Case Study: NIFA

Kidwell Serves as Technological Backbone for NIFA

The Nebraska Investment Finance Authority (NIFA) is an independent, quasi-governmental organization that provides Nebraskans a broad range of financial resources for homeownership, rental housing, agriculture, manufacturing, medical and community development endeavors.  

As a result of its financial mission and fiduciary responsibilities, NIFA must be confident its IT systems are up to date, stable and secure for staff, customers, and partners. In 2005, NIFA determined the best, most cost effective solution was to outsource the majority of its IT needs.  Through an RFP process in 2006, NIFA selected Kidwell to be its IT department. "We have no formally trained IT staff here at NIFA," says Jody Cook, the organization's Accounting Manager. "Our technology provider must be a true partner. Kidwell has been that partner for us. They not only monitor and maintain our systems on a day to day basis, including necessary updates/patches, periodic reviews to ensure network security, etc., but also assist us with purchasing new hardware/software and help us identify relevant new technology that is on the horizon."

Kidwell has guided NIFA through several rounds of important upgrades, "all of which were invisible to our staff and customers," says Jody.  NIFA was pleased that a recent transition to a virtual server environment resulted in zero productivity down time for either its Lincoln or Omaha offices.  "Our upgrades have generally gone without a hitch."

As a lean organization with an important mission, NIFA has relied and continues to rely on Kidwell to provide seamless technological support. "Kidwell is our technological backbone," says Jody. "And so far, that has worked really well for us."