Over more than three decades at United Way Worldwide, Johnny Dang has watched infrastructure move from dozens of on-premises servers to a largely cloud-based environment. For roughly 15 years, ARG has helped his lean IT organization modernize communications, access specialized engineering, and gain another level of leverage when technology vendors fall short.
When the Technology Changes Faster Than the Team Can Grow
Johnny Dang has spent more than 30 years at United Way Worldwide. In that time, the infrastructure he manages has changed dramatically.
The organization once maintained as many as 30 servers internally. Today, only a few remain as more technology has moved to cloud environments including Microsoft and AWS.
Yet cloud adoption has created another challenge: specialized expertise.
United Way Worldwide’s IT organization has fewer than 20 people across infrastructure, security, programming, and web development. When a project requires deep knowledge of a specific platform, adding another full-time specialist is rarely practical.
“There’s no way we can go out there and hire everybody” with expertise in every technology, Dang said.
That reality has helped define United Way Worldwide’s relationship with ARG for approximately 15 years.
When Dang needs expertise his team does not maintain internally, he can draw on ARG’s broader bench and provider network.
A recent Microsoft project illustrates the model. United Way needed expertise in Intune and Entra, but the requirement was roughly 15 to 20 hours a month. Dang wanted specialized capability without carrying another permanent salary and benefits package.
ARG brought in three potential providers. United Way spent time evaluating each.
Eventually, Dang asked ARG the question that mattered most.
“If you were in our shoes, what would you do? Which one would you pick?”
ARG recommended FSI. United Way returned to the provider, evaluated it again, selected it, and continues to use the firm today.
For Dang, the value was straightforward: access to the right expertise when the organization needed it.
From Avaya to the Cloud, Without Leaving the Details Behind
That same model had already played out years earlier with United Way Worldwide’s communications infrastructure.
Its Avaya phone system lived physically inside the Alexandria headquarters at 701 North Fairfax Street. A disruption at the building could affect communications along with everything else housed there.
“If there’s a loss of power or there’s a natural disaster or flooding or anything like that, then we lost the phone, we lost the connection,” Dang said.
United Way wanted to move communications to the cloud but needed help evaluating where to go.
ARG introduced providers, helped the team compare pricing and capabilities, and worked through the tradeoffs. United Way selected RingCentral.
The transition exposed the kind of detail that rarely appears in a sales presentation. United Way also relied on an internal PA system to page employees throughout the building. Moving the phones to the cloud still required the legacy paging and speaker environment to function.
ARG stayed involved as the team worked through the integration.
“The good thing about ARG is that once the project is signed, ARG doesn’t leave us in the sand,” Dang said.
Years later, the decision changed again. When RingCentral increased its pricing, United Way returned to ARG. The market was reevaluated, and the organization moved to Zoom, which it continues to use today.
The progression from Avaya to RingCentral to Zoom demonstrates the staying power of the relationship. ARG remains involved as technology, economics, and requirements change.
Knowing the Market and Knowing “What We Have at 701”
Dang values ARG’s market knowledge. He places equal importance on its knowledge of United Way itself.
The ARG team has visited the Alexandria headquarters, seen the equipment, met the team, and stayed connected through leadership changes.
That context influences the recommendations.
A large provider may understand the technology, Dang explained, yet still lack insight into how United Way actually operates.
“A large provider may know the market, but they don’t know what we have here,” Dang said. ARG had spent time at United Way’s Alexandria headquarters, seen its equipment firsthand, and developed an understanding of the environment behind the recommendation.
Before ARG, evaluating providers meant finding salespeople, arranging meetings, comparing competing claims, and trying to understand what existed behind the contract. Price was only part of the decision. Support quality and what would happen after implementation mattered as well.
“That’s what ARG comes in for,” Dang said.
When the Support Queue Stops Moving
That distinction becomes especially important when a vendor relationship hits trouble.
During a recent UCaaS issue, United Way attempted to resolve the problem directly. Even after escalating, the team could not get the technical assistance it needed.
Dang called Sam Johnston at ARG.
ARG used its provider relationships to escalate the issue further and helped United Way connect with the resources needed to move the problem forward.
“We call the provider, we escalate and we got nothing from them,” Dang said. “But as soon as we contact ARG and ARG pushes it out, we talk to the main guy over there.”
That experience shapes how Dang evaluates cost.
He acknowledges that direct sourcing may occasionally produce a lower price. The calculation also includes support, escalation leverage, and what happens over the life of the relationship.
“If we get through ARG, then you have two sides to push it on,” he said. “We might get a better result.”
United Way also retains the freedom to go another direction. In one backup evaluation, ARG introduced several providers, but United Way ultimately chose a different company directly after receiving a significant nonprofit discount.
That independence matters. So does ARG’s compensation model, which gives United Way access to advisory support without a separate consulting fee for services purchased through participating providers.
A Bench That Stays in Place
Platforms have changed repeatedly during the 15-year relationship. Leadership has changed, too.
Dang makes a point of introducing ARG whenever a new technology leader arrives.
“I always invite ARG to meet the new boss,” he said. “I want the new boss to know that we have some kind of service with ARG.”
He does not expect one ARG representative to know every platform. He expects ARG to find the person who does.
For a lean IT organization, that creates something difficult to build internally: access to a deeper bench of expertise, informed by years of familiarity with the environment and backed by relationships that continue long after the contract is signed.
Dang puts it more simply.
“It’s a blessing to have ARG on our side.”
ARG gives lean technology teams the expertise, market perspective, and vendor leverage to make stronger decisions without carrying every capability in-house.
See what independent market clarity looks like for your non-profit infrastructure. Talk with ARG.