full of fabulous people. Often times, IT people care more about computers than the people they work with; but Ripple doesn’t do this. They do a great job of understanding what purpose technology serves and thinking about that reason in a larger landscape.

We have quarterly review meetings where they come in and find out what we need, discuss issues, and think ahead for future matters. Ripple is very proactive and stays ahead of where we’re at, so we never fall behind.

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

We work with a ticketing system, and they’re quick and responsive to handling issues that pop up. Our account lead keeps us engaged and up-to-speed on the status and progress of projects. Ripple has an internal project management tool that speaks to their ability to stay on track and get things done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Ripple team members are just good people. They’re genuine, personable, and have a humanity to them that isn’t always common in the IT space. I really appreciate this about them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there are no areas for improvement. This is not to say that we haven’t had little issues over the years. To me, it’s less about whether there is an issue and more about how they respond when there is. Ripple has been super responsive so nothing comes to mind. We’ve addressed things in the past; and they’ve always listened very well, cared, and responded quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to constantly ask for their advice on ideas. Sometimes they can be shy about recommending new solutions, so I’m always trying to pull that out of them. They have great ideas so encourage them to give you their perspective.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Holcombe Financial.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

I didn’t feel like our organization was utilizing all of the technology that was available to us. Our previous IT providers were not very proactive in keeping us on the cutting edge, so we wanted to find someone who could really elevate our use of the most current technologies in our sector.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They pretty much handle any support issues that we have here, from setting up new elements of our digital infrastructure to tackling any issues that our team members run into throughout the day.

When we transitioned our team to working remotely, they helped us get all of our infrastructure set up at everybody’s houses so that we could smoothly make that transition.

What is the team composition?

Max (Support Coordinator) is our main point of contact, so whenever we email them, she is the one coordinating those requests to whoever is available and has specific knowledge on the issue. In total, I think we’ve worked with about 5 members of their team over the years.

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

I was referred to them by another business owner. We interviewed them and it went well, so we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

Between monthly invoicing and one-off projects such as replacing our PCs, we’ve spent about $200,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2014 and are continuing to partner together.

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

I get no complaints from my team, which means that everything is working. On the rare occasion that something does break, they are incredibly responsive and efficient in getting it fixed, which allows me to focus on my business.

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a great job of managing their work with us. I get no complaints, so that means that they are taking care of all the issues my team is having, which is exactly what I want them to do. We communicate via phone on a weekly basis, but they come over whenever anything needs to be done on-site.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most valuable part of the engagement for me is the ability to focus on my work and not have to worry about issues I don’t know how to fix, and their team delivers that completely.

We’ve heard about other firms that offer this service, but we’ve never heard about a positive experience with one of those firms outside of Ripple. They have really good, experienced people who have stayed with their company for a long time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I guess everyone can improve something, but with them, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They usually come to me when I need to think about things, not the other way around, so I really think just about anybody can be successful working with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of IT for a title and escrow company, OS National.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

We had multiple challenges but primarily, they were system stability, performance, and security.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ripple established FortiGate Firewalls and VeloCloud at every office location. For email security, their team rolled out Mimecast. Their team also transferred our phone systems to Vonage. They managed our huge migration from a datacenter to Microsoft Azure. We also rolled out Duo for security purposes. Their team still manages our IT requirements, working on and off-site.

What is the team composition?

One of their senior technicians came on-site and configured the applications and firewalls. We remotely worked with a project manager and senior technician for the Duo and Mimecast implementations and the Azure migration. The team composition depends on the project’s size.

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

I had a long-standing relationship with them that extends almost 10 years. I brought them on board at three additional companies before I was in my current position.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent north of $250,000 at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started around March 2019, and we’re still utilizing their services for specific tasks and projects.

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

We reduced our downtime to zero. Since rolling out our firewall solution, we haven’t had any outages at offices. We haven’t had a single successful phishing attempt after employing Mimecast. We also reduced our spam and malware emails by over 60%. By rolling out Vonage, we haven’t had any phone outages. Our performance and stability drastically improved, so our customer satisfaction rating is 4/4.

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly meetings about upcoming tasks for projects. The cadence depends on the project’s phase. For our previous projects, we met with a project manager, a senior technician, and 1–2 people on my team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed by their ability to complete projects on time and on budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re fantastic.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you value IT, you should definitely consider Ripple. If you’re just looking for a cheap and quick solution, Ripple may not be a good fit. They’re not the cheapest option but their team does fantastic work that’s worth the money.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT support manager for Plaid Enterprises, a paint manufacturing company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ripple IT?

We needed network support.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide extensive levels of network support including after-hours help on a range of technical issues we've experienced. Our organization was about 350 employees when we engaged them, and we’re now up to 800 employees. We've grown quite a bit. Ripple IT helped set up the network at all three of our facilities.

For one of our major projects, we had a holding company that wanted us to do an audit on ourselves. We did and we were quite vulnerable to threats. Ripple IT provided associated fixes. It was the largest project I've seen here. We had holes throughout the network, several accounts that shouldn’t be used, backdoors that were open, and outdated switches.

To meet that goal, Ripple IT set up the layout and step-by-step process we went through to satisfy the holding company. When we submitted the document of all the things we’d done to secure the infrastructure here, we never even got a call back. The holding company was satisfied with the report and what we had done. We had to buy quite a bit of hardware, which was expensive because we didn't realize we had so many holes in our network. 

Due to our growing user database, we had a need for storage. The more storage we get, the more storage users need. They've been there to implement those upgrades and help us with problems whenever we have them.

For instance, I recently came into the office at 3:00 in the morning because the main backbone switch went out. Ripple IT picked up the phone when I called. We needed to replace our backbone switch. One person stayed up all night with me to fix it. My company is very. proactive, but when a fire goes off, I need someone to assist. Ripple IT has been there every step of the way.

We’re now moving into a new facility, so I requested them to examine the space to see what we need for our network. In that particular project, we’re moving from 75,000 square feet to a building that’s 198,000 square feet. Once we get the final quote, I’ll be working with them to implement the plan.

What is the team composition?

In-person, I’ve worked with Jayesh (CTO), Curt (Senior System Architect), and Andres (Senior Systems Engineer). There's a larger team that addresses tickets, but I don't know the names of those individuals.

Lately, I’m in most regular contact with Curt. He comes on-site and addresses issues, while Jayesh will do high-level walkthroughs when we move into a new facility, for example. 

How did you come to work with Ripple IT?

We have AS400 in our environment, and it wasn’t going over ethernet because of dated protocols. The person we found to help us couldn’t make the differences we needed. The sales engineer there recommended their team. He gave him my number, and Jayesh called me.

I’ve never known someone with such a big brain. When Jayesh visited initially, it was like he was walking on water. He conveyed information about how he was going to approach the process. Our footprint was small and we hadn't paid them a lot of money, but he treated me as though we were one of his best customers.

He’s high up in the company, but he’d be the one to call me back when I needed him. Since I could assist in a lot of ways, he’d throw me a bone that I could run with without starting the clock on his team. The more he did that, the more I knew that this is the kind of company I wanted to work with. I wasn’t being billed for every little thing.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $1 million. We likely spent about $325,000 on the audit project alone.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2013, and the work is ongoing.

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

I was a one-man shop for over four years. I didn’t think I was going to make it because there were crises constantly. The reason I’m as successful as I am now is because of Ripple IT. There’s no question about it.

They've faced obstacles that my company would've needed to hire multiple people to overcome. Ripple IT was our added employee without being on the payroll. They’d offer me information that would help me solve an issue and make me shine. I’d get the credit, and we didn’t have to pay for that extra information. My knowledge levels have grown off the charts because of them. I was promoted from a support person to IT manager, in part because of the expertise that Ripple IT provided to me with.

We’ve benefited tremendously since working with them. When I first started here, we weren’t in a client-server environment. It was stand-alone workstations, Windows 95, and Windows XP. We’ve grown leaps and bounds for the nine years I’ve been here. A lot of the credit goes to Ripple IT.

How did Ripple IT perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management exceeds all expectations. Since we’re operating 24 hours each day, I can’t wait for solutions. If something happens, I need support right away. I open tickets with them because that's their process, but I'll call if there's a crisis.

Calling them directly helps me put a feeler out to see if they have any ideas as to what's wrong. No matter when I call them, right on the spot, I get a call back. There’s a confidence in knowing if I call, I’m going to get the help. I even wrote a letter to Ripple IT praising their teammates that helped because those guys are definitely top-notch and know their stuff.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have in-depth knowledge of their industry. I call Jayesh "the brain." We're shocked that they serve so many clients but still grow to understand our network so intimately. He doesn’t forget anything. When it comes to IT, they've seen it all before. They're never just winging it.

When we have projects, I want to work with Ripple IT. They know our network intimately because they helped me put it in place. Even when I didn’t go with them on certain things, they were still willing to give me some key data to make sounds decisions. I always feel Ripple IT is part of the equation, even when they aren't.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I deal with Jayesh and Curt more than anyone else. I don’t know the size of the organization in terms of the number of employees. I hope the rest of their team is just as knowledgeable as they are. That's not a negative, though.