Maison D’amitie
Building on effective communications with NeoLore
“Before NeoLore, it’s like we were in a little car that was run down. Now, we are in a Cadillac!”
Founded in 1976, Maison d’amitié (Friendship House) is the only Francophone shelter for women in Ottawa. With a total of thirty beds in two locations, it can accommodate both single women and families.
“When we started looking around for IT help, we wanted an organization that offered French-speaking services, however, language was among many issues determining why we needed a full service IT company.”
When it comes to finding support services, a Francophone organization in an Anglophone environment faces unique challenges. “When we started looking around for IT help, we wanted an organization that offered French-speaking services” says Josée Chalifoux, Directrice générale, Maison d’amitié. “However, language was among many issues determining why we needed a full service IT company.”
The need for full-service IT support
Josée began her role as Directrice générale in May, 2020. “For the first few months, I gathered the staff together and learned a lot about the IT issues. We had been dealing with outside IT support and when an issue did come up, it often wasn’t addressed in a reasonable time frame—very ad hoc. Also, reoccurring problems were a big concern. The IT support we were receiving wasn’t coordinated across workstations—and it often took many visits by the technicians to get it right.”
Josée began searching for a local, full-service IT support and management provider that met all the criteria. “One of our community partners referred us to NeoLore and we’re fortunate they did. Right from the start, we were serviced in French. That made a huge difference to us. It starts with good communications.”
Proactive IT management
After selecting NeoLore Networks, the onboarding process began. New technologies and methodologies can be frustrating to employees. Onboarding helps to alleviate stress, raise efficiencies and ease IT implementations. NeoLore’s solutions for small business infrastructures address such areas as reducing downtime, network security, overseeing the IT budget, and proactive management. To ensure that an IT infrastructure is optimized and configured for best practices, NeoLore provides current documentation about an entire network. An analysis reviews infrastructure strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).
“One of our community partners referred us to NeoLore and we’re fortunate they did. Right from the start, we were serviced in French. That made a huge difference to us. It starts with good communications.”
“They were ahead of their own schedule”
“It was impressive that before the onboarding even began, NeoLore had translated a lot of the support material into French,” Josée notes. “That was great for us. Initially, the onboarding took place over two weeks. NeoLore told us that we would receive an update email every day for fourteen days. They did a lot better than that. We received many, many more—all in French—and I was so pleased and told them that in just two weeks they had sent me more emails than any other IT support group had sent me in fifteen months! All the information was productive, informative, and solved the issues. And they were ahead of their own schedule.”
Remaining Secure
Due to the business nature of Maison d’amitié, security is of the utmost importance. The fully-bilingual website offers visitors the quick option to ‘Erase my tracks’, ‘Leave the page immediately’, and to have a ‘Secure session’. “Security is obviously very much a part of what we must pay attention to,” says Josée. “From confidential information about the women and families to something like exterior cameras on our buildings, we must take the necessary steps for protection. NeoLore can manage these systems and that helps us with our own feeling of security.”
“Now, we’re in a Cadillac!”
IT issues can arise at anytime, night or day. That’s why highly responsive, dedicated IT help services are of paramount importance. A 24/7 Help Desk enables optimal IT performance. “For us, NeoLore is always a phone call or email away,” says Josée. “They always get right back to us—in French. I have called their Help Desk after business hours and it’s been great. They have gone beyond our expectations.”
