Case Study: Garden Spot Fire Rescue
Key points:
- Garden Spot Fire Rescue’s informal IT support was insufficient for their needs, which is when they turned to MainStreet IT Solutions.
- MainStreet IT Solutions seamlessly integrated Garden Spot Fire Rescue’s three locations into a robust IT environment.
- MainStreet IT Solutions goes above and beyond to ensure Garden Spot Fire Rescue’s needs are met and exceeded.
Discover more in our latest video and download our story of success.
Who Is Garden Spot Fire Rescue?
Garden Spot Fire Rescue is an all-volunteer fire service that has been helping the community for over 125 years. They offer a vast range of fire and rescue services to help those in need.
Garden Spot Fire Rescue must be careful about committing its budget to necessary services as a nonprofit. At the same time, technology is a critical tool for their work—that’s why they work with MainStreet IT Solutions.
Why Did Garden Spot Fire Rescue Partner With MainStreet IT Solutions?
Before hiring MainStreet IT Solutions, Garden Spot Fire Rescue relied on one of their volunteers to handle IT support on an ad-hoc basis. This volunteer had a career in IT and could generally meet the support needs of the nonprofit.
However, given the nature of this arrangement, this volunteer couldn’t always deliver the capabilities they required. The volunteer was not always available and could not always offer the capabilities that a specific IT task required.
“We realized that it makes more sense to go to a full IT provider,” says Nick Good, Garden Spot Fire Rescue
When it became clear that Garden Spot Fire Rescue would need to invest in a more formal IT support arrangement, they knew their best choice was to outsource to a company instead of hiring internally. Fortunately, they were put in touch with MainStreet IT Solutions by one of their volunteers that already had a connection with us.
After meeting with our team and learning what we had to offer, Garden Spot Fire Rescue signed on for a full Managed Services arrangement.
What Does MainStreet IT Solutions Do For Garden Spot Fire Rescue?
“It’s been a positive relationship,” says Nick.
Like any organization, Garden Spot Fire Rescue is immediately affected by problems with its IT. It’s such a crucial part of their operations that even a small problem or occasional lag can have considerable consequences. That’s why they need quick and effective support from their IT company.
MainStreet IT Solutions provides a long list of critical IT services and solutions to ensure Garden Spot Fire Rescue is always operational.
From basic maintenance to deploying full software packages and integrating different systems, we handle all IT-based tasks for the Garden Spot Fire Rescue team. This ensures that Nick and his team can focus on doing their work, instead of worrying about technology.
“It’s been really helpful to have that full platform available,” says Nick. “I don’t personally have to worry about anything IT.”
Multi-Location IT Support
Connecting IT systems across multiple business locations is a complicated process. Ensuring that data access is simple and secure and that communication solutions are properly configured takes careful planning and management.
Garden Spot Fire Rescue has three locations. With which one location operating as the Head Quarters. Each of these locations needed to have stable connections to one another. After Garden Spot Fire Rescue hired us, we began planning a project to update their systems and incorporate all three locations into the same IT environment.
Garden Spot Fire Rescue wanted to upgrade their internet connections and the firewall appliances that interconnected each location. To meet the needs of their multi-location network, we deployed the following technologies:
Dell Servers
The server is the backbone of the IT environment. While many businesses today have opted to outsource their server needs via the cloud, hosting infrastructure onsite is still a requirement for many organizations.
We deployed industry-leasing hardware by Dell to establish a reliable foundation for their multi-site network.
Fortinet FortiGate
A firewall is a must-have component in any good cybersecurity defense. We ensure that our client’s networks are protected by industry-leading Fortinet firewalls that deliver a range of enterprise-class features, including:
- The ability to identify undesirable encrypted applications
- Prevention against network intrusions
- Intelligence in improving blocking decisions
- Intrusion prevention
- A baseline for deviations from normal application behaviors
Remote Management and Monitoring (RMM)
We also onboarded Garden Spot Fire Rescue’s environment into our RMM systems, which allows us to monitor the health and security of all of their devices. We can then automate the patching of servers and workstations. Through this automation, we deployed our endpoint protection to automate alerting for security events for a quick resolution.
How MainStreet IT Solutions Goes Above And Beyond
Beyond day-to-day support and major projects, Garden Spot Fire Rescue also relies on MainStreet IT Solutions to go above and beyond whenever necessary.
In one example, Nick remembers how the MainStreet IT Solutions team carefully managed two vendors involved in a project. In installing new security cameras, our staff had to work with one vendor for the hardware and another for the software.
“They made sure that we were set up and running according to schedule,” says Nick. “There was no delay and there were no hiccoughs.”
Working with multiple vendors can be time-consuming and inefficient. When something goes wrong, it can result in a lot of finger-pointing. However, the MainStreet IT Solutions team was committed to ensuring this project went according to schedule.
“Not all companies go that extra mile,” says Nick. “That was a key moment in seeing where MainStreet IT Solutions goes above and beyond to ensure that what’s promised is what happens.”
MainStreet IT Solutions Always Delivers
“I don’t ever feel like we’re being kept in the dark,” says Nick.
Working with MainStreet IT Solutions, the Garden Spot Fire Rescue staff is confident they made the right choice. They now have an IT partner that directly manages everything IT-related in their nonprofit.
“I know when I ask a question, it’s going to be answered honestly,” says Nick. “We’re going to be provided with what we expect.”
This quality of support allows the Garden Spot Fire Rescue staff to focus on delivering the best possible service for those needing their help. They don’t have to worry about their IT—they can trust that MainStreet IT Solutions is taking care of it.
