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Two years ago, automotive, commercial and industrial lubricant supplier Halco Industries found a perfect IT support solution with DynaSis and Digital Veins, DynaSis’s proactive, 24/7/365 monitoring,  maintenance and support solution. This year, when Halco increased its office and conference space during a remodeling project, the firm called in DynaSis for help expanding its wireless network. The result has been increased productivity and satisfaction for on-site employees, outside salesmen and vendors, all at minimal cost.

A Growing Concern
In the two years since DynaSis came on board, Halco had grown its operation to 48 employees, and its reliance on the Internet had grown along with it. When the company’s lease expired, rather than moving to a larger building, Halco negotiated with the landlord to remodel the warehouse and use part of it for new offices and a second conference room. However, the firm’s current wireless network didn’t reach to those locations, so a reconfiguration was in order.

According to Halco Accounting Manager JoAnn Carney, the timing couldn’t have been better. “The existing wireless network already wasn’t getting it for us,” says Carney. “We have a lot of people on wireless, and we were always experiencing dropped signals.”

Carney called in a DynaSis IT Services team to explore the situation, and they recommended adding two SonicPoint wired access points, connecting to the SonicWall firewall device that DynaSis had installed earlier. The new access points would create a new network with greater range that would service both Halco employees and guests, with the two streams of traffic segregated to protect Halco’s servers.

The new network not only expanded coverage into the new offices and conference space; it also resolved the firm’s wireless overload problem. “They put one access point around a corner and another in the conference room. Since they put those in, we haven’t been dropping anything,” says Carney. “Everybody who works here could now get on the network at once, including the outside salesmen with their iPads, and we wouldn’t have any problems. That doesn’t happen often, but when it does, we would have a mass uproar if people could not connect.”

Untethered and Free to Work
During the same project, DynaSis installed a wireless projector—the Dell 4320—to make it easier for visiting salesmen and vendors to stream presentations from their mobile computers. Suspended from the ceiling, the projector supports both Wi-Fi and cabled connections. It also has a high lumen output, so it resolves an excess ambient light problem in the new conference room.

“We have 10 outside salesmen with iPads or laptops, and they don’t have a proper office,” says Carney. “A few of them come in every day for a couple of hours, getting mail; printing things. They use the conference room as their office, and also to make presentations. Plus, we have vendors who want to make presentations.

“With the new wireless projector and network, it’s easier for our salesmen and vendors to give presentations. Last week, the sales manager had a two-day hurrah, and there were eight people in and out of the office for two days straight, giving presentations. Everything worked perfectly.”

Equally importantly, Carney notes, is the support for mobile devices they have gained with the new wireless network. “We all have smartphones. I am around this building, all over the place, and I love that I now have freedom to move throughout the building. My office is at the end of the hall, and in the old days, the wireless would drop frequently because of the location.

“Now, I get email anywhere I go. I could use the phone’s 3G wireless, but this is so much faster. As soon as I cross the threshold in the morning, I hear a beep-beep reminding me to log in and retrieve my email over the wireless network.”

Problem Solved
Carney says they’ve only had one problem with the new network—right after the installation—and DynaSis came out to fix it promptly. “The wireless didn’t seem to be any better, but when we’d talk to them, it would be working,” she says. “I told them, ‘trust me, something is wrong with it. You just have to come out.’ They came right away, they spent many hours here figuring out what was wrong and they fixed it.”

Carney says those are two of the things she loves about working with DynaSis—they trust her when she says something is wrong, and they work on problems until they’re resolved. “Our last company was notorious – they would close a ticket and say we were fine when we weren’t,” says Carney.

“DynaSis is very good,” Carney concludes. “We don’t have an IT person here, and I don’t speak the language. They have to talk to me like I am a 3-year old.” She also praises DynaSis’s user-driven support system. “Every employee can contact DynaSis from their workstation and open their own ticket. People aren’t calling me and telling me they have a problem. They just open a ticket and the DynaSis support folks take care of it.”

“Technology isn’t just a tool, it’s a weapon,” Executive VP Ed Steinman said. “Your technology should support your business in ways that allow you to discover more quickly, respond more quickly. IT should never hold you back, it should be pushing you ahead.” Through the Digital Veins program, DynaSis constantly monitors the operation of Whitaker’s systems, performing regular maintenance, executing backups and installing upgrades and patches proactively.

When automotive, commercial and industrial lubricant supplier Halco Industries found service going down and prices going up with its former IT support firm, the company decided it was time for a reboot. After discussing the situation with its current firm, the company called DynaSis for a consultation. The result was a retooling of Halco's IT strategy that not only increased satisfaction but also is helping them explore adoption of new technologies.

Business Basics.
Halco's 29-user IT configuration centers around five on-premise servers running either Windows Server 2003 or 2008. The firm uses MS Exchange 2010 for email messaging and archival, Multiview Financial software, plus Microsoft Office (with Excel power users) and heavy reliance on Internet access. Despite having sufficient infrastructure running leading software products, prior to DynaSis's arrival things were always going wrong.

"We were continually having downtime across the organization. On different systems and at different times our Internet, email and order entry would be down," says Halco Accounting Manager Joann Carney. "The president of the company was familiar with of DynaSis, so we had them come in a few times to discuss how they would address our needs. We liked their approach and we switched."

DynaSis recommended its Digital Veins service, in which it manages, monitors and patches the on-site servers and other IT equipment for its customers, either remotely or on premises. The solution adopted by Halco also includes a backup and disaster recovery system as well as spam filtering and patch management. DynaSis also provides problem alerting and support notification to Halco users.

Service First.
DynaSis installed a dedicated software solution that placed an icon on the desktop of every Halco user. When users have a problem, they click the icon to initiate a service ticket.

"DynaSis responds directly to the user, as opposed to our previous solution where only one or two people could call in with issues," says Carney. "I love the fact they are willing to talk to every user, and will talk to folks in the warehouse about how to reboot a computer so I don’t have to go out there and do it."

According to Carney, DynaSis's proactive approach ensures she is notified of problems before she is aware of them. "I get a text message telling me the server is down before I get to work," she says. "The monitoring on their end watches our servers."

While she is driving into the office, Carney relates, DynaSis works to restore the problematic server remotely. "They ask me to call when I arrive if the server isn’t restored to normal operations," she says.

"I just had a nasty virus and they dialed in and repaired it," she continues. "While they were there, they noticed a patch missing from my machine and checked all the other workstations to make sure they had the patch, then reported back to us on the resolution."

On the Spot and Within Reach
Carney reports that she has timed DynaSis's response time and found it to be "excellent." She says the average is around seven minutes, and if DynaSis cannot repair a problem remotely, they are quick to arrive and take care of the problem, on site. "We’re a sales-based business, and sales people are taking orders all day, so if a server goes down it puts us in a backlog," says Carney. "We are unable to take orders and make our money."

DynaSis also supports the Blackberries and iPhones of Halco's outside sales force, who call DynaSis directly for support. DynaSis's engagement has also extended the reach of Halco's employees, in some cases enabling them to perform tasks they never before considered. "Some of us work at home and have the ability to dial-in; they have made a big difference in our remote capabilities," says Carney.

"Our sales manager just got an iPad and is trying to do quotes from it," she continues. "DynaSis is helping him enable direct desktop access from his iPad." So successful has the effort been, so far, that Carney says DynaSis will soon be helping Halco integrate more iPads with their system as well as easing the transition into a new CRM solution.

"One of our oil company partners recently provided iPads to our representatives and invited us to join a beta program for order taking," says Carney. "Now, our sales people are exploring what else they can do with the devices, and DynaSis is helping them out."

A DynaSis Case Study
When Goldleaf Data outgrew the capabilities of its managed IT services provider, it knew it needed a change. However, management wanted more than a vendor prepared to support a larger staff. Goldleaf sought a firm that would provide rapid, on-site response when support issues could not be resolved over the phone; one with dedicated personnel who understood that downtime was unacceptable.

“We now have more employees—more PCs to support,” says Chavarous Kennebrew, Data Analyst I with Goldleaf Data. “Our other vendor was not able to meet some of the time restrictions we have. We are a data reseller, so we cannot be down.”

Goldleaf Data had worked with DynaSis previously, under an earlier management team. When the company was ready to make a switch, they chose DynaSis again. “We were happy with them before, and the services they offered were competitive based on what we saw with other firms in the area. We went back to DynaSis.”

Full-Service; Genuine Commitment
With Digital Veins, Goldleaf receives a comprehensive menu of support services, beginning with 24/7/365 critical systems monitoring, automated software updates and network patch management to automated backups, network policy enforcement and managed security. Goldleaf also enjoys helpdesk, onsite support and after-hours service (remote or onsite) for infrastructure components covered under the plan.

According to Kennebrew, DynaSis’s support platform is one of the great benefits they have realized through Digital Veins. “The process for support—whether it is a call or placing a ticket online, is easy to use,” says Kennebrew. “I prefer to pick up the phone and call someone—and there has always been someone to help me when I call. That is definitely important.”

In describing the commitment and tenacity of DynaSis’s staff, Kennebrew cites a specific incident, noting, “We were up and down with rolling blackouts prior to DynaSis. One of their support technicians—Jim—was here to do Job A, but he stayed here through Job B to Job M until we reached resolution,” says Kennebrew. “DynaSis has a very knowledgeable; very dedicated staff.”

Kennebrew reports that Goldleaf Data is planning to upgrade some of its network hardware to reduce network bottlenecks, and DynaSis will also be assisting with that project. “Their services are great, and they have been very well received,” Kennebrew continues. “If I were looking to refer someone to an IT support company, DynaSis is the first company I would suggest.”

 

 

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