Frequently Asked Questions

About Us

Who is the ideal client for the Waident Service offerings?

Our ideal client is a small to mid-sized business that views technology as vital to its success – an investment in future productivity, not just an expense to be avoided.  We have many clients in the financial, commercial real estate, and other professional industries such as healthcare and law.  Check out what our clients say about us, as well as our client technology success stories.

Why should I use Waident…

…Versus doing it myself?

Sometimes we’ll have clients where previously one person in the company wore multiple hats – office manager by day, tech guy by night; or business owner as closet computer genius.  By the time we work with this client, the multi-hat person is at wit’s end, and doing neither job well.  Our experience is that single (or half) person IT departments are not ideal in the long run.  The issues run the gamut from lack of broad expertise, stability over time (what if that person leaves tomorrow?), documentation of key processes, and capacity to plan for the organization’s growth.  Our team approach brings years of combined experience to provide exceptional daily support and proactive planning for the future.  And you’ll find our pricing is more affordable than full-time staff!

…Versus using a traditional hourly consulting service?

A primary reason that clients switch to us is that their existing service has lousy responsiveness.  It’s not uncommon to hear complaints of multi-day response time versus minutes or hours.  Further, the traditional break/fix hourly consulting model doesn’t work, because, by definition, the consultants only get paid when something isn’t working.  A client – who doesn’t know what he/she doesn’t know – is expected to identify the issues that need to be fixed.  Our monthly managed service is more responsive, more communicative, and more proactive, all for a no-surprise fixed monthly fee. By using a managed service, fewer things break because we are taking care of your entire infrastructure before issues arise.  Check out 100 reasons to fire your current IT support.

…When I have an existing in-house IT team?

Some of our clients had an internal IT department and fired them for us.  Why?  Because they wanted the expertise of a tech team that has experience across multiple clients.  They were also tired of fighting with their internal team to get excellent execution against their business plans.  These business leaders put aside the management headaches and instead got responsive, service-oriented technology support.  Helpdesk becomes more helpful, planning becomes less political – all for less money. Check out 100 reasons to fire your current IT support.

Our organization has individuals with varying degrees of technology experience, how is Waident equipped to handle this?

You just described our current client base!  All our client organizations have employees at varying sophistication levels, from people who use their computer to send email, to tech wizards who are comfortable with custom programming.  We understand how to help a wide range of users with responsive and respectful support.

How will Waident help my business and employees perform better?

We’re here to help by removing barriers to productivity.  We use our combined years of experience to alleviate your tech headaches and restore lost productivity.  We take charge of your technology issues today and plan for tomorrow, resulting in greater efficiencies and far less downtime from technology-related time thieves.  We support your employees whether they’re on-site at your HQ, in a satellite office, or working from home.  Wherever they work, with whatever technology, your employees will get the technical support they need to get their job done.

Explain the remote support service — will I get the same high-quality support and is my information safe?

When your users have an issue – regardless of where they’re working – our experienced help desk can remotely access their computers as if they were sitting in front of them.  This happens in a highly-secure 256-bit encrypted session that is done at your employee’s convenience.

Waident Watch technology monitors your network, allowing us to anticipate issues, proactively identify outages and make our remote support feel like it is right at hand.  Using this technology, we can install the latest patches to keep your system safe and efficient, and pinpoint issues before your users are even aware of them.  We use this software to streamline and automate the easy but important stuff, freeing our people to work on your more pressing issues.

I don’t have a dedicated Internet connection; can I still be a customer of Waident?

Not at this time.  In order to offer affordable support and technology management, we leverage today’s high-speed Internet connectivity to work with our clients.

What if I want somebody to come to my office instead of supporting me over the Internet or phone?

To be able to give our clients cost-effective pricing, we first try to solve support issues remotely, but if that doesn’t work, or you need on-site assistance for a particular problem, we will send someone to your office.

You say you can be a virtual CIO.  Why do I need a CIO?

Most firms that don’t have a CIO stay stuck in reactive mode, lacking the technical foresight to help achieve their future business goals.  The CIO helps to ensure that proper technology is planned and budgeted for, and then implemented and evaluated for return on investment.

We find that many companies reach a certain size and/or complexity and recognize their need to plan and manage for growth.  They may employ a technology manager who will do just that, manage technology.  Managing technology is not the same thing as proactively managing specific business goals and empowering people in the organization.  The question becomes, do you care more about the people or the technology that sits on their desk?  A CIO, virtual or otherwise, manages business, people, and profits with an eye toward future growth versus simply managing existing technology.

What software do you support?

We support all software, including Microsoft products and all common business programs, as well as client-specific and custom-developed applications.  For the latter, we also work with the software manufacturer support department to be a liaison between the end user and the software manufacturer, providing you with a single point of contact for all of your software needs.

What hardware do you cover?

We cover everything, just in varying degrees.  For example, all networking, server, and desktop hardware should have current working maintenance contracts (and if they don’t, we will make sure that all agreements and relationships with your hardware vendors are in place).  We work directly with your vendors for all repair and service issues.   We’ll take ownership and make sure it is all taken care of – we worry about it, so you don’t need to.

Is Waident equipped to handle the unique needs of my business?

Yes, we currently deal with a wide variety of businesses and applications, including commercial real estate-specific applications, hardware and software for a fire and flood emergency service company, and a produce wholesaler with specific applications.  We also have clients who have their own custom database-driven applications and we effectively support all of these businesses today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Ahlberg
CEO, Waident

CIO in the corporate world and now for Waident clients. John injects order and technology into business process to keep employees productive, enterprises running, and data safe.

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