First Light Program Managers is a managing general agency in Dania Beach, Florida, working two specialty insurance niches: trucking and transportation, and ocean and recreational marine facilities. It places complex risks that generalist wholesalers cannot, which means brokers and carriers depend on it being reachable and operational during the hours it trades.
Those two facts set the constraints on its IT. The operating hours are not negotiable, and the cost of running the technology comes straight off the bottom line of a firm that competes on specialist expertise rather than volume. When First Light went looking for an IT provider, it ran a real selection process and interviewed several.
This page exists because of how that selection went, so it is worth being precise about what she credits.
Three things. WheelHouse IT understood the operating hours and the bottom line, and worked with First Light to find solutions inside those constraints rather than around them. It brought Office 365 depth that the other vendors in the process did not have. And during preliminary contract negotiations, before anything was signed and before WheelHouse IT was on the hook for anything, it offered help with a generator, equipment, and staff on site.
That last one is the whole story. A provider behaving like a partner when it has no contractual reason to is the clearest signal available about how it will behave once it does.
The engagement covers day-to-day IT and the Microsoft 365 environment.
One outcome she can point to, and three judgements.
Even though we didn't really have a strong partnership yet, I could see that they were still going to be an IT vendor that was really going to be a true partner of ours.
I really wanted a partner that I felt was going to be easy to work with and ahead of the curve and more proactive and not reactive. And I think WheelHouse IT delivers all of that.
[0:00] They were probably the only company that I interviewed that I felt safe with moving the business to. WheelHouse IT understands our business needs. They understand the hours that we have to operate. They understand the bottom line is very important to us and really have worked with us to find good solutions. Another thing that WheelHouse IT presented that a lot of the other vendors didn’t was their experience with the Office 365 products. We definitely have had a reduction in our tickets.
[0:26] They weren’t really even our IT vendor yet. We had just gone through preliminary contract negotiations, but they weren’t really on board yet. But they stepped up to the plate and they offered us options of could we help you with a generator, or do you need equipment, or do you need us to come to the office. Even though we didn’t really have a strong partnership yet, I could see that they were still going to be an IT vendor that was really going to be a true partner of ours.
[0:54] I would definitely recommend WheelHouse IT. I really wanted a partner that I felt was going to be easy to work with and ahead of the curve and more proactive and not reactive. And I think WheelHouse IT delivers all of that.
WheelHouse IT is a SOC 2 Type 1 certified, Top-100 managed IT services provider serving organizations of 20 to 250 employees in South Florida, New York, and Los Angeles. With 60+ IT professionals and a 24/7 internal Network Operations Center, WheelHouse IT prevents IT failures rather than reacting to them.
Florida (954) 474-2204 | New York (516) 536-5006
