IT Service, Microsoft 365 & Phone Setup for Church

Introduce your business and what you do there. I’m a rector at the Church of the Messiah Santa Ana. As a small nonprofit, we have about 15 employees and a budget of just over $500,000.

What challenge were you trying to address with briteCITY? We were in a really bad place in terms of our IT setup and equipment. One of our volunteers was knowledgeable about what we needed and would offer to help us whenever he had free time.

But aside from him, we didn’t have a solid support system for our IT needs. That’s why we turned to briteCITY.

What was the scope of their involvement? briteCITY manages our IT needs, from our emails and server to our hardware. Their team started by assessing our system and creating a list of tasks that needed to be done.

We tackled each project based on what we needed most and what we could afford at the time. It was really about rebuilding everything from the ground up. First, they advised us to work with a new telephone company so that we could upgrade our internet.

They set up our phone system, purchased and installed a WiFi network within the church, and hired a company to redo our cabling system. Our previous method was crazy — we had so many cables that we couldn’t figure out what was what. Then, they recommended that we purchase a firewall to keep our information safe.

The most recent project was upgrading our email servers. Before, we used GoDaddy, which had a limited capacity. I’d have to go in every two days to clean up the inbox just to receive new emails.

briteCITY helped us find better pricing through TechSoup, and we transitioned to Office 365. What is the team composition? Brandon L.

(Technician) is my main point of contact. He’s supported by Gilbert (System Administrator), Scott (IT Professional), and Kyle (IT Professional). They’re an amazing team and are the main reason I still work with briteCITY.

How did you come to work with briteCITY? We’d originally found them through a company called NIXSYS IT Services. Their owner noticed that we were a small nonprofit that needed help, so he reached out.

He met with us to go over some of the services his company could provide, and I was attracted to the affordable price structure. After I presented their pitch to the board, we entered a contract with them. Eventually, NIXSYS was acquired by briteCITY.

briteCITY kept all of the original employees from NIXSYS, so we continued working with them given that we’d had such a great experience. How much have you invested with them? The original plan with NIXSYS costs about $280 per month, which covers basic maintenance (additional projects cost extra).

They’re still honoring that contract, but I’ll have to check to see if there are any changes that will come with our renewal. What is the status of this engagement? We’ve been working with them since January 2020.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? Given the resources that we have, briteCITY has accomplished all of our projects within a reasonable timeframe, and I’m deeply grateful to them for that. They’re knowledgeable about our systems, which makes them quick to troubleshoot any problems.

The team is also professional and easy to work with. I’m not an IT person, so I have to try to explain the issues I’m facing with layperson’s terms. They’re good at translating their technical language in a way that I can I digest, which helps me understand why we need to do something.

That level of communication has been very valuable to me. How did briteCITY perform from a project management standpoint? Their management is excellent.

Sometimes I feel like I’m the only customer they have — they spend a lot of their resources to get the job done. It’s unbelievable! I don’t have to run after anyone to figure out a problem.

It’s just one phone call or email, and they’ll take it from there. What did you find most impressive about them? When it comes to IT services, the team knows their stuff, and they’re there for us when we need them.

If I tell them about a problem, they won’t stop until they’ve solved it. Are there any areas they could improve? No, I can’t envision anything that they could be doing better.

These people are doing a great job, and I’m really impressed.