Meet the Team | George Gazdacka, Client Technology Advisor

Our customers know that when they have a technical, billing or sales question, they can count on George Gazdacka to jump in and help. S-NET’s Client Technology Advisor relies on his extensive Telecommunications experience to ensure that cutomers make the most of the technology they are paying for. In his free time, George enjoys playing and coaching softball and basketball. He is aiming to visit every major league ballpark with his kids, and he is already down to the last 8! Read on to get to know him.

When did you start at S-NET Communications?

I started with S-NET in June of 2016.

Where did you go to college?

I have a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from DeVry University.

What made you choose this career path?

I enjoy technology and helping people, so this working as a Client Technology Advisor is the best of both worlds.

Where did you work before starting at S-NET?

I have worked in the IT space since 1995, starting as an Inventory Manager for a local network integration business, BSSI. I continued with them as they were sold to a larger company, Convergent Communications, but when a couple of my coworkers at Convergent started their own Hosted VOIP business, IPiphany in 2006, I decided to join them. 7 years later IPiphany was sold to a larger VOIP provider, where I worked until I moved to S-NET in 2016.

What are your primary responsibilities at S-NET?

I am responsible for keeping our customers happy and making sure they get the most out of what they are paying for. I am their main point of contact for technical, billing and sales questions, and also the first escalation point for any support or service issues.

So you interact with clients quite often.

Yes. I interact with clients every day, some days more than others. But I am always checking in if I don’t hear from them for a while.

What is the most rewarding aspect of working with clients?

Hearing what a great job our install or service team has done.  Everyone in our office knows we have great customer service and put the customer first, but it’s great to hear it from our customers.

What do you enjoy most about your work in general?

I enjoy providing solutions to our customers’ technical challenges and helping them save money along the way.

We also have a great team that is very customer focused.  Everyone is always thinking outside the box for programming and network solutions. It is great that we rarely have to say no to a customer request.

What have been your favorite S-NET projects so far?

The 2018 acquisition of Strategic Telecommunications/Xtracom gave me one of our most challenging projects. Their system was going to be decommissioned shortly after our acquisition, and we had about 2 months to migrate all former Xtracom customers over to our network before their service went out. It was truly an all hands-on deck approach, everyone at S-NET had some involvement and most employees worked long hours.  We migrated about 60 locations and 1000 phones to our infrastructure, in addition to installing other new customers and tending to our existing client base. It was truly a team effort.

What are some accomplishments that make you proud?

Even though I was not part of it, I have to mention our massive internal upgrade this year. Our network engineers have upgraded all of our network infrastructure at our data centers, which will continue to keep our service running as great as it has been since it’s inception.

What has S-NET added to your professional life?

Our upper management team is very open to ideas and suggestions.  It is very rewarding that my opinion and thoughts matter and make a difference in our company.

Are there any exciting projects you are looking forward to?

We have a lot of things going on behind the scenes. There is another app upgrade coming and more feature additions. We are also working on adding some additional products and services.

How do you unwind in your free time?

I love watching most sports, especially the Bears, Blackhawks and Bulls, and of course the Cubbies! During weekends I coach my daughter’s travel softball and basketball teams and enjoy playing both sports myself. My kids and I have a goal of going to every major league ballpark. We are down to the last 8, but new ones keep popping up!

I am also the Network Admin at my Church, and I like helping family and friends with fix it projects around their homes.