Background
Daniells Phillips Vaughan & Bock (DPVB) has served central California businesses with tax and accounting services since 1956 in its Bakersfield location. DPVB is a well-respected member of the area business community and, for the last 60 years, has strived to lead the CPA industry in adopting state-of-the-art technology solutions to better serve clients in Bakersfield and Kern county.
Thomas Woods, DPVB Director of Information Technology, has been at the forefront of these efforts for the last 17 years.
The Challenge
Like most small to midsized businesses, DPVB does not have a large in-house IT department. Woods is DPVB’s IT strategist and sole network manager. He recognized that outside help would be essential to ensure DPVB had around-the-clock care and access to a full suite of experts in different aspects of IT. Otherwise, as the sole manager of IT, the company and his quality of life would be significantly impacted during projects outside of his core scope of expertise, installations, or simply anytime he was out of the office.
Woods realized his professional, and personal, objectives would best be reached with help from an experienced IT consulting firm that could support and complement his strategic vision. And augment critical areas like cybersecurity, communications solutions and network management when Woods would be out of the office.
Why Diamond IT was the Solution
For the past 15 years, DPVB and Diamond IT have partnered to ensure that DPVB’s technology runs smoothly. This high level of trustworthiness began when Woods established a relationship with Diamond IT CEO Matt Mayo.
“It was a personal decision to partner with Diamond IT,” said Woods. “I knew Matt, and I like Matt’s character. I like his integrity.
“If Matt gives his word, it’s good. He will make it right even if he loses money.”
DPVB relies upon Diamond IT to manage large installation projects, like DPVB’s Cisco phone system, and dropping over 300 cables for their network. Diamond IT also procures hardware such as PCs, servers, routers and switches for DPVB.
Previously, Woods bid out hardware purchases only to find that Diamond IT generally had the best prices. After a large purchase of hardware from Diamond IT early on that saved DPVB over $12,000, Woods recognized the value of working directly with Diamond IT to recommend and procure hardware.
Diamond IT also serves as Woods’ backup when he is out of the office, helping DPVB employees on-site and remotely with any IT issues that may come up. Woods says he doesn’t worry when he’s off as Diamond IT is responsive and reliable.
“When I’m gone, Diamond IT is my safety net,” said Woods. “When I need time off, I can take time off. The firm fully supports this because we know Diamond IT will take care of anything that comes up.” When he’s going to be out of the office, Woods simply sends an email to his team, notifying them that Diamond is ready to help.
Woods also consults with Diamond IT regarding new technology solutions and their implementation. An upgrade that would take him over 30 hours to manage takes Diamond IT less time, with no risk of downtime because of their experience. Diamond IT works with many businesses and industries, so they have worked with solutions multiple times which results in time savings and efficiency.
Diamond IT and Woods have worked to put together an IT roadmap to move DPVB into the future responsibly, safely and with an eye toward growth and scaling IT solutions to fit current needs. First, DPVB will be migrating some of their systems to a cloud environment within the next 5 years.
The cloud migration will enhance the security of DPVB’s systems and increase the effectiveness and accessibility of their backups.
The Results
With Woods setting the vision and objectives and Diamond IT serving as his full-service, on-call IT staff, DPVB enjoys maximum uptime in a secure, effective technology environment. Diamond IT has become the IT guy’s IT guy.
“The buck stops with me,” said Woods. “I’m the firm’s trusted IT advisor, and Diamond IT is my trusted IT advisor.”
Because of this deep trust in Diamond IT and its knowledge around the technology needs of multiple industries, Woods refers DPVB’s own clients to Diamond IT for IT consulting and comanaged IT services.
“I have yet to receive any negative feedback about Diamond from any of the businesses I’ve referred to them,” said Woods, noting that Diamond IT’s quick response times and well-rounded approach consistently set them apart from other IT consultants.
DPVB’s longtime relationship with Diamond IT appears to be set for a long time to come. Woods’ confidence in Diamond IT is only surpassed by Diamond IT’s extensive knowledge of DPVB’s network and needs.
“If I’m in need, Diamond IT is there.” – Thomas Woods, Director of Information Technology