PRIDE Industries Helps IT Company Focus on Maintaining Cutting-Edge Services
Sage IT Systems is a San Diego-based IT company with the capacity to put “feet on the ground” in all 50 states. A leader in digital transformation, Sage IT is rapidly transforming organizations by delivering secure and innovative digital solutions, superior customer service, and skilled talent. By harnessing the power of Integration, Automation, AI, Cloud, and Data technologies, the IT leader provides business benefits at a rate of 30 percent faster than industry standards. To allow their expert technicians to focus on customer service, the company partners with PRIDE Industries, the nation’s leading employer of people with disabilities.
Challenge: Free Up Technicians to Do Their Jobs
Speed is a key factor that separates Sage IT from its competitors. In an industry where response times average from four to eight hours, Sage IT technicians respond to chat support messages within 10 seconds during business hours. To maintain this level of availability, numerous other tasks—typically left to technicians—need to get done.
“The place needs to be neat, and the inventory has to be maintained, technicians’ backpacks need to be checked every night to ensure morning readiness, and much more,” said Darren Rysedorph, founder and CEO.
“Our technicians need to be spending their time helping our clients, not checking and replenishing inventory,” Rysedorph said. “And they need to know that when they go out in the field, they have everything they need.”
To make the organization more efficient, Sage IT decided to hire an administrative assistant to manage inventory and perform administrative tasks so that the technicians could focus on client needs.
Solution: A Stellar Office Support Professional Who Happens to Have a Disability
Sage IT partnered with PRIDE Industries to find the right person for the position. Judi Adams, Director of Sales and Client Success for Sage, is also a member of The Michael Ziegler PRIDE Industries Foundation Advisory Board and familiar with the benefits that people with disabilities bring to the organizations they work for—including numerous business benefits.
“I’ve been involved with PRIDE Industries since 2004,” she said. “So, I knew that hiring people with disabilities is no different from hiring anyone else. Everyone has abilities. You find out what people excel in, and that’s what they bring to a company—what they do in their roles.”
“I saw we had an amazing opportunity to bring someone in who can do things that the technicians don’t have time to do, so they can spend more time servicing clients in the field,” Adams added. “I knew we could count on PRIDE Industries to help us find a great employee.”
Enter Kristin Johnson, who joined Sage IT via an internship in December of 2023 and has been doing a stellar job.
Results: An Organized, Efficient Back Office Keeps Technicians in The Game
Sage IT technicians are no longer burdened with tasks that had kept them from serving clients and providing trademark-fast, thorough IT service.
“Kristin has been critical in keeping the back end running for us and keeping these guys in the game,” said Ryesdorph. “Everything we put on her list of things to do, we know will get done—and she does it quietly, without complaint, promptly, and courteously. Our Director of Operations raves about her.”
Sage IT is seeing all the business benefits typically associated with employing people with disabilities: high productivity, excellent attendance and punctuality, and a can-do attitude.
“Every week we go over the scoreboards for the team, and Kristin is always at 100 percent,” said Adams. “And she’s so excited to be part of the team. One of the things I love most is seeing her get off the bus and come over here with such enthusiasm.”
A Low Risk Solution
“PRIDE Industries takes all the risk. They’re doing all the training. They’re only presenting you with candidates who are capable of doing the job—in some cases, better, faster, with less fuss, and with better attendance,” said Ryesdorph.
It’s true. PRIDE Industries holistic employment model includes pre-employment screening and preparation, training, communication facilitation between employee and employer, and on-site employment coaches to ensure employee success. Especially in a fast-paced organization like Sage IT, all of this matters.
“One of the things PRIDE Industries does really well is interviewing and preparing candidates and identifying the individuals that would be a perfect fit here,” Adams said. “When we were interviewing for this position, they presented us with three excellent candidates. We couldn’t go wrong.”
Services Provided
- Employee placement
- Employment coaching
- Employer support
- Results
- Professionally organized back office
- Unburdened technicians
Accommodating Success
Kristin’s success at Sage IT offers proof that people with disabilities, with modest accommodations, can be exceptional employees. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” for employees with disabilities, defined as “any change to the application or hiring process, to the job, to the way the job is done, or the work environment that allows a person with a disability who is qualified for the job to perform the essential functions of that job and enjoy equal employment opportunities.”
Employers sometimes fear accommodating people with disabilities will be too costly—a fear that has been proven to be unfounded. In a Job Accommodation Network (JAN) survey of employers, over half said that accommodations cost nothing, while 37 percent reported a median one-time cost of just $300. The same employers report many benefits that far outweigh the small expense. The cited benefits of accommodating employees with disabilities include:
- Retaining valuable employees
- Improving productivity and morale
- Reducing workers’ compensation and training costs
- Improving company diversity
“I’ve been involved with PRIDE Industries since 2004. So, I knew that hiring people with disabilities is no different from hiring anyone else.”
