I’m into passion. I started my business because I saw that many businesses and organizations needed help sorting through the intricacies of technology, and I knew I could help.
I’ve also always been drawn to the passion that I see in community organizations.
Big Brothers Big Sisters was my first close up look at an organization that works to improve the community. I was a Big for nine years. I met my Little when he was 10, and stayed with him through the time he was 18. When he married, I was best man at his wedding.
Fifteen years ago, when I started Netlink Inc., I wanted to continue to support nonprofit organizations like Big Brothers. I have learned that many organizations have to make tough decisions about budgets and sometimes IT infrastructure isn’t at the top of the list.
By Chip Heberden, president, Netlink Inc.
Today more than ever, technology can extend budgets through efficiencies, but unmanaged technology can torpedo a budget quickly.
Sticking with Big Brothers as an example, they needed to modernize their infrastructure and minimize big future expenditures, so we helped to transition to a cloud e-mail environment, upgraded its local servers and also consolidated some products into a more efficient structure. All of this increased the nonprofit’s flexibility, while ensuring the dependability of their system and security of its data.
We work with managers and executives to help them identify their needs and constraints, and then execute according to the plan. For example, it may be a project as big as implementing an entire environment with servers and many workstations, or as simple as upgrading a single workstation. During the entire process, we advocate the IT industry’s best practices.
Over the years, we have served a number of NFP organizations, both large and small, including Actors Theatre of Indiana, Big Brothers Big Sisters and North United Methodist Church.
The clients who find us experience challenges in their setups that include:
• Poorly/underperforming hardware or networks
• Bottlenecks with process or information flow
• Dissatisfaction with current service providers, solutions or fees
• Confusion over best practices
We work with small businesses and organizations that range in size from a few users, to upwards of 150 users. While our roles are many, we are generally thought of as an IT partner/advisor that works to improve infrastructure, refine information flow, help with cloud services’ adoption and improve back-office processes.
We will work with a nonprofit organization to identify its needs for improvement and forge a path that balances performance needs and budget constraints. Our long-term goal is a mutually beneficial partnership with the client.