As a software developer with more than a quarter-century of technology experience, Kurt Strumpf knows when an IT services provider is doing its job and when it’s not.
So it’s telling that the chief technology officer for the popular Connecticut-based social media management application company Engage121 trusts CMIT Solutions of Central Fairfield County to handle the company’s technology needs, including private cloud, business continuity services, and disaster recovery.
“I absolutely would recommend them,” Strumpf says. “One of the main things you get with CMIT is peace of mind. They’ll work with me to make sure we’ve got the right level of monitoring and proper redundancies in the hardware. These guys are very dependable. When you need them, they’re there.”
The relationship works both ways. CMIT Solutions’ main office in Austin, Texas, has used Engage121 for public relations and social media management, so Strumpf had known about CMIT Solutions for years. He says he had always been impressed with CMIT’s professionalism and comprehensive approach to IT solutions for small businesses like Engage121, which employs 38.
Engage121, like many small firms, was able to get by with in-house IT management for a while. But as the company grew, beefing up business continuity functions and moving data to a private cloud, CEO Jon Victor and Strumpf realized they needed to outsource their technology management. Strumpf reached out to Avi Davidovich, president of the local CMIT Solutions location in Norwalk.
“I knew I wanted to talk to CMIT. I just gave them a basic outline of what I was trying to do, and Avi made an appointment to come and talk to me,” Strumpf says. “He spoke competently about the issues that concerned me. Being in technology myself, we knew what we wanted to do, but we just didn’t have the time or resources to do it, and we needed to focus on our business. After speaking with Avi, I knew he could get it done.”
Avi began monitoring and backing up Engage121’s systems, upgrading the company’s overall infrastructure, including a disaster recovery system, and helping build out a production co-location facility. Both projects were major successes, and Avi’s local technicians have gone out of their way to quickly take care of any problems that have arisen. Strumpf recalls a Saturday night about six months ago when one of the company’s servers just stopped working at about 8 p.m. on a Saturday. The local office’s techs showed up within the hour and resuscitated the server enough to allow Strumpf to retrieve some critical data.
“I was saying, ‘Guys, you can come back in the morning,’” Strumpf says, “and they said, ‘Nah, we’re here already, we’ll get it done.’”
Avi and his team are more than just repairmen and monitors; they’re trusted advisors to Engage121, attending monthly development meetings and asking detailed questions about the company’s plans and goals to better gauge the kind of IT support they need.
“They ask what’s in our future, what are our storage needs going to be—all the right questions. They don’t just say, ‘Tell us what you need.’ They work with us to help us meet our goals,” Strumpf says. “Especially over the last nine months, it’s like they’re members of the team, and they act that way.”
CMIT Solutions of Central Fairfield County: (203) 539-6321; info.cfc@cmitsolutions.com