Framework IT

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Trinity Foot and Ankle Specialists

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Foot and Ankle Medical Services

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Framework IT to accomplish?

• Manage all my IT needs
• Manage my VOIP

SOLUTION

How did you find Framework IT?

Business convention

Why did you select Framework IT over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• They were the right size company - not a massive corporation

How many teammates from Framework IT were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

they built and managed all my IT operations since 2015. Handled my VOIP operations. there service, response time, and Knowledge is Unparalleled in my esperience. Then have been cost effective and have expertly managed all automated outages discovered by their software. They manage all my hardware needs. Frameworks is in Chicagoa nd I am in Fort worth TExas - they have managed onsite 3rd party elements with great professionalism and oversite to make sure everything was done right!! You could not ask for any better service than i ahve had for 10+ years 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

My Client Satisfaction. its 1000%. They have my undivided loyalty. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

There response to all issues for a duration of 10 years has been superior. As a client i dont know what else i could wish for. they Always exceed my expectations. 

What was your primary form of communication with Framework IT?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their ability to consistently provide the great service. Their Employee  Knowledge Base. If i have a specific need i can email the President of teh company and he will respond or take my call!! We have a great relationship over these 10+ years. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Framework IT could have done differently?

Not that i am aware of. I could not ask for anything more complete. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a real estate services company that services mortgage lenders on the eastern half of the US. I’m the COO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Framework Communications?

We needed someone to provide high level IT guidance, but we didn’t have a full-time role for that person. So, we were looking for access to IT expertise in a part-time capacity. Specifically, we wanted a part time CIO.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We requested a couple of things. One was to provide technical management to our onsite IT staff. We have two help desk analysts, and we needed someone with higher technical knowledge to manage those people and make recommendations on things like cybersecurity, infrastructure purposes, and to facilitate the purchases of those items. Recently, we added some of their help desk support services as well.

What is the team composition?

We just worked with one person.

How did you come to work with Framework Communications?

I found them through a Google search. I found a couple companies online. Ideally, I wanted a local company so e could meet in person. The first time, we went through discussions and proposals with three different firms. I just felt like Framework Communication’s model was the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $125,000 for the CIO services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together since June 2018 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before, we paid someone salary and benefits for this position in excess of $100,000 per year. Now we’re getting the same level of service for about $50,000. Now, downtime is basically nonexistent, when before, we used to experience a few hours a month of down time.

How did Framework Communications perform from a project management standpoint?

When I assign a project, they execute independently and keep me updated on what’s happening. It really drives the project forward. They worked remotely, but they visited our office every 2–3 months. We have weekly check-ins and a shared list.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve done a nice job of getting to know the ins-and-outs of our organization, getting to know the different people. Even though it’s part-time, he behaves as if he were an employee. When it comes to customer communications, he uses our email and acts like one of our employees. That’s really nice because we’re able to tap into this high-level IT knowledge without having to employ someone full-time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, I’ve been really happy with their service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They can offer a variety of different services, so be really clear upfront about what your goals are.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Student Veterans of America is a nonprofit organization with a network of more than 1,500 on-campus chapters in all 50 states and 4 countries representing more than 750,000 student veterans. I am an IT Analyst here at SVA in charge of the technology department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Framework Communications?

We need need help with: - Voip Management - Network Mangement - Cybersecurity - Device Management - IT planning

What were your goals for this project?

We needed an ongoing support team available that could handle the the teams technical issues and that would fall within our budget. The original contract also included transition from some of the vendors that we had to the frameworks platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We did an RFP

Describe the project in detail.

Once the original contract was signed, we gave them access to all account for monitoring as part of the contract. They took care of transferring all the accounts to their platform. They delivered everything on time.

What was the team composition?

- Mike Kolb- VCIO - Ross Dolce - COO - Ross Camardo - Adam Barney

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within a month we had: - The IT team trained - The IT team was able to train the rest of the staff on best practices - Old accounts were closed and transferred to frameworks managed service. We did not feel any down time.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The SVA IT team is in daily communication with the Framework communication team. They are constantly and consistently monitoring our system. Whenever something goes a critical device is unplugged from the network, I get an alert. They have the capability when given the permission to remote in any device to see what is wrong and fix. We have been very please with our collaboration so far.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their responsiveness and professionalism is most impressive. They make time to work for their client. and they make time to fine the right solution for each client.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a contract manufacturer of medical devices, specifically institutional and personal grade breast pumps, as well as pumping accessories. We're a small-sized business with around 75 employees. We have about half of those employees onsite here at the corporate office, in the suburbs of Chicago. Then, we have 35 to 40 employees who are remote around the world.

What is your position?

I'm the senior financial analyst.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Framework Communications?

At the end of 2012, we were part of a corporate spinoff, and we were acquired by a private entity. We had to develop our own departments and become more of a stand-alone company. One of the needs we had was IT [information technology]. Based on the size of our company at that point, we didn't think it was financially savvy decision to create an onsite IT department within the company. We started exploring third-party companies to handle all of our IT needs.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in more detail.

They rebuilt our entire network at our new facility. We used some of the existing infrastructure from the previous company that had owned us, but we did get our own firewalls, servers, and all of that. They reconstructed and built it. Then once that was all setup and working, they transitioned it all to the new building a few months later. During that move, they also were key in finding people to assist with the rewiring of the entire unit and reinstalling the phones, servers, and just the entire network.

They pretty much handle everything. Almost everything on our PCs, Adobe software, and Microsoft, everything like that with the exclusion of our cloud-based ERP [enterprise resource planning] system. They are more than willing to handle that, but we use a third-party consultant for that who we already worked with prior to our engagement with Framework.

How did you come to work with Framework Communications?

We looked for someone who would be able to handle our needs, remotely, for the most part, and handle the number of employees we had as well as maintain the budget that we had for this. We wanted someone who would be able to provide options or suggestions on how and where to house our data. We weren't entirely sure of every detail and piece that we would need. We knew that we were going to have a major infrastructure transition with the break off from the old corporation, so that was going to be a big project. We knew that we would be switching offices as well, so we would need to move all the infrastructure to a new building.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The annual spend has been very volatile, based on the projects that we've had. However, as far as the managed care and month-to-month services, it's probably around $8,000 a month. Maybe around $100,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We've had a couple issues that weren't attributable to Framework. They are very responsive, and they've owned any issue that we've ever had from start to finish. The way they address any problem is phenomenal. We've had some issues with our phone provider, where we've had outage service. They responded within minutes to a significant outage for our office. They've worked directly with those vendors to resolve it and prevent anything in the future.

We've also had some issues across our network. We haven't really figured out what the issue is, and it's been ongoing for quite some time. It really affects the speed of some of our programs, such as Excel. Although they haven't been able to find a resolution, they are trying different things constantly to resolve it and figure out what is causing it. It's nice to know that they haven't just given up on things.

I believe that all of our stakeholders are satisfied with their service. We don't have a very large executive staff here, but they are aware of who those people are, and they tend to give them a bit more of a priority service. They have great response time, and they definitely do everything they can, especially when it comes to an executive employee.

What distinguishes Framework Communications from other providers?

I think what really sets them apart, especially in terms of managing their client services, is that when we first contracted with them, they stated they wouldn't force one of their techs to come onsite every week or every month if we didn't want it. They could handle everything, remotely, for the most part, unless there's an irreparable issue.

Also, our company has been expanding more rapidly than expected, and Framework Communications really rose with us to where they scheduled weekly visits to handle outstanding issues or tickets. They've been flexible, coming out when we want them to come out, and otherwise handling everything remotely. I found Framework Communications to be extremely flexible when it comes to meeting our needs and what it is that we want in the long-term.

Is there anything Framework Communications could have improved or done differently?

I think it would be good to have a dedicated person both at our company and at Framework to handle most of the correspondence and tickets going back and forth. Usually, they have multiple techs working different issues and different tickets so, sometimes, things can get overlapped and redundant. Other than that, they're good when it comes to that stuff.