We have some incredible clients! In this ongoing series, we want to introduce you to their businesses and how managed IT services have helped them find even greater success.
MEET DALLAS-FORT WORTH MINORITY SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
The Dallas Fort Worth Minority Supplier Development Council facilitates business connections between Buying Entity Members (corporations and public sector agencies) and certified ethnic minority-owned businesses in order to meet supply chain demands and further the economic development of our communities. Many enterprise businesses have minority initiatives in which they look to do business with minority-owned companies of all sizes, and the MSDC helps make those connections.
They service over 800 suppliers and are a national non-profit organization headquartered in New York with 23 affiliate councils, including three councils that service Texas. The DFW branch is responsible for the Minority Business Enterprises, or MBEs, in the North Texas area.
Going above and beyond for their partners
DFW MSDC is a direct connection to the minority business owner, and they put on regular events to help bring their connections together. One event is called Hard Hat, their expo for people in the construction industry. This event brings over 700 suppliers and general contractors together.
The second event they do is their Access Business Expo, where they bring 80 state agencies from around the country along with their corporate members together to help make it easy for them to meet and do business.
And lastly, they do an awards banquet, where they nominate their suppliers that year for various honors. But Andrew Nash, Director of Operations, says that the best part of their awards banquet is giving out a $500 scholarship to the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth or Kellogg School at Northwestern, both prestigious business schools that are minority business suppliers.
DFW MSDC offers a comprehensive suite of connection events, educational programs, inclusive supply chain forums, and focused “how to” sessions designed to assist both Buying Entity Member representatives and certified ethnic minority-owned suppliers in minority inclusion growth, scalability, and operational excellence.
DFW MINORITY SUPPLIER DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL + TECHVERA
What prompted DFW Minority Supplier Development Council to seek out the support of a managed IT service provider?
Director of Operations, Andrew Nash, has a background in IT which led to him handling many of the organization’s IT 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 slower and slower responding and tackling IT needs.
This led Andrew and his peers to realize they needed a better, dedicated method of IT support.
Has your business/day to day operations changed since working with Techvera? How so?
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.
Were there any unexpected benefits that came from working with us?
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.”
What would you tell other business that are looking for help with their technology?
“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 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.” -Andrew Nash
Anything to add that we haven’t covered here?
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.”
A huge thank you to DFW Minority Supplier Development Council and their Director of Operations, Andrew Nash, for sharing your thoughts and allowing us to spread the word about your awesome organization! They are an amazing group of people helping businesses throughout Texas. Please get in touch with them if you’d like more information about their services or how you can take advantage of their business connections and expertise!
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