Reproductive Care of Sandy, Utah, is one of the leading fertility treatment centers in the West. The office offers in-vitro fertilization, fertilization testing, infertility treatment and more. In a state that boasts the highest birth rates in the nation, the services Reproductive Care offers are invaluable.

After opening in 1996, the company naturally experienced a sharp uptick in patients. More patients led to more physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners and support staff. That meant more technology was needed to support the entire operation. 

Jumping from a few employees to over 20, Reproductive Care found themselves in a serious quandary, as their infrastructure just wasn’t ready to support the influx of employees and patients. 

“I couldn’t get the service I needed,” said Michele Richards, the office manager at Reproductive Care. “We were lacking technicians that would help us when we needed them, and our technology was always a step behind our people.” 

Even more critical are the patient records stored on a dedicated EMR (electronic medical records) server. If the computers go down or the EMR is hacked, the entire existence of the office is at risk.

It’s the kind of situation that calls for a full-time, dedicated I.T. staff. But Reproductive Care, like so many other offices in similar situations, found a better solution than simply spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single I.T. professional.

Richards was introduced to i.t.NOW from one of the company’s executives she knew beforehand. i.t.NOW is an outsourced technology services company. The company promised the type of personal, business-centric service typically found in an in-house I.T. department, for less than the cost of an individual I.T. pro.

“I started interviewing people and companies,” Richards said. “I tested all of them. i.t.NOW seemed to be the most trustworthy and responsible.”

i.t.NOW immediately set to creating an environment that was able to keep up with the busy staff at Reproductive Care. Computers and servers were upgraded, employees were trained on proper use and all existing technical glitches were eliminated.

One of the first issues i.t.NOW helped Reproductive Care with was the declining performance of servers. Dr. Keith Blauer, a reproductive endocrinologist at Reproductive Care and the go-to internal person for technology decisions decided to see what solution i.t.NOW would come up with. 

Upon a close examination, i.t.NOW recommended virtualization through VMWare, which would host many of the applications offsite. “I didn’t know what VMware was, I just knew we needed to expand our servers,” Dr. Blauer said. “That saved us quite a bit because we didn’t have to buy new servers, and our performance increased.”

i.t.NOW’s early performance was a strong indicator that they were willing to work with Reproductive Care to find solutions that benefitted the practice, and soon bigger projects such as an electronic medical records system were underway. 

A key element for medical practices is their electronic medical records solutions. They store vital, confidential patient information and must be maintained and protected at all times. Dr. Blauer was pleased that i.t.NOW took the lead on the project, among others.  

“i.t.NOW is aligned with our long-term business goals, including our EMR system,” he said. “They’ve interfaced with the vendor, the implementation, setup… They have expertise so we don’t have to worry about it.”

“They are kind of like our I.T. person minus an I.T. person salary,” Richards said. “They set up new people, make sure our system is secure and just keep things running.  Basically they do whatever I ask them to do.”

Richards and Dr. Blauer no longer have to worry about whether or not a problem is solved. Most issues i.t.NOW handles remotely, and emergencies are handled on-site. Long term and short term plans are mapped out as a collaborative effort between i.t.NOW and Reproductive Care, including the EMR, ongoing security needs, VPN, data backup plans and hardware.

 “They are setting us up with the equipment we need and checking it out ahead of time,” Richards said. “They give us options and prices and suggestions. We really can’t ask for much more.”

That’s the kind of personal touch that is lacking in technology outsourcers. Most are content to just manage technology and occasionally solve an issue. i.t.NOW succeeds by making a personal investment into their clients, customizing solutions directly to business needs now and in the future. 

“We have mutual goals,” Dr. Blauer said. “We want minimal downtime, they want minimal downtime.”

In other words, i.t.NOW succeeds by being able to show a return on every cent spent with them. Instead of waiting for their technology to catch up with them, Reproductive Care simply maximizes their patient care without ever being concerned that they won’t be backed up by their infrastructure. 

“I think they’re a great value,” Richards said. “They do a great job. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be here.”

The result for Reproductive Care after signing with i.t.NOW? Problem solved.