“We're shocked that they serve so many clients but still understand our network so intimately.”
Michael Patterson, IT Support Manager
Plaid Enterprises
Industry: Manufacturing
Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
How Ripple Helped
I'm the IT support manager for Plaid Enterprises, a paint manufacturing company. We first hired Ripple because we needed network support.
They provide extensive levels of support including after-hours help on a range of technical issues we've experienced. Our organization was about 350 employees when we engaged them, and we're now up to 800 employees. We've grown quite a bit. Ripple helped set up the network at all three of our facilities.
For one of our major projects, we had a holding company that wanted us to do an audit on ourselves. We did and we were quite vulnerable to threats. Ripple provided associated fixes. It was the largest project I've seen here. We had holes throughout the network, several accounts that shouldn't be used, backdoors that were open, and outdated switches. Ripple’s team set up the layout and step-by-step process we went through to satisfy the holding company. When we submitted the document of all the things we'd done to secure the infrastructure here, we never even got a call back — the holding company was satisfied with the report.
Due to our growing user database, we had a need for storage. They've been there to implement those upgrades and help us with problems whenever we have them. I recently came into the office at 3:00 in the morning because the main backbone switch went out. Ripple IT picked up the phone when I called. One person stayed up all night with me to fix it. We're now moving into a new facility — 198,000 square feet from our current 75,000 — and I've requested them to examine the space and plan our network.
We have AS400 in our environment, and it wasn't going over ethernet because of dated protocols. A sales engineer recommended Jayesh, who called me. I've never known someone with such a big brain. When Jayesh visited initially, it was like he was walking on water. He conveyed information about how he was going to approach the process. Our footprint was small and we hadn't paid them a lot of money, but he treated me as though we were one of his best customers.
Results & Feedback
I was a one-man shop for over four years. I didn't think I was going to make it because there were crises constantly. The reason I'm as successful as I am now is because of Ripple. There's no question about it. They've faced obstacles that my company would've needed to hire multiple people to overcome. Ripple IT was our added employee without being on the payroll. They'd offer me information that would help me solve an issue and make me shine. My knowledge levels have grown off the charts because of them. I was promoted from a support person to IT manager, in part because of the expertise that Ripple IT provided to me.
Project management exceeds all expectations. Since we're operating 24 hours each day, I can't wait for solutions. If something happens, I need support right away. I open tickets with them because that's their process, but I'll call if there's a crisis. No matter when I call them, right on the spot, I get a call back.
Jayesh doesn't forget anything. When it comes to IT, they've seen it all before. They're never just winging it. When we have projects, I want to work with Ripple IT. They know our network intimately because they helped me put it in place.
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