GlassHouse Technologies' Hacienda Office is Customer Support Services Hub

By Nicole Zaro Stahl, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

GlassHouse Technologies, a global IT services and consulting firm with offices at 4305 Hacienda Drive, continues to expand into new markets and add new areas of expertise. The company started in 2001 as a data storage consulting group and has since branched out into consulting and services in storage, backup, virtualized environments, IT security, and databases.

Headquartered in Framingham, Mass., GlassHouse is a vendor-independent consulting firm. "That means we do not sell hardware or software," relates Natalie Hahn O'Flaherty, Vice President, Worldwide Marketing. "We work with each customer to determine the best strategy, design, and management processes for each specific IT environment based on business needs, not technology."

The company ventured into Customer Support Services (CSS) in 2004. Since then, it has become a part of GlassHouse's business that has grown "tremendously" - more than 40 percent year after year for the past three years, O'Flaherty says.

CCS offerings include call center support, worldwide field service, logistics storage and distribution support, implementation programs, managed services, and phone home support. The CSS program allows companies to outsource their technical support and customer support services, O'Flaherty explains. "Our technical experts offer the flexibility to choose the support options that best fit an organization's needs."

GlassHouse CSS field services have a global reach, with on-site support offered through 20,000-plus field service engineers in over 190 countries. A network of over 600 logistics depots around the world ensures same day, overnight, and warranty exchange material access.

At the end of last year, CSS operations expanded with the opening of a new, 14,000 square foot primary call center in Cary, North Carolina. Staffed by knowledgeable IT management professionals and equipped with remote monitoring technology and other state-of-the-art features, the facility serves CSS clients worldwide.

Although significantly smaller, the Pleasanton office has also become a CSS hub, and Logistics Planner Rogelio Angel sits at its center. It is Angel's responsibility to ensure that the "labor and logistics" - field engineers and replacement parts - are available for customers when they need them.

Angel assists in arranging stocking locations around the world and makes sure they have the correct parts in the right quantities so if a failure does occur, replacements will be made according to stipulated service levels - two hours, four hours, or overnight, for example. The parts can range from computer keyboards to motherboards to entire units, all depending on the installation.

"Say a hard drive fails," Angel offers by way of illustration. "We would coordinate sending a new drive from the stocking warehouse to the customer site and coordinate the technician's arrival time. We also arrange for the old hard drive to be sent back to the vendor. All the work would be done effectively and efficiently."

GlassHouse moved into Hacienda five years ago, and the office remains an important West Coast base for the company. "Not only does it serve as a 'satellite office' for our CSS business, but our consultants for the rest of our services also rely on that office when they travel to work in customer accounts," O'Flaherty notes.

For more information, visit www.glasshouse.com.

Photo: Rogelio Angel, logistics planner for GlassHouse, enjoys their Hacienda Drive facility.

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