Credit Union Makes the Switch to Exchange 2010

Maine State Credit Union is a member-owned financial institution that provides a full range of financial services. It has more than $326 million in assets, making it the largest credit union in the state. With 70 employees in three locations, the three-person Information Systems team remains busy.

WGTECH has earned the IS team’s business over the years by continuously providing outstanding support and assistance with new technology deployment. Having built that trust, the IS team again turned to WGTECH for its latest project to upgrade the credit union’s Microsoft Exchange environment. “We went through five different IT providers before we came to WGTECH five years ago, and we have been with them ever since,” says Sherry Nadeau, IS Administrator, Maine State Credit Union.

The credit union has worked with WGTECH on multiple projects, including the most recent Exchange migration. “Our members communicate with us via email and the phone the most, so we consider email to be a critical application,” says Nadeau. “We always look to WGTECH to help us with our critical applications.”

The time was right to make the switch from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010 because the credit union wanted to benefit from the new features, such as integrated archiving, voicemail with a unified inbox, larger, low-cost inboxes, and simplified administration. The newer version also enabled a direct migration. “If we waited, we would have to do a completely new install, so this was a much smoother path for us,” says Nadeau.

WGTECH managed the multi-step implementation, which included buying a new branch server for backup and to host the application. The entire process, including building the new server, loading Exchange 2010, testing the application, and moving the backup tape, took three weeks. The only downtime users experienced was the few minutes it took for each individual mailbox to move from one server to the next. “It was literally flawless,” says Nadeau. “People who are not in IT do not understand the scope and magnitude of this type of project. We were thrilled.”

With a stable partnership for the last 5 years, WGTECH’s skill set, resources, and conduct have undoubtedly outperformed competitors. “You have to feel confident in your network consulting partner, because they are so involved in every aspect of IT. We have that level of confidence in WGTECH,” says Nadeau. “We love working with WGTECH, and we have a great relationship with them.”