October 2007
Taking Care of IT
Don't wait for emergency to upgrade system
By Lori Valyko Weber

Neothink president Mark Nekic works in a digital universe of new technologies that may seem magical to the layman, but are work-a-day tools for many businesses.

Taking care of IT (information technology) business before it morphs into a crippling disaster can save employees countless headaches and hours of labor, not to mention big bucks for employers.

Yet, it seems that many small businesses often do not consider their computer system worthy of premeditated counsel and support. It’s only after a system crashes or when an entire company gets fed up with their system’s snail-like velocity that change happens. And it’s not because these users are unintelligent. They simply progress along a predictable course of “it’s good enough for now so let’s not tinker with it” until it becomes intolerable.

Think about IT

Mark Nekic, president of Neothink in Willoughby, hears these laments time and again.

“It’s a common evolution that many companies go through, especially small businesses,” he says, adding he’s been in the business more than 14 years. “It usually starts off where a company hires the boyfriend of the owner's daughter, or someone who’s a friend of a friend. It’s usually a high-school or college kid who knows something about computers and what he comes up with usually works OK for awhile. But the drawbacks start showing up soon enough. These kids make their decisions based on what’s cool or fun and they don’t have a lot of business experience.”

This approach only works for so long because these kids just don’t yet have the experience to make decisions based on what’s best to help a growing company.      

Enter phase two: a “Geek Squad” representative.

“And these guys are good at what they do,” Nekic says. “A geek will come out and fix your machine so that it works, or you can take it to them and drop off your computer for a few days until it’s fixed.”

Although sometimes a fix is all that’s needed, that’s about all the geeks can do. If you need planning services, you may not be able to get them. And if you like working with the same person every time you need help, you may not be able to find that kind of consistency.

So, after a while, these small businesses will hire a “white-box builder,” Nekic says. “These people, too, are good for certain situations, but they’re not always the best fit. These PC builders will help you piece together your own PC system and then they’ll try to support it.”

Their shortcoming is that nearly all their solutions are hardware-based because they’re technicians, not necessarily business problem-solvers.  “They work with machines better than they work with people,” he said.

Finally, after feeling a lot of computer pain, these businesses often come to Neothink and similar companies that perform comprehensive IT services. 

“You wouldn’t hire a high-school kid to do your books. And you wouldn’t call 1-800-CPA-SQUAD. You take it seriously,” Nekic said. “If small companies thought like big companies and wanted to grow into big companies, they’d see that they need IT solutions that fit their business. And sometimes it takes a human person with a strong IT background to read between the lines of what the customer is saying. Sometimes customers don’t need what they’re asking for, but they just don’t know any better. There is an easier way.”

Small business, big IT needs

Cindy Frakes, vice president of Mastertech Diamond Products in Mentor, uses Cornerstone IT in Concord Township to handle her company’s IT needs. Like many small businesses, Mastertech doesn’t employ a full-time, in-house IT person, yet Frakes still needs her company’s computer network to run efficiently.      

“We use Cornerstone not only to fix our problems when they arise,” she says, “but also to help our internal network allow us to have flexible communications.”

Frakes says she can remotely access her system from anywhere in the world as though she were in her office. Last year, Frakes went to Florida for six weeks, yet managed to handle all day-to-day office activities.

“My husband, Tom, (Mastertech’s president) can access his e-mail from anywhere and respond with the company’s e-mail, not a Hotmail tag or his personal e-mail,” she said.

Frakes finds the data backup services to be invaluable, along with Cornerstone’s ability to remotely access the Mastertech network to manage corrections offsite.

“If something goes wrong,” she says, “Cornerstone will know it before we will. They often head off a lot of potential problems before we have to even think about them.”

Ray Paganini, CEO of Cornerstone IT, says Frakes’ situation is common. “These people want to do their jobs,” he says. “They want to be able to work from their second home in Florida or from a hotel room while they’re traveling. They don’t want to be worrying about how to set up their network or what will happen to them if something goes wrong.”

Most of Paganini’s clients are small manufacturers that employ up to 25 people.  “Any small business owner knows that to be competitive, he or she needs solid IT support,” Paganini says. 

Cornerstone IT installs many communication systems that allow people to keep in touch with their offices, vendors and clients.

“Good computer networks are important to any industry; they’re universal,” he said.

The price tag to set up standard remote-access products is often a lot less than what many people assume. Products such as Microsoft’s Small Business Server cost about $500 and provide e-mail anywhere including to mobile phones and remote access to any computer on the network. It also includes all the security and functions of an enterprise network without having to own an entire room of computers staffed by a dedicated IT department.      

Cornerstone IT’s Microsoft-certified team not only installs many small business servers, it also recognizes when additional storage and service is necessary.

“It’s amazing how much communication power, storage space and security people can get for a reasonable price,” Paganini says. “Sometimes, companies will need a server that costs $5,000. But sometimes, we’ll be able to host it for a lot less money at our data center. There are monthly fee options, and services range from cheap to expensive, but successful small businesses demand the dependability and flexibility that a solid IT system provides.”

No IT department needed      

Personal Systems Plus Inc. in Willoughby calls itself the “IT department for companies without an IT department.”  The company got started in 1984 as a one-man shop selling Apple computers, peripherals and supplies. When IBM introduced the PC, Bob Hostutler, president of Personal Systems Plus, began offering compatible products and building some of the first IBM clone computers.

“What I saw back in the early days is similar to what I see now, but the focus and degree has changed,” Hostutler says. “Companies want to leverage the ability to network computers and share information and have a common platform for all communication.”      

Many small companies still lack the personnel and expertise to internally run their IT system. Yet, if these companies want to be competitive and make gains in their markets, lack of an IT department isn’t an excuse for failure.

“With the products that are available now, it’s possible for many smaller businesses to think and communicate like bigger companies,” he says.      

Hostutler says many of his clients face issues where networking can be problematic, but realize that without the network, they won’t be able to grow. Any company that wants to be taken seriously must have a dependable network.

“And that’s where we come into the picture,” he adds. “We make computer programs and services interactive across the employee base and keep people productive. Some small business may have someone at a help desk handling day-to-day issues, but when it comes to addressing interfacing problems and the Internet, or installing applications software, then we’ll often get phone calls from people wanting the next level of expertise. And it’s really a smart thing that these companies call.”      

Hostutler emphasizes that companies often save money by calling an IT specialist to handle IT issues rather than pulling an employee off his duties to handle something that isn’t really his area of expertise.

“If a manager isn’t managing people because he’s installing virus protection and cleaning up hard drives, then he’s not effectively using his time to manage,” Hostutler says.  "It’s generally more effective to pay an outside firm to install and maintain computers than to take that person away from his regular duties.”      

Often, hiring an IT expert helps small businesses stay on equal footing with their bigger competitors.

“It’s the small companies that need our help,” Hostutler says. “We help them communicate like the big companies.”      

Neothink’s Nekic believes that many big companies become large and successful partially because of their commitment to IT.

“Small businesses can really gain a strategic and competitive advantage by treating IT like large corporations,” Nekic says. “No one works without computers. It’s a matter of how well they can work for you.”

Lori Weber is a Hambden Township freelance writer.