Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Swihart.
Charles, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Preactive IT Solutions exists to provide small businesses with the same technology and IT services available to large corporations. We started in 2003 with a break-fix model, responding to customer problems as they occurred.
We operated in that fashion for many years, but our industry has been changing over the last seven or eight years and the break-fix model is all but obsolete.
Today we operate as a Managed IT Service Provider or MSP. This is a proactive (Hence the name), rather than reactive, approach to IT Services. We often tell companies that are seeking break-fix service that they are looking for a fire department and we would rather be their IT department.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have been some obstacles along the way. During the financial decline of 2008-2010, many competitors were forced out of business. Our business declined somewhat for a couple years, but then quickly rebounded.
The last couple years in Houston have been rough for many businesses as the price of oil has fallen and not fully recovered. We have seen customers struggling to survive in this climate and our own revenue has fallen nearly 15% over the last two years, but we have recovered and will have record-high revenue in 2017.
Preactive IT Solutions – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our name says it all, “Preactive IT Solutions”. We work to secure and stabilize your business network BEFORE things go wrong. Before viruses hit. Before servers crash. We leverage state-of-the-art monitoring systems to watch every computer and server 24×7 and report problems to our staff before your staff knows there is an issue.
We provide onsite support, help desk, data protection, network security, VoIP phone service and project work. We work with engineering and construction firms, manufacturers, accounting firms and law firms.
We have assembled a portfolio of tools, software and processes that allow us to compete with much larger IT service companies to provide better and more responsive service. Small businesses that hire IT firms larger than themselves often feel undervalued or unimportant to the IT provider. We provide great service and a relationship. We want to know what is happening in our customers’ businesses and help them implement technologies that make sense for them as they grow.
Our extremely low customer turnover rate confirms to us that we are doing things right, but we are always seeking to improve.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Our business has grown naturally without any sales force for many years. In November 2015, we took a big step by partnering with a large marketing coaching firm. As a result of implementing strategies we learned, our sales and marketing expenses have soared. However, in the last year, we have increased our monthly recurring contract revenue by 125% and are on track to double it in 2017.
Contact Info:
- Address: 15531 Southwest Freeway
- Website: http://preactiveit.com
- Phone: 2814941155
- Email: info@preactiveit.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PreactiveIT/
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