Case Study
DFW Minority Supplier Development Council
How this growing non-profit streamlined operations and found greater mobility by outsourcing their IT management.
Company Name: Dallas Fort Worth Minority Supplier Development Council
Location: Dallas, Texas
Website: https://dfwmsdc.com
DFW MSDC facilitates business connections between their buying entity members (corporations and public-sector agencies) and certified minority-owned businesses in order to meet supply chain demands and further the economic development of their communities.
The History of DFW Minority Supplier Development Council
The Dallas/Fort Worth Minority Supplier Development Council has a rich history of advocating, connecting, certifying and developing ethnic minority businesses in order to facilitate business engagement and opportunities with their Buying Entity members. The Council celebrated its 45th year of commitment to minority diversity and inclusion in 2018.
How They Serve the Community
Their vision is to be the premier organization in North Texas certifying, developing, connecting, and advocating for minority business engagement and inclusion resulting in economic growth and development in their communities.
Their values and initiatives include diversity and inclusion; respect; integrity, honesty, and fairness; accountability; equal employment and procurement opportunity; and continuous improvement.
“I tell my business owners if you’re not an accountant, hire an accountant, if you’re not a lawyer, hire a lawyer, because you can’t do those things. You want a professional to do it so it’s done right and it’s done the same every time.”
The Challenge
Director of Operations, Andrew Nash, has a background in IT which led to him handling the organization’s technology needs, but this conflicted with his true job duties. And if he was busy or out of the office and a technology problem popped up, work came to a halt until he could fix it.
As they grew, it was becoming harder for Andrew to not only be responsible for day to day needs but their quickly growing event schedule. He had less and less time for IT. And even being “officially” out of the IT field for 15 years, he knows how quickly things change. He found himself getting consistently slower responding to and tackling IT needs.
This led Andrew and his peers to realize they needed a better, dedicated method of IT support.
The Solution
Working with DFW Minority Supplier Development Council’s team, Techvera proposed a fully-managed IT support solution. In addition to ongoing technology management, troubleshooting, and planning, we would upgrade all needed computers and devices, and ensure that installed software was secure and consistent.
Boosting communication and collaboration was an important focus as well. A VoIP phone system and other modern communication tools would support connected teams and improved organization.
The Results
Andrew noted that from day one his team was utilizing our service. They were calling in and requesting things before our first technician even left!
He added, “the first thing that it did was help us inventory our machines, let us know what software was working on certain machines, I had certain machines that were older than other machines and running five versions of Windows around. So you know, in the background, it’s not healthy. Number two it helped us get inventory of what everybody was doing, again, losing touch with what my sourcing guy was doing versus my construction person, they had different needs. Your team came out, evaluated what people needed and made recommendations from day one.”
Having that insight into the business and ensuring everyone has what they need to do their jobs well has made daily operations much smoother.
Andrew was able to focus on his true job as Director of Operations.
Communication and visibility in the organization increased.
Regular updates, maintenance, upgrades, and monitoring boosted security.
A global pandemic brings unexpected changes
When COVID hit in 2020, it shook the business world. Being prepared to quickly shift into remote and mobile work was priceless to DFW Minority Supplier Development Council.
Andrew shared, “I can tell you the most important thing is COVID happened, no one saw that coming, that on the next day, we’re going to be working at home. We were able to pivot, have people work from home and get computers set up, get remote access set up. And the great thing about already having the system in place, it didn’t take a whole lot.
We have a staff that has different levels of comfort with IT. Some folks you have to handhold, and other folks catch on real quick. That was a great thing about having the service, having Techvera on board, we were able to cater to everyone’s need and the most important thing is they were comfortable from working from home.”
“You know, no one would have seen it, no one knew that tomorrow we would all need this. But we had everything that we needed – Zoom, computers, laptops, remoting into desktops, and just having that support on the computers that everybody was working on. I mean, having that in place prior to this I think made our transition a whole lot easier.
If I go back and look at the price I paid, it was a minimal price to have that. We’re out on Friday, and our folks are ready to work remotely on Tuesday. I mean, that’s a testament to having a provider that really gives you that leniency and that works with you. We were prepared.
If you’re really looking at cost and looking at things, you just never know what’s going to happen. But what we’ve learned, you have to be ready to work from home, from the office, from the car, from anywhere.”
Conclusion
Better communication, greater insight and visibility, increased security, and time savings are benefits the team at DFW Minority Supplier Development Council have realized utilizing our managed IT service.
Andrew’s advice to other businesses
“I will tell you, even if you only have five employees, you need to look into a solution. As a small business, all the way up to the large businesses, you go to a corporation, they have a whole IT department, and I know a small business can’t afford that, but having someone on board like Techvera that expands our IT is so helpful.
Computers go down, hard drives go down, they don’t give you a warning. Having someone on your team or team members or folks that you can call makes a difference. So all small businesses, I would look into it.
And the great thing is there’s different rates, there’s different things that will tailor the service to you, but you need it. Just like insurance, you can have liability or you can have full coverage. The main thing is that you need some type of coverage.
I tell my business owners if you’re not an accountant, hire an accountant, if you’re not a lawyer, hire a lawyer, because you can’t you can’t do those things. You want a professional to do it so it’s done right and it’s done the same every time. There’s a record of what’s being done.”
A focus on customer service
Andrew added, “For now I just want to say thank you for your leadership, because I think, you know, with any great company leadership starts at the top. You can tell the level of experience that comes out, the friendliness and everything. But I think, being in the business I’m in, it starts from the top. We’re in the customer service business, I’m the same way, you’re the same way. And without happy customers, I can’t do my job.
So I just want to thank you and your team for always being there, always being responsible. I’ll tell you that just jumped out at me. When I got the email back, the phone call back, and ‘hey, how can we get your problem solved’, I was excited. Being in the customer service business I know it’s about customer service. So if I were to say anything, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for choosing a great team. And keep up the great work because I’m sure as people go through and find out, they’re going to be looking for some good companies and you guys are at the top of the list.”
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