“Their understanding of what we’re trying to achieve and the cohesiveness of their solutions are outstanding.”
Tom Gessel, SVP & CIO, First Credit Union | Verified Clutch review, October 29, 2021
BUDGET
$1,000,000 to $9,999,999
ENGAGEMENT DATES
Aug. 2016 – Ongoing
LOCATION
Chandler, Arizona
As listed on Clutch.co
5.0
OVERALL
out of 5.0
5.0
QUALITY
Service & Deliverables
5.0
SCHEDULE
On time / deadlines
5.0
COST
Value / budget
5.0
WILLING TO REFER
NPS
Credit union IT support since August 2016, starting with email antivirus and cybersecurity
Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and VMware environment managed, including storage, backups, and patching
A new solution that reduced the credit union’s RTO and RPO to meet its disaster recovery and business continuity goals
Desktop images deployed to eight remote locations
About 70% of the workforce set up to work remotely in under two weeks when COVID-19 hit, according to the client
Environment, stability, and uptime three times better, as reported by the client
First Credit Union is based in Chandler, Arizona, and operates primarily in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan markets. It has been in business for more than 90 years. Tom Gessel, its CIO, oversees IT, facility matters, and digital and strategic initiatives.
The credit union was working with a firm that was not keeping up with its business needs. The credit union had worked with Joe, CAL IT Group’s Director of Technical Services, before, and Tom crossed paths with CAL IT Group when it started, so the credit union reached out to see if the team could cover its needs. The engagement began in August 2016 and is ongoing.
The credit union was looking for a partner that understood its environment.
CAL IT Group first oversaw email solutions for antivirus and cybersecurity. The role quickly grew to include the credit union’s Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment and its entire VMware environment, covering storage management, backups, patching, and more, through its managed IT services.
CAL IT Group helped identify the infrastructure needed to deliver that environment, then assisted with procuring and installing the equipment and acquiring the required Citrix license. When the credit union needed its VMware environment to be more resilient, it worked with VMware to assess capabilities, and CAL IT Group determined and implemented another solution. That solution reduced the credit union’s Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) to meet its goals for disaster recovery and business continuity.
The team also worked with the credit union’s staff to build user desktop images and deploy them to eight remote locations, along with the Wyze and Dell hardware needed to run those desktops efficiently. The first phase lasted five years, and the credit union has since refreshed the entire environment.The credit union works with Kevin, Managing Partner, and CAL IT Group’s other principal. CAL IT Group has also brought in partners such as Citrix and Dell, primarily for hardware licensing. The teams communicate verbally and through written updates and hold a standing weekly meeting, and CAL IT Group provides weekly minutes so the credit union can look back on notes and past issues.
The client says the environment, stability, and uptime are three times better, and that CAL IT Group has hit its marks for return on investment, something the credit union had not experienced before. The work has put the credit union in a strong position to keep its network and systems available, and it has helped the IT team’s credibility.
The VDI environment also let the credit union standardize its desktops, which improved user consistency and cybersecurity. That foundation paid off when COVID-19 hit: the credit union provisioned roughly 70% of its workforce to work remotely in less than two weeks, using the VDI solution and two-factor authentication.
According to the client, CAL IT Group’s project management is really good. The team is highly engaged, understands its role, manages its pipeline and resource planning well, and blocks out time on a project timeline, so projects have started without delay. When a provider constraint threatened a delivery, such as a recent Nimble Storage unit whose fulfillment slowed after HP acquired the product line, CAL IT Group kept the credit union posted, escalated with the provider, and worked to limit the impact of the delay.
What impressed the client most was how well CAL IT Group understands what the credit union is trying to achieve, along with its willingness to bring in other partners when something falls outside its own solutions. CAL IT Group has worked directly with one of the credit union’s Phoenix partners, with and without the credit union on the call, without any finger-pointing. The client adds that it feels as important now as when it was one of CAL IT Group’s first five clients.
Asked about areas for improvement, the client noted that growing firms sometimes lose track of what made them good, and said that if CAL IT Group keeps doing what it does as it scales up, it will do fine.
★★★★★
“Their understanding of what we’re trying to achieve and the cohesiveness of their solutions are outstanding.”
Tom Gessel, SVP & CIO, First Credit Union
Source: Verified client review of CAL IT Group by Tom Gessel, SVP & CIO, First Credit Union, published on Clutch on October 29, 2021. The review is based on a phone interview conducted by a Clutch analyst. Page content is summarized from the review. The testimonial is quoted exactly.
Read the original review on Clutch.
Talk with our veteran-owned team about responsive managed IT and cybersecurity for businesses across Orange County, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, and San Diego.
