A Fresh Look for the New Year

Introducing the New Polar Systems Logo and Announcing our Pending Office Relocation!

Onward and upward . . . do you have to pinch yourself to make sure you survived 2009?

This year was rough on so many businesses, but our client organizations reaffirmed the value of their networks by protecting and enhancing their performance with our PolarStar services. We feel very fortunate that we have you among them – your business, your trust, your feedback, and ideas.

Looking ahead, twenty-ten has a nice ring, a solid foundation to build on. May it be so.

We’re kicking it off in two new ways. First, by updating our Polar Systems logo from the old familiar one dating back over 25 years. We took our cue from the positive response to our PolarStar services logo developed last year. And, we added a tagline, The Power of Expert IT™, which calls up the value of an efficient, high performance network to any business, plus the reason why organizations choose Polar Systems.

Second, we are moving to a new office in January on Willamette Drive, just off I-205 in West Linn. Our new office creates a fresh, efficient, forward-looking working environment with plenty of room to expand.

If you were among the businesses who used these quieter days to strategize and plan for the future, we wish you great success putting your initiatives into action in 2010.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday,

Ken Colton

Director of Operations

Proactive Network Services

PolarStar Reduces IT Costs for Small-to-Medium-sized Offices

By Tim Tragesser, Business Development Manager

What’s your net worth? Many organizations don’t fully understand the value of a smoothly-running IT environment until problems occur. And then it is obvious to them that the cost to fix the problem is a lot more than the cost of a service call. When a network fails, or a workstation bogs down, the cost in terms of lost productivity and lost data can cripple an organization. Ask yourself how much time was wasted the last time one of your people had to drop what they were doing and work on solving an IT problem – or stand by while someone else dropped what they were doing to work on the problem.

Managed services is about avoiding problems, and fixing your IT costs at an affordable level that you can plan for. No surprises. No worries. You focus on your job and we focus on ours. Your productivity increases and so does your bottom line.

In fact, we have just established a fixed-cost set of PolarStar managed services that will save small-to-medium-sized offices 30% or more compared to what IT is currently costing them.

The bundled price is listed in the full article

Polar Systems Helps the Oregon Medical Association Plan for the Future

If there’s one thing that’s in short supply at a non-profit organization that serves 7,500 busy physicians and their staffs, it’s time; especially time for handling computer network problems and worrying about how future IT needs will be met.

For years, the Oregon Medical Association (OMA) could get by with a simple computer network. Most of the IT support was handled by the organization’s internal staff. Then things got busier for the organization, which serves as a resource to Oregon’s physicians and the medical industry, providing services such as educational workshops, assisting with government regulation compliance, plus serving as an industry advocate with state and federal government. To offload their network and server support tasks, OMA needed to hire an outside IT firm.

Pacific Intermedia, an enterprise software integrator based in Portland, has been helping OMA with applying CRM software to the task of managing OMA’s relationships with its member physicians. They have also been consulting with OMA on the use of Microsoft SharePoint to manage document content and database integration with event registration software. Well-aware of the growing needs of the health care industry for secure and reliable client interaction management, Pacific Intermedia suggested that OMA get in touch with Polar Systems, an IT firm with a solid reputation in providing companies with proactive solutions.

Read the full case study here

Providing a Link Between PolarStar Clients and Polar's Engineers

Meet Kim Wheatley, Polar's Client Support Specialist

Kim Wheatley joined the team at Polar Systems nearly two years ago to support a critical mission at Polar – providing superior customer support. In Kim’s role as Client Support Specialist, she acts as a liaison between PolarStar clients and the engineers to ensure communication is flowing and all needs and issues are resolved quickly and to the client’s satisfaction.

“Adding the Client Support Specialist role at Polar has brought our customer support to the next level,” says Ken Colton, Director of Operations. Kim says her job is simple – she helps the engineers at Polar be successful in their jobs by providing that critical communication link to the client. To do that Kim communicates directly with clients on a regular basis, she handles project coordination, scheduling, and resource allocation. “When engineers get busy working on projects or daily job tasks, they can get focused on accomplishing their job duties and might fail to fully communicate with the client. At Polar, we’ve prevented that from happening by having a designated, proactive client advocate.”

Read more about Kim's role at Polar

Latest News

• Our office move will take place during the week between Christmas and New Years; however, we will be in full operation during this time.
• Watch for our Grand Opening at our new office in West Linn in Q1 of 2010.
• A quick update on our employee, Dan Spraker, serving our country in Iraq. Dan was home a few weeks ago on leave, and we had a chance to visit with him. We're looking forward to his return home and to Polar Systems some time mid-2010. You can read Dan's bio here.
• Email Tim Tragesser, Business Development Manager, for a free analysis of your network.

Click here to unsubscribe.

In This Issue of the
PolarXpress

Reduce your IT Costs

Oregon Medical Association Case Study

Polar's Client Support Specialist

News & Events

Meet Our New Client:

Patrick Lumber Co. has teamed with Polar Systems as one of our newest PolarStar clients. Patrick Lumber distributes high-grade lumber products that are used to manufacture doors, furniture, cabinetry, millwork, and other specialty products.

You can learn more about Patrick Lumber Co. here www.patlbr.com