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Bay Area City Looks to Quest for Professional Service Expertise

 

With a population of 121,780, Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County — one of the fastest growing counties in the region.

 

Quest began working with the City of Concord about four years ago, initially to help the city design its migration from Token Ring to Ethernet.

 

" Our relationship with Quest has been exceptional from the very beginning," said Pam Muse, telecommunications manager and interim information technology director for the City of Concord. "When we have projects outside our knowledge base or beyond our ability to manage in-house because of other pressing projects, we turn to Quest for their services."

Muse turned to Quest earlier this year when the city's senior engineer accepted a position with another organization.

 

"The senior engineer position is critical in our organization and we would jeopardize existing projects if we didn't fill the void immediately. I needed an on-site engineer and I needed them 'yesterday'," Muse said. "Quest was able to step in and provide the expertise we needed while HR conducted the traditional hiring process."

 

John Carpenter, senior account manager with Quest, worked with the city to provide the necessary staffing and other technical needs.

 

"The real trick has been to be a partner with the city during times of crisis as well as ongoing projects," Carpenter said. "Quest's goal is to act responsibly and be truly helpful to all our clients. In the long term, this helps us establish trust and technical competence with our customers."

 

During the last year, the city has also called upon Quest in emergency situations. "Whether it's four in the morning or [on a] Saturday afternoon, Quest makes themselves available to help us in these situations," Muse said.

 

Quest is currently working with the City of Concord on a 40-site iNet institutional network configuration. Upon completion, the iNet will provide uniformity of voice and data service to all city facilities. The project also involves a new partnership with Seren Innovations, which will provide the fiber-optic ring.

 

"To design and implement a 40-site iNet is a huge undertaking," said Muse. "To complete a project of this magnitude in-house would delay implementation because of the tremendous time commitment on existing staff. The best thing for us was to draw on Quest's expertise to assist us with the project."

 

Quest will continue to work with the city until the project is complete, tentatively slated for December of this year. The project includes the design, implementation, documentation and testing of the iNet.

 

"I work with all levels and most departments at Quest, from sales and billing to cabling and engineering, and everyone has been professional and responsive to our needs," Muse said.