Each year, our sister publication Computer Dealer News hosts the Channel Elite Awards to recognize IT Solution Provider for their innovation, leadership, and commitment for creating value for their customers. As Canada’s leading IT channel publication, CDN invited solution providers to submit their best work to nine different categories for 2013’s awards. Here, we present the case studies these award nominees put forward to us. Find out who the big winners are on Sept. 11 when CDN presents them at the CEA Awards Gala.
Learn more about CDN’s Channel Elite Awards 2013
Nominee: CAT-TEC from Uxbridge, Ontario
Managed Services Solution description
CAT-TEC provides small businesses in the Toronto area with proactive IT management for a guaranteed monthly fixed fee. As part of our IT Services Plan we manage all of the devices on a network, as well as monitor and manage anti-virus solutions and backups. In addition, our customer service plan includes 24/7 monitoring with access to unlimited assistance from our helpdesk. Our primary goal is to ensure that our clients’ IT infrastructure allows for the maximum possible contribution to their company’s productivity and profitability. We work cooperatively alongside our clients using our skill and vigilant commitment to safeguard their valuable IT assets, and to help them achieve all of their business goals through better managed IT services.
What makes your Managed Services innovative or original compared to the competition?
CAT-TEC’s unique value proposition guarantees that all our clients’ devices are covered in their SLA (Service Level Agreement). If a client experiences a fatal hardware issue with a desktop computer or server due to failed hardware or a bad software update/patch from the software vendor, we’ll correct the issue free of charge. Our clients consider this added value as an insurance policy. We understand that an interruption in server access, loss of important data, or even a poorly managed spam filter could end up costing a small business a lot of time and money. CAT-TEC only selects solutions for our clients that are truly needed; this saves them money and time spent implementing unnecessary solutions. Our Fortress Service provides full-time data backup and our IT Guardian Consulting Services address the various business challenges that our clients potentially face on a daily basis, such as network implementations and upgrades, virtualization, and storage consolidation.
What were the benefits of your Managed Services Solution for your client and what evidence can you provide to show this?
When an award-winning real estate development company experienced trouble with downtimes, they turned to CAT-TEC because of our wide range of computer support services. We ensured that their business was able to operate continually without further downtimes. Since that time (December 2009), our client hasn’t experienced any unplanned network downtimes. This consistent uptime allows them to fully maximize their IT investment, and our behind-the-scenes weekly scheduled desktop maintenance provides them approximately 25 hours of maintenance and optimization to keep their desktops/laptops finely tuned for maximum uptime. At CAT-TEC, we pride ourselves on our ability to create long-term relationships with our clients, and work alongside them to ensure that their company has the proper tools for success, and the necessary support to keep operating smoothly.
What are the main reasons that your Managed Services are better for the customer than an on-premises solution?
The managed services provided to our real estate client were part of an on-premise solution.
How did the Managed Service improve the customer’s ability to server its internal or external clients?
The client hasn’t had downtime since December 2009, which gives them the ability to serve their clients without interruption.
How does the solution further your client’s green or environmentally friendly plans?
Due to the fact that the client is leasing their office, we were unable to determine the costs and energy saved by the implementation of our services. However, we can be green-friendly by shutting machines down on schedule and turning them on remotely, so the company’s technology isn’t running when it’s not needed.
