SugarShot

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

First and foremost, our teachers who are on the frontlines are more relaxed about their IT needs. Before, they would go to one another and post random questions in a Slack channel to see if anyone could help them.

SugarShot’s willing to meet with our teams to understand their needs. We’ve heard positive feedback and didn’t hear one complaint during the onboarding process. No one’s complained about not having their tickets addressed. I consistently get pinged in Slack by teammates who express how nice it is to have this resource.

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

We use either email or direct phone calls to set up specific times to start working on tasks. In our weekly calls, we talk about any potential challenges so that small issues don’t become big ones. We use Microsoft teams to manage projects and keep the communication clear.

Additionally, their team has a portal that we can use to see any hotspots. We can also review tickets and their solutions. It’s clear when a ticket’s submitted and when it's resolved. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

SugarShot really walks their talk. It’s one thing to claim that you’ll be responsive and feel like part of the team. But they actualized those claims, which is hard to do in this industry. Their team doesn’t feel like a standard managed service provider. They’ve far exceeded my expectations. There’s integrity between what they promised and what they deliver.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t say that there’s anything that we wish they’d done differently. It’s important that their team continues to be dedicated to understanding our culture and what motivates our decisions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

See this engagement as a partnership. I don’t know what the experience would be like if you only wanted IT services. My experience is having SugarShot meet with different groups in our organization to make connections. That investment made the transition successful. Our staff was able to see SugarShot for who they are, which is a group of people who are fun and communicate well.

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

Our partnership with SugarShot has been very successful, and at several points genuinely critical to our operations as a company. For example, a construction company once cut through all of our internet and phone cables, and as a digital company, we were basically completely unable to function. Their engineers worked around the clock on the phone with our provider until they figured out what had gone wrong.

In that situation and others, they have consistently provided status reports on everything they do, troubleshooting for problems of any kind, and explanations of all the aspects of the work they think you should understand.

Between their work on our passwords, our servers, and restoring access to our security camera system, they have saved us thousands of dollars in the long run. I absolutely believe that the engagement has been worth it, and on top of that, it’s been an enjoyable experience.

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

They really excel in project management. The only thing that took us a little while to get used to is that we were previously able to call our engineer directly, and now we have to call a dispatch person and wait a little bit longer for the right engineer to call you back. However, I think that’s just a product of having a much more organized system in place.

Overall, SugarShot does a great job. We have weekly or biweekly calls set up according to our needs, and larger quarterly meetings where we establish a larger direction for our work together and evaluate our progress toward and achievement of various goals.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service combined with the level of knowledge that their engineers have is truly excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think there is anything we wish they did differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are a heavy-duty IT firm, so you really want to be a company that needs that kind of help. If you do, they’ll do an excellent job, but make sure you have a list of all of your goals for them to be able to work through in order to make the engagement as productive for you as possible.

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

Simply stated, system reliability, user response, and system uptime have all improved.       

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed very well. Scopes of work were generated that clearly explained the deliverables and expectations. Tasks were organized, proper resources were assigned, and realistic timelines were projected. They have a ticketing system that tracks all adhoc request so the disposition of those items can be reviewed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In it for the long-haul, they consider your concerns with the bigger picture in mind. They’re also able to communicate their ideas and proposals to technical and non-technical audiences. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Assistance during non-traditional work hours can be more difficult to acquire than standard assistance.

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

We feel that our cybersecurity is at a whole different level, which is very reassuring. They really manage that for us very well and they catch a lot of issues. Some things come through via email, but they have also done in-house training for all staff to make people aware of what to look for and what the signs are when there is any type of cyber sabotage happening and what it looks like. We forward anything that looks vaguely suspicious to them. They have taken us to a new level and that in-person training was very effective as many people learned a lot. The staff were very appreciative. We are always trying to offer our staff tools for their professional development and this was just one of them.

We have had a very positive experience with the alacrity with which the tickets go through and how the helpdesk responds. Before we worked with them, we were in a frustrating situation where things would get dragged out and became even more problematic. They have done a lot to help us up our game when it comes to responsiveness to any issue that comes up.

How did SugarShot perform from a project management standpoint?

They have very good communication over at SugarShot. We have an ongoing monthly call with the project manager, to review all the tickets for the month, and just to check in and see where we are, as well as how we feel about the services and what they can improve on from an IT standpoint. We also have a quarterly meeting with the project manager and CEO onsite to review things and to go over any suggestions they might have for us.

We get an immediate response with the helpdesk ticket. We get a number which we can then follow up on and an engineer will reach out and communicate with us the whole way through the ticket.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility in being able to tailor their product to the customer stands out to us. When we bring something to their attention that isn’t working for us, for example, a process they might have, they are very good about addressing it and correcting it almost immediately. We have a dynamic relationship where they really tailor their services to us.

When we first started, their helpdesk processing really didn’t work for us in terms of letting us know what the status was and if someone was working on it. We had a call and it was completely changed by the next week and things were much more transparent for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been things that have come up over the last couple of years, but they have responded quickly when something wasn’t working for us. Their response rate and willingness to change things in order to meet our needs is exceptional.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about your specific needs because they will tailor their services to those needs. The less you leave open-ended, the more they are able to bring their strengths to the table. Give them a very clear understanding of the scope of work and what the needs are, as well as potential changes. They will bring their expertise and recommendations on the best ways to make things work.

As a nonprofit, having that hands-on personalization is very important to us. We may have gotten lost in some of the larger IT companies out there. There is never too much information that you can share with SugarShot because they really use that information to provide the services that you need.