A Helping Hand

IPC Technologies’ TechFirst program helps the YMCA of Greater Richmond ensure the availability and performance of its network — and reduce costs.

For more than 150 years, the YMCA of Greater Richmond has built “strong kids, strong families and strong communities” through its constantly evolving programs. The success of these programs comes through the dedication of the YMCA’s staff and volunteers. But there’s also a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that makes it all possible.

Take IT support, for example. The YMCA of Great Richmond has more than 300 PCs scattered throughout 15 locations connected by a WAN. Just keeping up with day-to-day support tasks keeps the YMCA’s IT staff very busy.

“Like most nonprofits, we have a very lean IT department — but we have a lot of things going on,” said John Rudin, IT Director for the YMCA of Greater Richmond. “The workers here at the YMCA are very good at working with people but not necessarily at using computers. So we have a lot of things to give attention to on a day-to-day basis.” As a result, Rudin says, the IT team needed help with some of the more complex networking issues.

“We have five IT people who are very capable, but we’re just not at the point we can justify having a full-time Microsoft certified engineer,” he said. “So we had a lot of concerns about our ability to ensure the security and performance of the network.”

Doing It Right
The YMCA turned to IPC Technologies for help. The Richmond-based technology provider offers an outsourced IT support service, called TechFirst, that is designed to alleviate many of the challenges smaller organizations face when it comes to network monitoring, maintenance and support. TechFirst proved to be an ideal solution for the YMCA.

Through the TechFirst program, IPC Technologies remotely monitors and proactively manages the YMCA’s network to increase availability, speed problem resolution and reduce costs. TechFirst eliminates any skills gaps and takes some of the pressure off the YMCA’s overstretched IT staff, while helping maximize the efficiency and security of their hardware, software and network.

“Outsourcing is hardly a new concept, but a lot of people think of it in terms of mega-deals involving huge corporations,” said IPC Executive, Title, IPC Technologies. “TechFirst makes enterprise-class IT support affordable for small to midsize organizations. And it’s a local service provided by people you know and trust. We’re very proud of the fact that TechFirst is the largest independent provider of outsourced IT management in Central Virginia.”

Behind the Scenes
IPC Technologies monitors the YMCA’s WAN remotely using a variety of tools in their state-of-the-art Network Operations Center. IPC’s technicians can detect not only outages but problems that can potentially cause downtime, and notify YMCA personnel.

“They make sure we’re operating effectively,” Rudin said. “They monitor all the routers, switches and servers at each location. There have been several cases where they’ve pointed out something wrong — such as a disk on a server getting full — so that we can respond to it before it causes a big problem. Monitoring helps ensure that we’re not fighting more fires than we need to. That’s been a huge advantage.”

Security was also important to the YMCA of Greater Richmond, and a key benefit of the TechFirst program. TechFirst provides the YMCA with intrusion detection and spam and content filtering.

“They’re doing all the work to make sure we’re protected from the evils of the Internet,” Rudin said. “We get a wide variety of people, including children, who get on the network to access the Internet, so we have a lot of requirements for content filtering. IPC has done a good job of providing us with those mechanisms.”

Assistance When Needed
Recently, the YMCA began taking advantage of IPC Technologies’ help desk services. IPC Technologies is available to help with day-to-day support issues if the YMCA’s staff becomes too busy to respond in a timely fashion.

“We turned over a lot of the routine password resets, Microsoft problems, printer problems — all the little things that crop up on a daily basis. It takes our group out of reactive mode and lets us focus on the longer-term issues that add value,” Rudin said. “With a small staff and a lot going on, having a partner like IPC gives us the flexibility to deal with those issues and still meet our users’ expectations.”

In addition, the YMCA takes advantage of IPC Technologies’ project-based services. The long-term relationship makes it a natural fit.

“Because they’re so familiar with our operations and our network, we call on them when we have a major project and need additional expertise and resources,” Rudin said. “We feel very comfortable sitting down with IPC and saying, ‘Here’s what we need to do. Put a project plan together.’ Last year, we upgraded all of our major servers to Windows 2003 using the IPC team. There’s no way we would have done that on or own.”

Real Value
Rudin says that working with IPC Technologies is much more cost-effective than attempting to hire someone with that knowledge and experience. Plus, IPC is available around-the-clock — Rudin doesn’t have to worry about covering vacations, sick time and holidays.

“The expertise we get with IPC’s staff, plus all the monitoring … there’s just no way we could re-create that ourselves, economically or otherwise,” he said. “We are a nonprofit and we have to keep costs down, and I think this whole arrangement helps us do that.

“The fact that we’re looking to do more things with IPC is a good example of the way the relationship has grown and improved. It’s definitely providing value.”

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