YoCream

YoCream International, Inc., with headquarters and a dairy and manufacturing facility in Portland, OR, is a pioneer and leading producer of frozen yogurt. Founded in 1977, YoCream produces, markets, and sells frozen yogurt, ice cream, and frozen custard mixes as well as fruit and dairy smoothies and frozen beverages. The Company has 30 years experience of providing solutions to the away-from-home foodservice market.

When YoCream I S Manager Brad Gaylor was looking for an IT service provider three years ago, he turned to Polar Systems.

As the company’s lone IT specialist, Brad doesn’t have the time to get involved in the nuts and bolts of network hardware and software management. He looks to Polar Systems to provide that help.

“I didn’t have enough work for a qualified IT person,” said Brad. “And I was concerned about one individual having the diversity of experience that I needed to support our department. Polar Systems was recommended to me by another IT company as being the right size organization to meet our needs.”

YoCream signed up with Polar Systems for its PolarStar network services support program, which includes remote monitoring of YoCream’s network on a full time basis, plus problem troubleshooting, connectivity assistance, and software and hardware upgrades as necessary.

“They provide all the support that I need,” says Brad. “I rely on their technical expertise. Whenever I need an upgrade of network hardware they handle it for me.”

“For example, we do electronic invoicing with one of our customers,” continued Brad.  “The service requires that we have a secure communications line.  Polar Systems made a recommendation of a device that would provide this and we contracted with them to purchase and install the solution.”

“A year ago, Polar provided us with backup hardware and software when we needed to upgrade our system, and ever since, the system has been safe, secure, and reliable,” says Brad.

“The remote monitoring that Polar Systems provides with the PolarStar program has been particularly valuable,” noted Brad Gaylor. “A Polar engineer notifies me whenever they see irregularities in our system operation or issues that need attention. 

“For example, we recently ran into a problem where we were reaching capacity on one of our servers,” Gaylor continued. “Polar flagged the problem and recommended a long-term solution, and they are currently helping us put that solution in place.” 
The PolarStar remote monitoring service also helps YoCream by updating the service patches and cleaning up files remotely.  “There is very little that they can’t do remotely,” says Brad.

When an on-site visit is required, someone drops by from Polar to install hardware or make an update as needed.

“I see Polar Systems not as a vendor but as my expert IT partner,” concluded Brad.  “Polar is very good at what they do and are highly responsive to my needs.”