Co-Managed IT Services for Lawrence County Board of DD

This was the concern of leadership at Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities in Coal Grove, Ohio. Quite to the contrary, here’s what happened…

The leadership at Lawrence County DD was impressed with the Managed IT Service and Support we were providing for the Clinton County Board of Developmental Disabilities in Wilmington, Ohio. They wanted us to come in and work with their IT Support Specialist to help him move important projects forward and more efficiently deal with daily issues.

Larry Whaley is the IT Support Specialist at Lawrence County DD. At first, he was skeptical about bringing in our team and may even have felt a bit threatened. This isn’t unusual and we’ve experienced this before. A common misconception is the belief we want to replace staff, in reality, we want to enhance them and help them be the absolute best they can be. After working with our team, Larry is now a huge supporter and believes in the immense value of our Co-Managed IT Services.

How Did The Co-Managed IT Setup Work?

Larry had been over tasked trying to manage everything on his own, from workstations to servers to break/fix to updates to software issues to numerous projects they wanted to implement, and the list goes on. Utilizing our Co-Managed IT Service, we began working with him to provide an expert team and resources to not only unburden him from time-consuming daily tasks, but to help him complete long-needed projects.

Larry handles issues needing hands-on and we handle everything else from help desk to monitoring and maintenance to their new Virtual Datacenter implementation. This not only allows Larry to focus on more important tasks like policy and how IT drives their DD organization forward, but it also helps him do his job much more efficiently. Just as importantly, instead of ending the day worrying about all the information technology issues needing addressed, he can now go home with peace of mind knowing it’s being taken care of and a team of dedicated, experienced professionals is making sure he doesn’t have to worry any longer.

What IT Solutions Are Used In The Co-Managed Service?

(In General and Specific to Lawrence County DD)

• Remote Desktop
• Hosted Exchange
• Email Encryption & Archiving
• Virtual Private Servers
• Mobile Device Management
• Managed IT Services
• Help DeskVendor Management
• vCIO Services
• Virtual Private Servers
• Assistance with audits and surveys for security and HIPAA compliance
• Network upgrades
• Windows 7 to Win10 upgrades
• Wireless Network Upgrade
• VoIP system to replace legacy phones
• VPN Connection to their county financial systems
• Upgrade from cable Internet to Fiber Internet service, allowing for connecting their 4 buildings with a single system

What Solutions Providers and Partners Did You Work With?

• APC
• Microsoft
• Veeam
• VMWare
• Adobe
• SonicWall
• Apple
• Cisco
• Ubiquiti
• Meraki
• Veeam
• VMware
• Lenovo
• Pure
• Solarwinds

Are Your Co-Managed IT Services Ongoing?

Yes, our Co-managed IT is an ongoing service just like our full Managed IT service with 24x7x365 access, monitoring, maintenance, and emergency response, along with 7-day-a-week Help Desk and Walk-in Support. For Larry, we continue to work with him and the staff at Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities daily by providing regular technical support, and continuing the services and solutions detailed above. They also now have the time to work with us on new projects and plans due to how organized and efficient their information technology infrastructure has become.

What Was The Final Outcome Of This Co-Managed IT Relationship?

Lawrence County DD now benefits from updated PCs and hardware that are reliable and secure along with remote access to their industry-specific software via our Virtual Datacenter service, which migrated them to the [VC3] Private Cloud. In addition, they benefit from:

• A reliable and secure private cloud with state-of-the-art server hardware and the latest versions of software.
• A complete data back-up and retention solution with disaster recovery.
• Alignment with best practices for their information technology.
• Technology they can rely on.
• Support that they can trust will always be there.
• Better compliance with HIPAA.
• A more secure IT infrastructure.
• The tools to help increase efficiency and TCM.
• And, they “Don’t worry about IT.”

How Does Their IT Staff Feel About Your Services Now?

Larry was skeptical in the beginning, but he’s now an advocate of our Co-Managed IT services. He can now focus on using IT to further the good work he and the Lawrence County DD perform every day. He’s no longer “putting out fires” or having to deal with the issue of the day. We’ve applied a proven solution that “prevents fires” while quickly identifying and mitigating anything that does crop up. And, as a benefit, we’ve been able to help him with both lingering and new projects he’d otherwise not be able to tackle.

In Larry’s own words …

Larry Whaley

“I was a department of one. I had to handle everything regarding our technology on my own. Now with the Co-Managed IT Service & Support from [VC3] I’ve been able to transition from being reactive to proactive and work with our administrative team on solutions we need now and into the future.

This was a big change for us… relying on a third party. I was originally concerned whether we could keep a line of communication going between us and the [VC3] team. But because [VC3] communicates so well, by voice and email, everything fell into place as it should and ran smoothly. If I have a concern or questions, the team at [VC3] is right here to help.

Our Staff Is More Productive: They’ve not only helped me, but have made our staff more productive. Our turn-around time to have issues resolved has greatly improved.

We’ve Realized Cost Savings: We’ve been able to go from 4 Internet service accounts to just 1 with the help of [VC3]. This, along with other solutions they’re providing has resulted in cost savings.

Now IT Is More HIPAA Compliant & Secure: It’s also allowed us to become compliant with our security and encrypted/archiving of emails and data. This has taken a burden off the agency. [VC3] provides Security Awareness Training for our employees as well.

We expected the transitioning to Co-Managed IT Services would take 2 months to set up. However, we achieved this within a much smaller time frame. This is because of [VC3]'s diligent efforts. They go above and beyond our expectations with everything that they do.

I recommend that other DD Boards look into using Managed IT or Co-Managed IT Services. I’m no longer skeptical and am a believer where [VC3] Co-Managed IT Services are concerned.”