Wireless Watchdogs

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of IT for ICEE. We’re the makers of frozen beverages.

What challenge were you trying to address with Wireless Watchdogs?

Our company has a large field of users using mobile tablets and cellphones. To manage and monitor the different plans, we hired Wireless Watchdogs for their cost-effective managed IT solutions.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Wireless Watchdogs to help manage and support our devices in the field and keep track of all the bills and usage. They go through each device, send us reports of unused numbers, high usage numbers, plans, and accounts that need updating, as well as helping us with upgrades and overall maintenance so that we don’t overspend.

Basically, they receive the bills and analyze them. They have access to the accounts and help us manage it all, and they send us a monthly email with the reports and data of what we need to do to make things better.

What is the team composition?

Brad (Account Representative) is our primary contact. But of course, there’s a whole support personnel behind the scenes that we work with here and there.

How did you come to work with Wireless Watchdogs?

I don’t remember how it came about because I wasn’t in charge at the time, but it was for their service to help with the management of our cellular efforts which we were struggling with. They ran an analysis based on the bills we provided them and they showed us how much we could be saving up on bills a month if we started with them right off the bat.

The decision to work with them was a no-brainer and they’ve been amazing since.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend roughly around $5,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2005, and our partnership has been ongoing ever since.

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

I don’t have any exact metrics, but I would say that they save us a lot of money monthly on our bills. I know the quality of their work, and they handle all the services that we need done like the call center, repairs, ordering and managing unused devices, and providing advice on the changes needed for the bills.

How did Wireless Watchdogs perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is excellent. They’re able to meet all the deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Honestly, at this point, we’d only really evaluated them. But they handled the work exactly how they said they would. We went through a trial run with them and everything went well. For the last 15–20 years they’ve just done so well that they stand out. I have absolutely no desire to shop outside 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not off the top of my head. We’re pretty satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide them with all the account bill information as much as possible so they can do a thorough evaluation of the cellular situation.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior procurement specialist for an air compressor manufacturing firm. I work with the purchasing team to do contracts for North America. As a whole, we do many different things in manufacturing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Wireless Watchdogs?

We had multiple people working on cell phones throughout the business. To make it easier, we consolidated down to Wireless Watchdogs. They deal with Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We call and say what we need to do, they ask for approval and then take care of the rest. One of their big responsibilities is reporting. When a massive bill comes in, we want to pay the full price but don’t want one call center to pay the full price. So Wireless Watchdogs breaks it apart for every single line and who it belongs to and their call center. Then it gets back to them so not one call center is eating the entire cost.

They also work on importing lines over from multiple carriers as well as trying to make sure if anything’s broken or damaged. In those cases, they get ahold of me and we work out what they need to do for the next step.

How did you come to work with Wireless Watchdogs?

Other internal members engaged with Wireless Watchdogs; I was not a part of that process.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest about $6,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in October 2014.

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

This saved us a lot of money. Their response times are pretty good. Wireless Watchdogs follows our policies and accommodates any changes within those policies. Their quality is great, and their team constantly follows up and asks questions. They address tasks right away and do whatever it takes to resolve issues.

How did Wireless Watchdogs perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is good. I heavily rely on them. We communicate through phone calls, emails, and a shared mailbox.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very responsive and their quality is great. If there are issues or questions, they reach out to me or call me. They get things taken care of within an hour, depending on circumstance. Their team is great to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are certain things that may have an issue but it’s usually not their fault. The communication was back and forth, but it wasn’t clearly defined. That was an issue on both Wireless Watchdogs and the carrier. One party thought one thing and the other thought differently. Instead of clarifying it, it shifted and we had to correct it later. After that, it’s been smooth sailing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Wireless Watchdogs will be able to manage 95% of the work, but make sure to have internal team members be responsible for making sure procedures and policies are set in place and approved.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an IT network engineer for a company called Ascend Performance Materials. We manufacture nylon polymers, fibers, and chemicals for different industries, and I specialize in video and telephony, whether it be VoIP for desk phones or smartphones for LTE. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Wireless Watchdogs?

We're utilizing Wireless Watchdogs as a third party vendor to help us manage the financial chaos that handling over one thousand units of desk phones and smartphones can bring. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Every month, Wireless Watchdogs download the reports from our wireless accounts, and they will take those reports and pick them apart. They then calculate how much money has been invested in every line. 

The reporting their team provides is in an easy format that we could quickly glance at without looking at a big set of data. They make sense out of the data and come to us with a consolidated report that we can easily look at. We can then make decisions based on the report. 

They also help us with sorting lines from one vendor to the other, because we have multiple vendors that help us troubleshoot with individuals. I don't have time to help each individual with any type of smartphone issues. 

Their involvement in troubleshooting and assisting end users have been less frequent. We hired a new provider with a dedicated expert to help us with troubleshooting. Before this, we would also go to Wireless Watchdogs and tell them to contact technicians.

We always got someone different from other providers to work on troubleshooting. Wireless Watchdogs would then handle the issue with that person. 

What is the team composition?

On average, we work between 3–4 different users at any given time, one of which is my primary contact, Brad (Customer Service Manager). He has always been the account manager for this account and anything I need. If there’s something account-related, I'll go directly to Brad. If it's an individual that we need to fix an account for, I submit a ticket to their team and let their team handle it.

How did you come to work with Wireless Watchdogs?

Our company found Wireless Watchdogs before my time with this company. We had a previous director of infrastructure that used their services at another company.

They had great success, and he decided to go with them when he came on board over here. He is no longer with us, but we retained Wireless Watchdogs after looking into what they provided to our company.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we've spent around $70,000 per year on average for their fees.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around December 2013, and the engagement is ongoing. We’ve been working together for around 6–7 years now.

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

Overall, I love the reporting they do and have great success with their reporting as far as the simplification that I spoke of earlier. They have a unique way of determining who should pay.

When it comes to helping troubled end-users, I'm sure there's been a couple of pitfalls that have happened through the years where they dropped the ball. However, humans make mistakes, and it's understandable.

When it comes to the reporting side of things, Wireless Watchdogs has the ability to meet the demands and needs of the business. There's no doubt about that. They have an organized reporting process even when there's a massive load of data. 

The team has the ability to put the data in nice Excel spreadsheets that make it easy to flow and read even when you're looking at the big sum of data. 

How did Wireless Watchdogs perform from a project management standpoint?

For the project management aspect, they've always been able to come through with anything that we've needed them to do on the reporting side. Any time that we need to track something in a particular way, they've always been able to contact their IT team and have something added to a Web portal so that we can see it in the reporting. It's never been a problem. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

When it comes to my relationship with the account manager, Brad, we're on a personal level. We can be polar opposites and still have a civilized conversation and work well together. 

He's always been helpful to our company. He's always calling and checking on us when he doesn't hear us from time to time. He'll ask if everything's OK. We have a great relationship, and we've worked well together for many years.

Wireless Watchdogs also helped us identify a loophole. A corporation with 800 devices would pay more per device per account than an SMB if the latter breaks the accounts into sub-accounts with a hundred or fewer lines per account. 

They contacted us and said they can manage our lines in eight subaccounts. They said our fees would go up slightly because they’d do more work, but they said they would save us a significant amount of money per month, and they did. The numbers did go down. We ended up saving around $152,000 annually. 

That’s where Wireless Watchdogs excels at; they know how to pinch pennies with your wireless account. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Anything that involves humans is room for improvement. It's just a matter of both sides, realizing that they probably could do something more efficiently together. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that I could absolutely say would be room for improvement. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have chaotic billings coming from cell phone vendors, and you don't know what to do, and it looks like there's no light at the end of the tunnel, a company like Wireless Watchdogs will absolutely help you get that under control. 

Is this something I would recommend for a small company with one hundred lines or fewer? The answer is likely not. 

However, is it something I'd recommend for a company that has a thousand or more devices? The answer is “absolutely.”

A single employee of a corporation isn’t going to be able to keep up with a thousand or more lines and do their other daily tasks. If I didn’t have Wireless Watchdogs, I wouldn’t be able to perform my other job duties. I wouldn’t be 100% devoted to cell phone account management every day at my job.

I wouldn’t be able to do any of the other myriad things that I do and projects I work at — it would be impossible. 

If you’re a corporation with a thousand lines — or even 500 — and you can’t keep with it and do your other duties, you need a company like Wireless Watchdogs. They do a great job. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re Milgard Manufacturing, a company that manufactures windows and doors. I’m the support supervisor, so I handle all our vendor accounts, such as Sprint and T-Mobile. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Wireless Watchdogs?

We hired Wireless Watchdogs for our accounts and cell phone services. We also needed services for reporting, handling accounts, and recommending financial adjustments that save us money. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wireless Watchdogs provides coordinating and monitoring services. It's an ongoing project to evaluate our phone services and things of that nature. They take care of usage, make recommendations, and eliminate the need for me to go through and do these tasks myself. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with 3–4 people directly, including Andrea (Senior Service Coordinator). She’s our main support person and account manager who’s on the spot whenever I call or whenever I need something. If she’s on vacation, I may work with someone else. Indirectly, we work with the support desk. 

How did you come to work with Wireless Watchdogs?

They were already in place for several years before I joined Milgard. I just took over the account from the previous supervisor. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested somewhere between $25,000–$50,000 annually, or around $200,000 for six years. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on the project around June 2014, and it’s ongoing.

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

Working with Wireless Watchdogs has been a breeze and their services are very valuable. The team pays for themselves by saving us money via the reports that they give and the accounts that they keep track of for us. 

How did Wireless Watchdogs perform from a project management standpoint?

Andrea is always there when I need her and lets me know when she’s going to be out. She provides me with someone to fulfill her spot while she’s gone. It’s hard for them to catch up with me sometimes but on the other hand, I’ve never had any problems with their timing. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their support people are very forthcoming and they take care of the business. They are very intuitive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, none at this time. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them handle things. They report valuable information to me in order to save us dollars, so I would say let them do what they do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the purchasing manager of a management company. We handle over 20 continuing care retirement communities (CCRC).

What challenge were you trying to address with Watchdogs Wireless?

We needed a team that would manage our call center needs. Due to the aggressive growth seen by our company, we couldn’t keep up with the number of orders placed through phone calls and account management.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our orders are placed directly through Wireless Watchdogs. They handle it all — everything from orders for accessories and setting up the cell phones for our end users. Aside from that, the team configures our wireless networks and they put up email for our phones. The users are anyone from managers and above in our communities.

Most of the end users in our communities and offices reach out to Wireless Watchdogs’ helpdesk. The team will report to us whenever people are using their data, calls, text messages, or high international calls. They also work with our AP team for billing with Verizon Wireless.

What is the team composition?

An account manager from Wireless Watchdogs directly works with us.

How did you come to work with Watchdogs Wireless?

We were talking back and forth with our sister company about our needs and they suggested Wireless Watchdogs to us. We gave it a chance and we talked to the team for several months. They did an analysis for us and we saw how we could save money and get the support we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

Our total investment in the project has reached under $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement started in March 2015 and it’s still ongoing. They initially asked us for a 45–60-day window but I believe they started prior to that.

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

When we rolled over, we only had 70 cellphones in our company and now, we have around 1,300 out there. Since we’re a growing company, this number will probably multiply even further in the next several years.

How did Watchdogs Wireless perform from a project management standpoint?

Wireless Watchdogs is quick with turnaround which is what we need for our doctors. Every month or quarter, the team will send us reports and go over them. The account manager is excellent and smart at what she does — as long as she remains on our account, we’ll continue to do business with them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have talked to other providers but I’m not convinced that they can do what Wireless Watchdogs does for us. Their turnaround time is what really impresses us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any issues working with them. They’re doing a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that Wireless Watchdogs understands what your company needs and the services that they will provide.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the IT Systems Analyst at a water agency serving three cities near San Francisco. We have 250 employees and I'm responsible for managing our end-user devices, including mobile devices.

For what projects/services did your company hire Wireless Watchdogs?

The employees in our various departments have unique needs for cellular equipment, from phones to hotspots and laptops with data cards. We needed ongoing help procuring equipment and service on short notice, as well as a team to help us with the plans & services applied to each device in order to manage costs.

What were your goals for this project?

Our team takes pride in providing effective and timely customer service to our internal teams, at a reasonable cost. So we wanted the ability to procure the right kinds of devices and services, sometimes on short notice, and to be able to manage those costs as the needs of our departments change over time.

How did you select Wireless Watchdogs?

N/A I took over our mobile device management responsibilities from someone else on our team, and I wasn't part of the initial implementation.

Describe the project in detail.

Our employees have unique needs, sometimes even within the same department so we tailor the equipment and services set up for each person. Some only need a cell phone, while others have a hotspot or a laptop with data-card enabled, and some have a combination of this equipment.

With this in mind, Wireless Watchdogs set up our customer portal with the ability for me as the administrator to request the equipment and services relevant to us, along with the custom fields in the portal to let us track employee name, ID, and cost center.

The Wireless Watchdogs team interfaces with our operator (Verizon) and is able to purchase and activate products/services on our behalf, and orders are fulfilled as quickly as 2 business days. This lets us respond quickly to our employees' needs.

In addition, we work with our account manager on a monthly basis, and Wireless Watchdogs provides us with reporting that helps us understand our spending, as well as alerting us to services that could possibly be removed to reduce spending. They also help us manage the specific plans used by our employees' devices in order to optimize our costs.

What was the team composition?

We have an account management team assigned to us, along with the team that responds to our requests on the customer portal as well as an 800 number. However, if I really wanted to I can rely only on our main account manager, who has the ability to follow up with any request I may have.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

At the onset of the COVID pandemic, we anticipated a greater need for our employees to get mobile devices. With more employees working from home, we've had to rely on more hotspots and data cards, and Wireless Watchdogs has been a great partner in helping us fulfill these needs.

We've continued to be responsive to our internal customers, even with increased demands, while controlling our costs. Even though we've had to purchase more equipment and services, we've seen very reasonable increases to our spending and I credit this to the cost optimizations performed by WW.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our account manager Josh Chaidez is very effective and knowledgeable, as well as responsive. Even though the customer portal lets me accomplish most of my routine tasks, if I have an unusual question or request, Josh has been able to take care of them quickly and effectively.

When Josh notices opportunities for us to change the equipment or services we pay for, he lets me know so we can make a decision. We've had no surprises except for times when money has been saved on our behalf, without service interruptions.

The customer portal and the team behind is also effective and responsive. They've become familiar with our needs and can predict them. They sometimes remind me of equipment that we may need when I forget to mention it in a request.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Having worked with different vendors, I've rarely come across one where I truly feel valued as a customer and our needs are treated as priorities. I don't feel like I have to work through a big bureaucracy in order to get the help that I need. Whenever I have an unusual request, it gets taken care of effectively and quickly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really, the team does a great job and brings value to our organization.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT administrator at John Bean Technologies Corporation, a manufacturing company. I handle the wireless devices in the company and the desk phones.

What challenge were you trying to address with Wireless Watchdogs?

We have two units in the business, and each one has its own admins that take care of the wireless devices for each site. The way the billing was managed took a little longer than usual and wasn’t done on time. We always had to provide invoices or billing information to accounting and sometimes we were delayed in providing that information. That caused some issues with billing and AT&T and Verizon. Also, when we placed the orders for employee phones, we didn’t have a standard list of devices. When we tried to choose something from the Verizon or AT&T portals, people chose almost anything since the options were so broad. There wasn’t a standard.

What was the scope of their involvement?

With Wireless Watchdogs, we’ve been able to get our process a little more organized. The billing part is now handled on time. They take care of the reports and send them to us. We also worked with them to develop a portal that only has specific devices that we’ve approved. This saves time and gives us peace of mind because we don’t have to be worried about keeping track of invoicing or billing. They not only help with network management but they also provide information on other areas they can help in. They’ve also provided us options to order accessories through the portal.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with five people. When we place an order, it could be a different person that replies to the request. There could be other people too but I’ve only seen five different names.

How did you come to work with Wireless Watchdogs?

I stepped into this role not too long ago so I don’t have that information. The person that used to be here found them. Every decision we make is very well studied. I think we went through different options and chose Wireless Watchdogs. It was a good decision.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $10,000-$25,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working together with them in February 2020 and the work is ongoing.

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

We follow a process and exchange emails among admins. I do the approval for some things that aren’t part of the list. Sometimes, someone will place the order and Wireless Watchdogs will comment on the order. We’ll get back to them and they’ll copy me to approve whatever the order was. Everything seems to be working well. There’s been no negative feedback.

How did Wireless Watchdogs perform from a project management standpoint?

We interchange emails with them. I am in contact with my point of contact on a daily basis. We talk about the projects and billing questions about devices. They also have a phone number we can call. They’re very responsive. You put your request in and they’re fast to reply within an hour or two.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They save us a lot of time and give us peace of mind.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I can think of for them to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re very knowledgeable people. All the orders and questions that we have, they take care of them quickly. I recommend working with them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CFO for an Electrical Construction Company that is owned by an international company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Wireless Watchdogs?

As our individual company is relatively small we also needed tech expertise in ordering and setting up our mobile devices.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to get the best value in our Mobile Devices. To find a company that was looking our for our costs and what would suit our company the best.

How did you select Wireless Watchdogs?

Actually our corporate office first introduced us to Wireless Watchdogs after they had done extensive research.

Describe the project in detail.

Wireless Watchdogs is responsible for all of our Mobile Devices. All devices are ordered through them and they review our reports every month and let us know if there or any under or over utilized devices in our inventory.

What was the team composition?

We have worked directly with the owner and a dedicated staff was assigned to our company. Since we have used Wireless Watchdogs we have only had 2 different dedicated staff for our company. There is of course other techs available should our dedicated person not be available.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

This has been the most wonderful relationship. I have been a huge "cheer leader" for them since the inception of our relationship. As I said having only 2 different dedicated reps in the 15 years that we have used Wireless Watchdogs shows that this must also be a great company to work for with little turnover.

I have had assistance at all hours of the day and the response is always very prompt. Not being very technology savvy myself, their support has been amazing and helped us keep our mobile devices up to date with the most cost-efficient methods.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Amazing. As I stated above they are always available to assist.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The overall knowledge of everyone that I have ever dealt with and how readily available they are make all the difference in the world.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I really cannot think of anyways that they could serve our company any better. They are top notch.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT technician for Kflex USA. I currently am the liaison for all things tech, hardware, and software. Our company makes foam insulations for different vendors like Home Depot, who use our product for their pipes and insulation needs.

What challenge were you trying to address with Wireless Watchdogs?

We were trying to get a hold on our wireless accounts and monthly spend. We have over 100,000 people worldwide, and we wanted our facility to get control over those accounts. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They advise us on our IT needs, going through our accounts to see what’s good, bad, or needs to be added. They basically let us know how we can better manage our accounts. They have access to our Verizon account and have a monthly checklist to show us prices and things to change. If we need something, they’ll be able to accommodate us no matter what. 

What is the team composition?

Three people from their team work with us. 

How did you come to work with Wireless Watchdogs?

One of our finance employees had worked with them at a previous company. He nominated them and we got a phone call from them. They showed us what they could do, how they could help our situation, and it’s been smooth sailing ever since.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent under $5,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since around August 2019 and we’re planning to continue working together. 

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

They’re doing a great job — I don’t think we could do any better. I’m very happy with what they’ve helped us get rid of on our network. The cost-savings they’ve achieved for us has been tremendous. 

How did Wireless Watchdogs perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a monthly meeting with them, along with a monthly email. They go over all of our information with us, and we have a daily phone call so I can contact them with a moment’s notice if needed. Even though they’re about three hours behind us, they are there for me whenever I call them. 

I know I can always email them and they have a very swift response time. They are able to answer our questions, and if they can’t do so right then and there, they get an answer to us within 24 hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills and ability to just be there for us are most impressive. Whenever we have an issue or something to address, we know they’ll be there for us and will respond as soon as possible with information. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’d be great if they could move to the East Coast, but I don’t have anything for them to actually improve on — they’ve always been there for me. I have no qualms with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you always communicate with them, no matter what. Do not hesitate — there are no stupid questions and there’s nothing they won’t be able to try to answer for you.