Over the past decade, PrestoTech Solutions has grown to become a prominent AT&T solution provider of high quality telecommunications products and services.
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In 2003 PrestoTech Solutions was founded by Jim Short, the current President and CEO. PrestoTech began operations out of Caledonia, MI as an IT hardware, software, and services company. Short used his previous industry experience to provide his customer’s IT staff high quality products and services. He made sure that he was available to his customers at any time of day to ensure they had the hardware they needed, when they needed it whether that meant same day shipping or same day delivery in the event of a hardware failure. Many times PrestoTech bridged the gap between a customer’s needs and the warranty rules of a vendor to make sure customers had the best service and value possible.
In 2008, PrestoTech became an exclusive AT&T Solution Provider after a lunch meeting with a past co-worker and friend, Steve Van Wyhe. Early on, Short realized that he needed someone to oversee the AT&T partnership that had AT&T experience. As a successful technical sales executive with AT&T for over seven years, Van Wyhe was the natural choice and joined the company in 2009. The service and commitment to the customer continued to grow with AT&T and its customers. The company moved to its current headquarters located in Grand Rapids in 2010 and Van Wyhe became the Vice President and partner in the business.
Their volume with AT&T grew substantially each year, and it was decided they needed someone dedicated to the growth of the mobility side of AT&T’s product portfolio. Van Wyhe had collaborated with Jason Peterson on several projects while Peterson was still with AT&T; it was clear that Peterson was the perfect fit to expand the mobility business and ultimately lead the sales and business development of the company.
PrestoTech Solutions has earned a number of accolades for its work, and this year achieved Platinum status at AT&T’s Alliance Channel solution provider champion for its proven expertise in helping customers. The company serves as a single point of contact for the development of integrated solutions, customer support and technical expertise.
“PrestoTech Solutions is an AT&T Exclusive Platinum Solution Provider, and we have obtained the highest level of achievement given by the Alliance Channel for the past two years,” says Jason Peterson, the company’s vice president of business development. “Over the course of my four-plus years with the company, we have jumped to a higher level every year and have continued to expand our footprint across the country.”
“Over the years, customers have been continually looking for ways to increase productivity and lower their bottom line,” comments Peterson. “In this day and age of technology, there is almost always a way to accomplish this. In being an exclusive partner with AT&T, we are able to utilize the vast portfolio of products and business solutions that they offer.”
Peterson has been in the wireline and wireless industry for over fifteen years and says he was fortunate enough to take a chance with a smaller company. The decision ultimately changed his life. “My main goal has always been to try and help my peers and my customers. In my role I can now do both,” he says.
The company has emerged as specialists in helping customers and strategic partners accomplish their overall goals. Every individual in the company has his or her area of expertise, from the frontline sales people to its back office support and project management team. Together, the team has over one hundred years of AT&T experience.
Mobility case study:
Some years ago, the company engaged with a potential customer and uncovered a gap that was preventing the accomplishment of the client’s goal. The customer was using smartphones and laptops to capture information while on the road and was growing increasingly frustrated with the need for multiple devices to complete projects, as well as the time it was taking and the resulting reduction in productivity. The team suggested a better way.
“My Mobility Applications Director Mike Rice and team had come up with an idea that would solve all of their problems and meet their future needs,” says Peterson. “We have a strategic partnership with our friends at Samsung, and they had the perfect device and fit for what the customer was looking for. We recommended using the Samsung Tab 4 8.0 with enhanced push-to-talk (EPTT) and an enterprise mobility management tool. This eliminated the multiple devices on the road and helped the end user’s day become more efficient.”
“The customer had also developed their own software to run on the Samsung devices, and because the devices were small and had multiple functions (voice and data communications), they were a perfect fit to help them get the job done in a more efficient manner. We staged and kitted over 1,200 devices in our office and side-loaded their homegrown application as well as the EPTT. We also put ruggedized cases on each device, labeled them and sent them out, so they were ready to hit the ground running with no downtime or interruption to their current environment.” The customer is now using over 2,000 Samsung tablets, and that number is growing.
“We had our direct partners involved in this project as well as our implementation and deployment team. This is just one of the many value-adds that our company provides.”
Strategic Services case study:
This study is on a service company that serves residential, commercial, utility and government clients across North America. By utilizing some of AT&T’s expansive range of products including AVPN, IP-Flex and IP-Toll Free, they were able to cut costs while adding efficiency and limiting downtime with automated redundancy for their voice and data communications.
In addition to providing more than $30,000 worth of equipment – at no cost – to the headquarters to maintain and integrate the two networks during the transition to AT&T, PrestoTech provided on-site technical support staff to handle programming for all locations. A dedicated project manager assisted with the initial order flow and coordinated upgrades and changes, and problem resolution continued throughout the partnership between the customer and AT&T.
“Our core relationships and value added services are what helps the entire team and the customer accomplish their goals,” says Peterson. “Most of our customers don’t have the resources to dedicate to large deployments or implementations. Early last year Jenifer Wallis, Enterprise Territory Manager II, and our implementation team traveled to five different locations across the United States to implement over 1600 devices in two days.
“These are just a few of the things that have proved invaluable to our customers and helps to show them that we are a true partner for the project lifecycle, and the same approach is often used in our strategic services division,” Peterson says. “People buy from people, and I truly believe that is why our company has continued to achieve new and higher goals and accomplishments year over year. In support of my leadership, both Steve Van Wyhe and Jim Short have been there to back every decision that I have made and have helped overcome any obstacles we may have because of their creative minds,” he shares.
“Some of the business solutions we have deployed and are continuing to deploy at a fast rate are fleet management, cloud-based security and enterprise mobile management,” says company Vice President of Business Development Jason Peterson. “With our exclusive partnership with AT&T, and their continuance of the advancement in technology, we are a well-equipped AT&T solutions provider that can meet all of the enterprise’s needs.”
