Our Testimonials | Keeran Networks IT Solutions

Derek Pluim
And so just start off with it. Could you please tell us a little bit about yourselves and what the YWCA does?

Katherine O'Neill
So my name is Katherine O'Neill and I'm the CEO for YWCA Edmonton, and I joined YWCA Edmonton on March 16th, 2020, so that was the first day of basically the pandemic in Canada.

So as for the YWCA Edmonton, We've been in our community since 1907, so we have seen many crises like these before. We've been around since World War One World War Two, the Great Depression, lots of ups and downs in this province, and now we're navigating through COVID-19. And what our organization does. We have a Northstar and it's we believe deeply and gender equity in our community. So we have many programs and services that help reach that goal.

Including affordable counseling help, and counseling services for women fleeing domestic violence. We have an outdoor education facility where we teach young people leadership skills and ways to be better citizens in our community.

We also have a disability sector, so we have clients who are both children and adults, and our providers work with them in the Community to make sure that they can live a full life and a life and make sure that they're able to do as much as possible in our community when and when and when they want, when.

We also do advocacy work we talk to governments about ways that they can better set up rules and systems within our communities to allow more women to be at decision-making tables or to create laws that help prevent something like gender-based violence. So overall, we do a lot in our community and we have like I said been here since 1907.

But we always have that North Star and that's that gender equity lens that we put on. Everything we do in our community.

Derek Pluim
What made you realize that you need to go looking for some help with your IT?

Katherine O'Neill
You know, there are a lot of things on the hardware side. We knew that the equipment that we had in our office was not a modern office and because we have, you know, staff all over our city because of COVID and with the lockdown and many people working from home, we needed to make sure that we had the right hardware, but also the right software and that we had systems in place that could just pull everything together and help our staff do their jobs in a way that's.

That's leading-edge, often not for profits don't invest in this type of thing, and it's too bad because I think that by being able to pull this together and have a really good strategy around IT, software, hardware, I think that you're going to get left behind and you're not going to be capitalizing as much on all of those. You know, really sacred donor dollars. Dollars that we get from our donors.

So that we can ensure that our services and our programs are just at the top of and be top of the line top, using all of the best practices in our community.

Derek Pluim
What has shown you they made the right choice by picking Keeran Networks specifically?

Katherine O'Neill
You know, Keeran has just been an incredible partner. That's how I would describe them. We came to them letting them know where history has been, particularly with IT. We've drafted a short term plan and a long term plan and I feel that anytime we have a challenge or there's a roadblock, they're always there to help us and kind of take it, take it back and help us figure out, OK, what are the best drugs you moving forward. They're also teachers, their educators. You know, I think our staff really needed to understand how to use the technology.

That we brought her or the hardware and you know, we've had lunch and learns and things like that. So they've always just been really there to not only teach but also find solutions to challenges we might have and you know in this online zoom Microsoft team world that we are now living in there's a lot of change happening and it's really overwhelming for staff so to be able to have a tech partner that act salute Lee understands that but then also brings these really incredible solutions to the table.

I just feel really blessed and we've really been excited about this partnership and I'm really looking forward to the future working with Keeran.

Derek Pluim
How has Keeran Networks impacted your organization's ability to scale?

Katherine O'Neill
You know, but the fact that we've been able to go right back to brass tacks, to the foundation to really figure out again how what is our hardware looks like? What do we need to do to improve there? We've worked with them to make sure that we have the right equipment and then that software piece. So just bringing those pieces together, as I said earlier, they've been able to bring together all of the pieces. But in a way that makes sense to our teams because we were starting out from a staff that might not always want change.

The change, or nervous about the change or not understanding what benefits that we could have from the change. So having them at the table to help guide all of our staff has been really incredible and there are lots of people who are really excited by change and that's great. You have that on every team, but you always have folks that might not understand and we've been able to bring everyone along. And I really do attribute that to Keeran being so patient and being so thoughtful in how they approach us as a client and always being there with solutions.

Derek Pluim
Every company organization uses data. How important is the security of your data? What does it mean to your organization?

Katherine O'Neill
Data is really important and definitely privacy because we have clients that definitely privacy is really essential when it counseling services, clients or disability services clients. So that's always in every conversation that we do have with Keeran. They're always talking about cybersecurity, things like that. What are our long-term strategies, making sure that we're thinking about those big-picture things that are happening in the world? We don't feel like we're being told after the fact. We feel like we were being brought in on the overall strategy.

And again, those are the kind of things that we see this as a really just a partnership because we're not just being treated like I will tell you when you need to know where, where they're at the table, understanding that what's happening in the world, what might need to be done and again data privacy, all of those things are really essential that we are always thinking ahead because we know that this is a field where things change quite quickly. And even though we're not for profit and often not for profit scenes is seen as antiquated or a little bit behind the curve.

Katherine O'Neill
I don't feel like that when we have someone like Keeran, who's our partner in this overall IT journey.

Derek Pluim
Building on that, how does Keeran Networks help you make smart decisions for your business?

Katherine O'Neill
Now it goes back to that foundational those first meetings we told you they really drilled down a lot on what the needs were. So they came in and did a lot of research. They asked a lot of questions and then we were able to build out that short and long-term plan. So I think that was really essential to build starting this off on the right foot. They are also always open to feedback when we have a question, you know our director, finance and operations will be on the phone or I can be on the phone.

And they welcome questions all the time. So you feel like it is a two-way street and that you can if there are questions that come and arise it that they're more than welcome and that people will walk you through and not talk over you 'cause. I'm not a tech person at all. And I feel that the language that we speak is I understand what's happening and that's often not always the kind of service you can sometimes get with a tech company so that really helps and I think it goes back to that education peak piece they are teachers and always open to feedback and honest feedback about how things are going.

Derek Pluim
How would you describe the Keeran Networks, complete communication style?

Katherine O'Neill
Well, they're, they're open. They're honest. They want transparency. Everyone knows what's going on. They speak in plain language, even though they have a high level of expertise in this area. And again, as a client, that's just so welcoming because you really do feel that you understand what's happening, what you need to do as a client to be a good client. Because we know that there's it's a two-way street and there are lots of things that we need to do on our end. And I think overall, particularly with their frontline staff.

They feel that this is a great partnership because again when we have questions about new software or do changes, they're always open to come in and do a lunch and learn or help educate folks on how to best utilize this technology. Because if you don't use the technology, it's not worth anything. And if people don't understand what that, you know, it's it's just a waste of money. And again, we wanna make sure that all of our dollars go a long way and every investment we make on IT is used as well as we can.

Derek Pluim
If there's one word you could use, describe your experience with the team at Keeran Networks, what word would it be and why?

Katherine O'Neill
Just positive, you know, it's been a very positive experience and there are not those like put beating your head on a table moments when in because often you can get frustrated with technology. We really do feel again that like I said, if questions arise that we can go and they're very prompt, they're very thorough. They're always giving us research back on, on, on their response times. We don't have to go hunting for that information. They're very, very proactive in getting a set of information and also helping us.

Analyze how things are going, where we can help speed up response times, how they can help. Speed up response times as well. And you know if they're always are going to be hiccups along the way. There have been, but they've always been approached in a very professional, very open, and thoughtful way. And we've always been able to get over any hurdle that we've we've reached along the way.

Derek Pluim
What problems we're trying to solve by hiring care networks in the first place?

Katherine O'Neill
You know, I think moving into this new hybrid world, we did understand that we need it to invest more in this side of our operations because before we had that nine to five office very paper-heavy, we have goals to go paperless by 2023 within the entire organization. And so to be able to reach those goals, those goals we had to have a partnership like this to help us and to help us walk through those again short term and long term goals to get there.

And so we just got through a process of establishing a digital payroll system called Ceridian. Anytime we have a question about these new technology solutions, they help us walk us through what is the best way to do it, the rollout, how things are working. We also just moved our office, our physical office, they've been able to help with that. You know, all of those things that go along with removing a physical office, we were able to dismantle our server, which was so antiquated and really a liability for the organization.

So again, there were big things, but then there have been these small things along the way and again, it just we can't thank them enough.

We had a long way to go and I feel like even in the short time we've been in this partnership, we've come a long way and I'm really excited about that long term. Where are we going to be? Because we're a not-for-profit. I'd like to lead our sector in being very, very savvy when it comes to your IT or hardware in your software to make sure that we are leading edge and that we're making the right investments when we look back they all were part of a very strategic well thought through plan.

Derek Pluim
What else has your business been able to accomplish knowing that your IT is looked after?

Katherine O'Neill
I'm trying to think that maybe I'll ask Jamie that one, 'cause she's more specific. What works beyond Ceridian? What were some other projects basically, is that your question, 'cause, Jaime, their keeper of all projects?

Katherine O'Neill
We did Microsoft Office 365. Well, yeah, and that's how basic it was. We did a Microsoft Office 365 which again doesn't sound complicated, but for organization, we were not. We were, we were, Oh my gosh. We started on 07 and so there were just a lot of security issues around that. There was just like a lot of like we've come a long way and we weren't really getting bang for Buck for what you know our staff are really working on systems equipment and software that just has like stuck in another decade like literally stuck in another decade. So just those baby steps and being able to build up and.

And the goal to go paperless is really aggressive. 2023 is soon and we do a lot of particularly in one of our departments, disability services, we have a lot of paper but by setting that and Keeran understanding that we need to to bring him more software solutions to help us get there. It's building that building block and that long term like let's keep building on what we're doing and on on the on that change management because again we came from a, we came from a past where folks saw technology is like scary sometimes.

Or not quite sure why it's useful. And again I think Keeran's just done a beautiful job on being able to show that bigger picture and also.

Bring along the strategies to help us implement them and make sure people are using them and by all accounts, folks are really excited. We are going to keep a hybrid office, even post-pandemic because it's really shown it's been really from a gender equity lens. It's really great. A lot of particularly female employees are excited. It just frees up their day quite a bit. But you have to have the right technology to do that and that's why investments like these are just so important in a partnership like this, we could not do this alone.

Derek Pluim
What type of business or owner would you recommend Keeran networks to?

Katherine O'Neill
Any profit not for profit or for profit, business or government needs to really think ahead. I think this has been the silver lining of COVID. It is it's forced everyone to rethink everything they do including the technology that they use. And if you didn't take a step back and say that like what can we take the good things that have come out of this and I think and I think some companies are saying I don't know about hybrid. I wanna see bums in seats etc. But we don't see that. And like I said, there's a gender equity.

The advantage to this is that you will if you were trying to keep your staff happy and also engaged. This is something that no matter who you are, no matter what employer private or public, you need to look at this and you can't do this without having the proper technology. And that's why again having the right software solutions having the right hardware is essential. So we're excited 'cause I feel that we are.

Particularly in the not-for-profit sector, not everyone sold that this is the way to go, but we're willing to like really be out there and showing folks the benefits of this. And again by having this investment that's really very focused investment on our side.

We wouldn't be able to be doing this kind of work, not being able. We wouldn't be able to be showing others how it's how you can do it and we're not going to be perfect. This is going to take everybody needs to test and take risks. But I'm excited by that. And I think again knowing that we have Keeran who's been able to help us with that huge piece of like how do you do this without having bums in seats every day? We couldn't have done it. And yeah, works, you know, and the investments, if they understand we have limited.

We have limited funds, we don't have a bottomless pit of money. So they're really when they come with solutions or also always keeping in mind that we're not for profit client.

They're great corporate citizens. They have a very thoughtful long-term plan of how we can get there. And I really again really approach really appreciate that as the leader of the YWCA, because I feel like again it's a true partnership and that they see us as a long-term partner throughout this.

Derek Pluim
How was the YWCA impacted by Covid and what role did Keeran Networks play in helping you get through it?

Katherine O'Neill
You know, it was dramatic. You know, as soon as March 16th rolled around, we shut down our office. We moved 100% to remote counseling. Before that, it was 100% in person. So we have, you know, a combination of Tele-health, phone or Internet counseling. That's huge. That was a huge overnight change. And we moved to Karen about halfway, I think through the pandemic. And we knew as we were trying to establish A lot of these online services we didn't have the right IT support that was going to be able to help us succeed when we were doing a lot of these new, like, very dramatic changes within our services and operations. So it was just a light bulb moment that we need it to again invest more in this area and also find that partner that understood that we were starting from a not a great place that we had under-invested for many years and now we were having to play catch up.

Not only playing catch up but during a pandemic, so they have been like I said, when we arrived, did that thorough look at what we need? It came up with a good plan and is always tweaking and coming back and reassessing like is this working? Is this working? So we have the monthly check-ins as far as we have a report that's delivered to us about. We can see how we're doing. You know, we can set up phone calls if we want. We have just incredible customer service when things aren't going well.

Katherine O'Neill
And when there are big projects to there's that project manager there help that we can always go-to for just pressing questions. So there's just some very clear established line of communication. And again it goes back to that great positive communication where there's a project setup. That's the person we're dealing with and it's easy and it's well, it's not always it can be frustrating at points 'cause when you need an email you need an email, but we know that we're going to get a solution pretty quickly and that somebody is going to be on it.

Derek Pluim
How do you feel about the speed at which your issues get addressed?

Katherine O'Neill
Incredible again, and it speaks to and we've had other providers in the past and there's some good and bad to all of them. But I think what sets Keeran apart is, is its promptness, its customer service, the fact that we know a lot of the folks you get used to who you're you're talking with. So there are the same folks that you're talking with so that they'll have an answer, like OK, yeah, you had that problem three months ago. There's a relationship that's built with these folks and we know them by name, many of them. So it just feels good because we feel that they know.

Katherine O'Neill
We're not just another name as a client that people know who we are. They understand the business we're doing. They understand if we're particularly from like for example of our one of our counselors gets ahold of them and she's going into a session, a counseling session, they'll know there's an urgency there. They know what we do. They know this is the business that we do and that the fact that we're helping very vulnerable clients. So again, it's just feeling like we're not just a number, they really treat us with so much professionalism that and again goes back to that partner piece that they have set out very clear expectations of what they want to.

They know what the benchmarks they wanna hit and there are always, you know, checking in with us to see. OK. Are you happy? And if you're not happy, how do we get there?

Like they are really good. Like, I feel like I made the more we're talking with Jaime listening to me. They're really good. They're really good.

'cause, we've had not, and I'm new to the why. So is Jamie. But I know that the constant criticism going into this change was that we hadn't been able to find an IT provider that just could fit that.

There just always was a problem, like there were always issues and this is not where we are right now. This is one of those things.

This is one of our partners that we work with where we feel like there's just a really healthy productive professional relationship and that that's really, particularly during COVID you couldn't ask for anything more.

Derek Pluim
OK, so just as an introduction here, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what your company Dust Queen does?

Bill Barless
Well, I'm you know, myself I've been with the Dust Queen Group, since and, you caught me off guard with this one here.

Because I'm not the principle. That's the Shelly Shelly Barless. She's the owner of the company I joined in... when she was really beginning to expand and uh, and it, you know, I and my previous life I was involved in selling engineered packages compressor packages and a vertical turbine pump packages to the oil, gas, and petrol chemical industry.

Derek Pluim
Right.

Bill Barless
So you know also to keep me in town at the expansion that she was growing on at that point. Which was perfect. So I joined the company and like I said in and you know, and we're just so, you know, it's still going strong.

Derek Pluim
What made you realize you needed to go looking for someone to help you with your IT?

Bill Barless
Well, a few years back we had a relationship for a number of years, so a fairly long relationship with another IT company and yeah, we knew some of the issues that we were having. We were on a server and we were having difficulties. We knew that the server was getting old and we needed upgrades So obviously we went to them first and we asked and we asked them to put together a package of what we're going to need to upgrade and replace And they came back, they probably answered the questions exactly the way to my questions. OK. And it had this big price tag.

And it was at the point, you know, and it was to replace the server and everything else and it left a couple of questions in my mind and I believe I was talking to another business associate and you know they said to me, you know, have I tried talking to Keeran. And so I said, well, I'm gonna look into it. So anyway, we did, we had Keeran come in and Rishi came up, you know that the first couple of meetings and but we said to him I said the very same thing I said we understand that our server is getting old and we wanna replace it so you know are you able to, you know, put something together that's going to take us forward for the next years anyway And and from that meeting, he said Uh, he said Well, he said "Can I ask why? Why do you think you need a server?"

Well, it's all of a sudden You know, we're now we're really quite surprised as oh, wow, Gee, that's like, you know, we've been told for all these years we need a server and then as this one became the one we have is becoming antiquated We need to upgrade it and we'll have to replace it And he said well look at let me look into this But he said I think with your business and we could put it you know put it up in the cloud and you wouldn't need to have a server on-site.

Bill Barless
So, so that was, you know like that was like a breath of fresh air And so anyway, after them doing, uh, like let's say, like a needs analysis, that customer needs analysis They came back and said, I don't think you're going to need a server You know, we're gonna, we're gonna put together a package that's going to make a number of recommendations and we'll go from there. So they, uh, they did. And they actually did an outstanding job because calling it a presentation. Call it what you will, it all came down to a strategy and it was like an uh project strategy and they were going to they turn around and they laid it out or they did up a drawing for us.

You know, it took everything into consideration firewalls, the type of products we need to do to go to and how it would be set up And it was, it was, it was like an organizational chart of execution strategy And so we were, we were convinced at that point and what they told us was we do not need to have an on-site server And so that was great now.

Do we have a server in the cloud? Yes, we do. Yeah. And, it's a no muss, no fuss thing for us. And you know, whenever there have been online issues that we have that, you know Keeran Support group, they respond they get the job done and you know I don't believe that in the last few years that whenever I've had to send in a help request to the service department.

I don't think there's ever been an unhappy moment where you know it, it didn't get done You know, their Technical Support people are very good at what they do.

Derek Pluim
Is there anything else that has shown you made the right choice by picking Keeran Networks?

Bill Barless
Well, the right choice. Yes, absolutely I mean, you know I I come to work every day I'm not thinking about whether I'm going to be offline and if for some reason something happens with one of our software packages and we are offline, I've got all the confidence in the world that I'm going to be back online You know, with it within the within less than an hour because I reach out to Keeran support and somebody gets back to me right away.

You know, if I don't phone, I just send in a ticket and automatically online and somebody gets back to me right away and they are able to dial into our computers. And you know they've, as a matter of fact, we bought all our hardware, we upgraded everything. You know, we decided to upgrade all our hardware, so everybody here got new computers and Keeran is got them all marked and identified. It's you know, like in the old days where when I say the old days, uh, using current predecessor they would be like "OK what computer are you on?"
"I'm on mine."
"OK Yeah."
Like there was nothing identified like now.

Now, this is all you know it it's very smooth We've, you know, we've got the identification right on her computer or just, you know, turn around and say, you know, I'm on such and such. And that's and they're able to dial in right away and fix the issue. And like I said it all comes down I've got confidence and Peace of Mind. I guess it is probably a wonderful phrase in our relationship with Keeran.

Derek Pluim
We're coming off some tough years here, right? With COVID and with your industry going into customers' homes. How has Keeran Networks impacted your business abilities to scale throughout COVID?

Bill Barless
Wow. You know, like I'm trying to think how I would respond to that, Derek, the impact our business like they've been there for us. Yeah, I understand that during the last two years at COVID we're, you know...
We're known as an essential l business and Keeran is known as an essential business to us.

And so our people were still coming to work every day And I do, I understand that a lot of Keeran support crews, they were, they were working from home and whatnot. But again if there is never an issue I was because you know, yes we've had we have different Internet-based software programs that we work with and sometimes they go down, you know. It's not a Keeran issue, but what happens is we turn to Keeran first.

You know our accounting or accounting package. But yeah, they deal directly with the, you know what the manufacturer of the product and you know so all I have to do is tell them that this is an issue that we're having I don't know if it's your responsibility or somebody I think just said leave it with me or get out, you know we'll get into it and you know invariably I get a call back within the hour and say OK, look at, we've been able to do this, that and the other and they may require a password from me for the other software, and they take care of it. So you know again it just comes down to Peace of Mind.

And another issue that we had during these past Covid years as we had a small fire in, in our office and it was in, in the storage room and fire damage with very limited, it was only $2500 of fire damage, but we had $350,000 of water damage from sprinkler systems and the computers, all the computers that we had we had used Keeran to acquire for us, you know, back in January of 2020 and they were all destroyed.

But we told them what we needed. And out of their hands was the supply chain issues because a lot of these manufacturing facilities were down.
That's where they brought me a loaner like I, I mean, they brought up loaners here so that we had to, you know, we weren't missing a beat and we were working, you know, right back up and working the next day And and they got her equipment on order They took care of it, then went all the equipment, came in, they brought it all down and got everything all hooked up And so it really it's like you wouldn't even know that we had had an issue from any water damage on our computers because we were never we weren't ever offline. Let's put it that way.

And so, you know, yeah, that's what they did to help us keep us going and in business. You know, so it was during the COVID years, but it was for an unrelated matter.

Derek Pluim
How important is the security of your data as a business?

Bill Barless
It's very, very, very important, I mean. You know, like I said, it's I'm not a technical person And especially with the computers like that, the whole idea is I come in, in the morning and I turn it on. And this is my tool. You know, and I do when something's not working. It's like, you know, and what do I do? And you know so whenever in doubt I call Keeran.

Derek Pluim
What is it about Keeran Networks that makes you comfortable today that your data is secure? How do they report back to you that your data is being taken care of?

Bill Barless
Yeah. Every month they send a report, you know

Report on her equipment, as a matter of fact, it's taking in a number of different areas it talks about the condition, it talks about. The agent talks about life expectancy. So yeah, you know, and they're upgrading or they're always upgrading, as a matter of fact, I do know that cyber theft is, really getting to be big. I'd had a conversation. They got ahold of me a number of months ago to tell me that they were going to be upgrading their system for the cyber technology that they needed to make their system that much more stronger and powerful against any type of an attack. And you know, and at the same time, I took that lead, I went back to our insurance company to find out what type of coverage we had insurance coverage for you know for any type of cyber theft and you know what it was, it was nominal was it was a very, very small amount, I think like $10,000, and really $10,000, is nothing And so you know with our you know we add her insurance company, put an underwriter in for increased Cybertechnology insurance, you know.

Bill Barless
Again, I'm not a technical person and can't really speak intelligently on it, but I listen to what Keeran has been telling me. And, you know, I'm not skeptical of it I just believe it. And so I see what they're doing and what they're doing is to protect my interest as well so that does it get provides a lot of confidence.

Derek Pluim
How does Keeran Networks help you make smart decisions for your business?

Bill Barless
Smart decisions for our business,
You know, just reiterating again their increased cybersecurity is a smart decision for our business as well, you know.

Bill Barless
And you know, and there have been times that we find that there is software, you know, various types of inquiries, phishing expeditions.

You know, whenever that's become apparent that we're, we're seeing that I do I contact Keeran and say can we not prevent this? Absolutely that you know they're able to fine-tune the system so that we don't have to be exposed to these types of phishing exercises and then when I say phishing, uh, you know, it's with a pH and it's like they're trying to get into You know, they want to try and secure your banking information. They want to secure your, you know, access to your emails and your contact list so you know So we, you know, we're pretty firm around here about what we open, what we don't, you know. So but again You know we do We go back to, we go back to Keeran and we often say is this, you know, can you tell me if this is legitimate?

And they'll say no, it says phishing You know, we've, we've blocked that You know, you won't get anything like that again. And you know, so it's a good partnership that really is.

Derek Pluim
So much of IT security comes down to the education component. How would you describe the Keeran Networks communication style?

Bill Barless
Yeah, you know, like I have the six or seven of us that are here in the office I think we're all pretty much in the same boat we're, you know, we're not, we're not very technically savvy when it comes to you know, it comes to the computer, computer software, the inner workings of it, but everybody here feels the very same that if there is an issue at all, they know, they just go to support and it gets resolved.

Derek Pluim
If there's one word you could use to describe your experience with the team at Keetan Networks What word or phrase would it be and why?

Bill Barless
Confidence, you know, for one word or phrase again, Peace of Mind that's huge, you know? And I'm sure that would be huge with anybody that runs their business on their computer.

Bill Barless
Yeah I know, when I say there might be one person having a hitch with software or something like that, we go to Keeran and they fix it 'cause I know that they've done a lot for me You know, like where I've had a specific issue and but we are business, everybody has access to the software. It's not like we gotta hitch here and it affects everybody and all. Everybody is able to carry on, do their own jobs and Keeran addresses the issues. They really follow up and do that. So we're not left hanging for anything you know.

Derek Pluim
If you could, how was the onboarding experience with cured networks? What was it like starting with them?

Bill Barless
Oh yeah, it was It was very good. We, you know, they had us, they had us come down to their offices and we met in the boardroom in they put our execution plan I guess they're the proposal which was the strategy and on what they were going to do for us. You know, they had it up on the screen and they went through it so that we were, you know, we were completely comfortable with what they were going to do with the timelines that were going to be done.

Bill Barless
You know, it was that type of proposal that I was like I was completely sold on it my, you know, having had a background in the In my past life where you know you're working with not so much the owners, but certainly like senior managers and things like that of a company. And they had laid, you know, and you're dealing and large numbers of dollars. So you're doing a very professional presentation now our project wasn't anywhere near that big. But I believe that we got we received every bit as professional a presentation, as they would have made too an IBM, you know or Apple. Let's put it that way. Yeah so I, you know, I didn't once feel like, oh yeah, here we can do this for you. You know, it's just a real quick, fast and down and dirty thing. No there was it was very professional structured that I knew what dates this was gonna be done That was going to be done. And you know when the whole project was going to be completed So yeah, we, you know, we were very happy with it.

Derek Pluim
Overall, how well does Keeran Networks understand your business?

Bill Barless
Well, I think I think they really understand it well because they do know that we, you know, we're not in a position to be offline for any, any, any period of time. You know, our business in the cleaning industry, we have the Dust Queen Group comprises of the residential cleaning division and a commercial cleaning division And within those two divisions, we have a carpet cleaning division.

Our business is let's say as like a daily business, especially on the residential side, you know customers calling, wanting to book, everybody's got an emergency. "Can you do it today" and then we have our regularly scheduled customers that are weeks in advance. We know what days we're going out on. But when the system, if the system goes down you know we're blind. You know we're getting telephone calls and everything has to go manual because the software we have, we get, you know, our phones ring and you know it considerably all day long for people looking for quotes and you know it can I get a quote to have a bedroom house, square foot, all four bathrooms cleaned and our software program that we have you know, the staff was able to talk to a customer and their entering it in online and it comes down and provides a price for the based on the information they gave us provides a price for them for this so that they know how much it's going to cost to have us come in and clean. Well, if that system goes down or you know, we have a doesn't matter if we have a problem with the computer if we have a problem with the CRM transfer, whatever it is, if we don't have access to that software then you know like people are looking for fast and fast and furious quotes like they call they, they want a price.

They don't want you to say, can I call you back in a couple of days or can I call you back tomorrow? And that's not our business, you know, it's the same as in the cleaning industry You know, we're at that size we have you know we have people call us and say yeah, search up I'm looking for a price I've had a cleaning person for the last five years, but I'm tired of them not showing up or they're not feeling well or they're, you know.

We don't get sick You know, we're not on vacation Where? And the reason I say that is because our staff, everybody is trained the same way And you know if a team that a customer likes is for some reason is on vacation, we have another team that knows exactly how to clean the very same way and nothing changes for the customer other than the faces.

So you know and you know it's if we do lose control of the software, then we're blind and we can't provide any service back.

Derek Pluim
Bill, this is my final question here, and thank you for that one.

Bill Barless
Yeah

Derek Pluim
What type of business or owner would you recommend? Keeran Networks too?

Bill Barless
You know, from everything I've seen with Keeran, I think Keeran is capable of handling just about any business, any sized business. Well, they have access to the technology they know the technology they have a very responsive talented customer service team.

Anybody that's on you know like got a server or they're operating in the cloud, they've got, you know, computer technology that they're working within their business, which I think has to be 99 to 100% of all businesses today There's no limitation on the size I don't believe I the principles of this company, I find know their stuff better than anyone and you know and like I said, we've been in business 33 years. When small business was having computers we had and you know and it's been you know and then we realized then that we need to do is align ourselves with somebody that knows how to fix these things and that's going back a long, long time. And I think one of the best moves we ever made was when we started to build a relationship with Keeran.

Why Keeran Networks?
We want you to WANT us.

Too many people feel stuck with their current IT provider. We want to build a relationship with your business, not lock you down based on a punitive contract or fear of being locked out of your own network. We have no long-term contracts to sign and rigorous documentation means you'll always retain the keys to your castle.

Read the stories of businesses in Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver below to understand why they choose Keeran Networks month after month.