Handy Inc. is a Wilton Manors nonprofit working with at-promise youth and their families, including young people in the foster care system. Its records are case files about children, and its finances run on the same infrastructure.
Andree Garnier is Handy’s Chief Operating Officer, and she came to the role from the other end of the organization. She started as a case manager in the field, where IT was something that either worked or did not. Moving into compliance and operations changed what she could see: the equipment, the safety, the maintenance, the cybersecurity, and how much of the agency’s exposure sat there.
That is the situation. Not an outage, but a set of records where corrupted files or a breach would be a serious harm to real children, held by an organization that has to spend its money on programs.
What she credits first is not technical. It is that the phone gets answered.
When the agency had a need, it was a quick phone call, WheelHouse IT picked up quickly, and someone was able to jump in. Alongside that, she describes a relationship with regular reviews where Handy is heard, rather than a support queue. Her phrase for the difference is that WheelHouse IT is not a cookie-cutter IT company.
The engagement covers day-to-day IT, security, and one large project she describes in detail.
She names one impact above the others.
They provide a level of service for clients that I don't think I've seen elsewhere, where they walk alongside you instead of saying, "Hey, go ahead and plug this in and you should be good."
We were able to get to a place where we don't have to be afraid of a data breach that will not be taken care of.
It's very personable. We're able to call, we're able to talk, we have our reviews, we are heard.
[0:00] Working with WheelHouse IT is not a cookie cutter IT company, I feel like. It’s very personable. We’re able to call, we’re able to talk, we have our reviews, we are heard.
[0:12] Having great IT in an agency is crucial just because, especially for us at Handy, we are an agency that work with foster care youth. So having that extra protection, that extra layer that we know that we will not get corrupted files or we’re not going to get our data breach is very important for us.
[0:28] And on the flip side, you also have our financials, right? So everything is on a server or on a cloud based server. So it is very important for us to have that extra level of security and assistance.
[0:40] I started at Handy as a case manager, so I was in the field. So my relationship with IT was a little bit different than what it looks now. When I moved into compliance and operation, the relationship completely changed as I was able to see a whole different side of IT and the infrastructure and everything else that’s needed as far as equipment, safety, maintenance, cyber security.
[1:02] What stood out early on for me and working with WheelHouse IT when I started in this capacity was their willingness to assist. If there was a need for the agency, it was a quick phone call. They picked up quickly. They were able to jump in and assist.
[1:18] We recently moved from a building to the next and WheelHouse IT literally moved us from a one story building to a four story building, like connecting every single thing that you can imagine in the new building and providing further assistance when it came to our conference rooms.
[1:35] So they provide a level of service for clients that I don’t think I’ve seen elsewhere, where they walk alongside you instead of saying, “Hey, go ahead and plug this in and you should be good.”
[1:47] The biggest impact I feel like working with WheelHouse IT has been making sure that the agency is safer. I feel like because of processes and streamlined processes, we were able to get to a place where we don’t have to be afraid of a data breach that will not be taken care of.
[2:02] I would recommend WheelHouse IT in a heartbeat. You’re not working with just an IT consulting company, you’re working with a whole different team that will become part of your team.
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.
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