TailWind Voice & Data
Stay Connected Across Locations with a Single-Source, All-Inclusive Solution

Various research institutes across the globe have predicted that procurement companies will go through a complete makeover in the coming years, owing to the rapid proliferation of digital transformation. In fact, a recent report published by The Hackett Group revealed that nearly 32 percent of procurement companies have already taken up the initiative of going digital and are fundamentally changing their operational methodologies to stay competitive in this new business era.

Tailwind Voice & Data is a Minnesota-based procurement firm that's actively participating in this paradigm shift, implementing digital transformation across its solutions to become more nimble, responsive, innovative, and, most importantly, accountable in managing client projects. The company delivers solutions that facilitate “always-on” connectivity for remote locations, complete with end-to-end solutions spanning both sides of the demarcation point. Their IT, network, and carrier infrastructure services provide single-source accountability by addressing service management, asset management, and connectivity management requirements.

While conversing with the CIO Applications' editorial team, Andy Siemens, the CEO of TailWind Voice & Data and Tom Murphy, Vice President of Business, shared their insights on the current trends in the procurement landscape, the company's offerings, and their value proposition.

Could you provide us an overview on the company?

Andy: Today, proper connectivity is a necessity for companies across the globe. And, as a leading provider of IT and network infrastructure solutions and a dedicated partner, Tailwind takes accountability for all aspects of the client’s business network. We empower our clients by providing the ability to conduct business anytime and anywhere. Tailwind, as an organization, is devoted to providing first-class management of their assets, service, and connectivity issues. We are committed to addressing the unique challenges multi-location businesses face and ensuring that our customers benefit from lowered costs, seamless scalability, reduced risks, and increased reliability. Our 3,000 dispatch points across the United States and Canada, has enabled us to service large corporations with centrally managed networks that connect numerous locations separated by vast distances.

What unique solutions do you provide for clients facing challenges related to IT and telecom?

Tom: For large corporations, uninterrupted broadband connectivity is essential, as they usually have 50 or more remote sites spread across the United States and Canada. When businesses opt to internalize IT infrastructure upgrades, they run the risks of over-spending, longer downtimes, and technical malfunctions. Internalizing the IT upgrade process can also affect a business' ROI, as it diverts them from their day-to-day revenue activities.

To help clients simplify the IT upgrade process, TailWind provides cost-effective, efficient, and reliable IT solutions and becomes an extension of their existing IT staff.

Clients can also rely on our hands-on approach to problem-solving and expert ground support to tackle IT and networking issues at all serviceable locations across the USA and Canada. In essence, businesses no longer need to deal with multiple providers, bills, trouble tickets, and poor customer service; they can simply opt for TailWind.

What are the offerings, benefits, and features you bring in the procurement landscape?

Tom: As an aggregator of broadband services, we simplify multi-location internet connectivity by leveraging partner relationships with all major internet service providers to create customized, bundled services for enterprises.

With locally sourced technicians and parts, TailWind can offer cost-effective installation, consolidation, optimization, and relocation of connectivity solutions, regardless of geo-dispersed client locations across the United States and Canada. A dedicated project manager also oversees remote installation and procurement projects, acting as a single point of contact for clients to clarify project related queries.

Andy: TailWind also offers best-in-class, in-house licensed field service software and application packages, which can share insights on check-ins, check-outs, and the delivery of equipment at work sites. Our customer portal relays information about the installation and management of equipment at remote locations to clients in real-time. On the carrier side, the portal procures carrier billing, order dates, and provisioning dates of connected services. We also dispatch locally-sourced experienced personnel from 50+ operational locations to support clients' remote sites without them having to hire W-2 employees.

What strategies and innovation techniques do you employ to stay ahead of the competition over other procurement companies?

Andy: We built a network operations center to manage all of our customers network connectivity specifically to update, monitor, and troubleshoot their onsite routers. We also set up a stage configuration lab to test and configure equipment, ensuring minimal disruption of internet services during upgrades. With TailWind as a single point of contact, clients can have their entire network needs met under one-roof and receive a unified bill for procurement services and solutions, as opposed to dealing with multiple vendors for the same.

Tom: Clients often outsource the deployment of connectivity solutions when they cannot allocate necessary resources and time to address the complexities of upgrading their voice, networking, and data systems. We adopt a three-pillar approach to address our client's requirements. The first pillar is to assign technicians to any location within the USA or Canada, as large clients can have difficulties while managing tasks in remote areas or dense locations like airports or malls. The second pillar is to manage assets and perform configurations on devices at those locations. The third one is our connectivity solutions. We have partnered with all major internet service providers across the United States and Canada, to offer clients end-to-end solutions spanning both sides of the demarcation point. Meaning, TailWind handles everything from ordering equipment to ensuring proper wiring installation and testing applications after procuring the internet service.

Could you share details about how TailWind helped a client solve challenges and operational inefficiencies regarding their technological shortcomings?

Tom: We recently provided our services to one of our clients who had tertiary industrial sites and regional offices around the United States. They were struggling on the bandwidth front because of application-based work that demanded more bandwidth allocation. The client approached us to help them with the deployment of broadband and upgrade their equipment across remote locations. After engaging with the client, we first configured their network equipment and dispatched a technician to deploy it—helping them launch their new website. We also provided the client with a summary and informed their remote employees that the site was up on brand new SD-WAN servers.

Engaging with us, the client not only avoided facing the challenge of deploying such equipment across remote locations but saved the time and effort required to hire new employees to complete this project.

What is the road map for the company in the next 12 to 18 months?

Andy: At the end of the day, for TailWind, it’s about being flexible and nimble. That’s going to be our focus for today and the days to come. We are constantly meeting with CEOs and Directors of different organizations from an array of verticals to understand their changing needs and pain points, and develop ideas around how we can make their lives easier and more tech-savvy. This helps us gain a proper perspective on the industry we envision to enter and come up with solutions that have proven capabilities as opposed to introducing them on the go.

Tom: We are actively working on expanding our product offerings to meet the ever-growing needs of the industry. By digitizing our products and services, we can offerend-to-end procurement solutions and better serve enterprises on their digital transformation journeys. Going forward, we envision setting revolutionary standards in bringing all-inclusive solutions to IT and telecom.