Westminster Presbyterian Church Selects and IT Partner Using Tech Source

Author: Claire Kerr

July 2008

Craig Showalter, Business Administrator for Westminster Presbyterian Church shares his experience finding an IT partner:

GDITA:  Could you tell us about Westminster Presbyterian Church?

Craig:  Westminster Presbyterian Church is the oldest congregation in Dayton. We were established in 1799, and have been in this present building since it was built in 1926. We have 5 full-time pastors, 3 program staff, 5 administrative support staff, and 2 building support staff. Our church membership is 1100, and we average 550 at our Sunday morning worship service. Among other things, we are noted in the community for having a strong music program.

GDITA:  Could you describe your IT need?

Craig:  We have 18 workstations networked to one server. Our system maintenance was handled part-time by a staff member. When he left us we decided to investigate the benefits of contracting with an outside company instead of trying to continue handling this in-house. In all of the interviews, we realized that our assumption was correct. We would be spending about the same amount of money, but for significantly better service.

GDITA:  How did you go about finding an IT partner to meet your need?

Craig:  The Greater Dayton IT Alliance was recommended to us by Erik Collins, who is a member of this church.  Erik leads the economic development program BusinessFirst! For A Greater Dayton Region and the Greater Dayton IT Alliance is a resource partner for BusinessFirst!. I called GDITA and had a pleasant conversation regarding our IT needs. We submitted a brief description of what our needs were, and quickly got a list of IT service providers who might be interested in helping an organization of our size. There were nine. I contacted all of them, except one where there would be a conflict of interest.

Overall, I am pleased to report that all the reps of these companies presented well. All of the companies clearly could provide for our needs. Though, in the transition from relying on just one employee to do this, we started with a preference of finding a company with multiple staff. In the final decision, Quanexus displayed a spirit that matches our organization’s personality better than any of the others.

Our search involved inviting the reps from all of these companies into our building to see our equipment and to conduct an informal interview. It helped our process to have some actual problems to ask for their help with. Eventually, it was their responses to these problems that led us to our selection.

It has been two months since we started relying on Quanexus for our IT service. We are pleased with our choice. We would not have gotten here without the help of the Greater Dayton IT Alliance. Instead, I fear that we would only just now be signing a contract, after wading through all the word-of-mouth referrals and less-than-acceptable applicants for the work.

GDITA:   Do you have any comments from your search experience using Tech Source that you would share with other companies looking for IT partners?

Craig:  I am pleased to learn the high amount of capable IT service providers available in the Dayton area through the Tech Source program.

For more information on Westminster Presbyterian Church, please visit their website at www.westminsterdayton.org.

For more information on Quanexus, please visit their website at www.quanexus.com.

To discuss how we can help your organization find IT solutions or for information on how to participate in the Tech Source program,  please contact Claire Kerr at 937-229-9092 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .