Computer viruses keep repairers busy

Richard DeFazio owns Warwick's Expetec Technology<br>Services,
Richard DeFazio owns Warwick's Expetec Technology
Services,

With high-speed Internet making it easier to introduce a virus into your computer,
and small businesses becoming increasingly dependent on computers for every
facet of their operation, need for someone to keep personal and business information
technology is growing more than ever.



Gary Dicasparro said the last two months of 2003 were the busiest he’s ever seen for his business since he opened his Tec Direct Inc. retail location in Johnston nearly a decade ago. Coupled with increasing demand for on-site work orders he takes from hundreds of small businesses and residential clients around the state, Dicasparro will soon be hiring a seventh employee.



“It might just have something to do with the real craziness of downloading things off of the Internet,” he said of the recent boom in business. “People get that high-speed connection and it’s that much easier to download a file that could contain a virus or software that just isn’t compatible.”



According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, computer, automated teller and office machine repairers held about 172,000 jobs in 2000 – with computer and ATM teller repairers accounting for about 3-in-5 of those positions. More than 1-in-7 workers in the entire category was self-employed.



The bureau also projects that the employment of computer, automated teller and office machine repairers will grow much faster than the average for all occupations through 2008, with projected increases of at least 35 percent.



The demand only makes sense, considering that increasing numbers of small businesses rely on the Internet to provide them a marketplace as households continue to make purchases online. All this comes as advances lead to evermore sophisticated technology and consumers regularly cope with installing Web cams and manipulating their digital photos.



In recent years, an annual survey by the University of Michigan Business School shows that customer satisfaction in the PC hardware industry has slipped, falling in 2002 to 75 on a 100-point scale (the survey peaked at 80 in 2000). And a PC World magazine survey in 2002 had just half of nearly 30,000 respondents saying that they were able to resolve their computer problems with a single call to tech support.



Richard DeFazio, who retired from the military in 2002, bought the Expetec Technology Services franchise area in Warwick last fall, the first of the group’s more than 50 mobile operations to arrive in Rhode Island. His business offers on-site technology services to commercial and consumer customers. The other closest Expetec locations are in Boston and Sturbridge, Mass., and in Wolcott, Conn.



While spending time in both the Navy and the Army, DeFazio had already received his electrical engineering degree. When he got out of the service, equipped with experience repairing computers and networks, he was looking for a franchise to buy into where training would focus on customer service, marketing and business operations.



After a week at Expetec’s corporate headquarters in Aberdeen, S.D., DeFazio returned to Warwick and began advertising through flier distribution and postcard mailings and is now finding business through word-of-mouth. DeFazio said he’s done work for several small businesses, which view his services as a way to outsource their information technology needs to someone who will be familiar with the systems they have in place.



“People, especially small-business owners, are started to plan for preventative maintenance,” said DeFazio. “It’s like owning a car and bringing it in for regular oil changes. People are starting to realize they have to do that with their computers.”



Like many other small computer repair operations, DeFazio said the bulk of his work is troubleshooting and running diagnostic tests as well as updating virus definitions and software patches. He also sets up networks, performs software and hardware upgrades and provides off-site storage for data backup.



“It’s not like you’re ever out there, on your own, lost,” DeFazio said.



In Seekonk, Charles Rehbein, owner of EBI Electronics, said his 40-year-old business has carved out a niche in providing educational laboratories to high schools and companies looking to teach a new language to students or employees.



Rehbein has modernized his operation over the years, upgrading and re-upgrading operations from records and cassette tapes to CDs and interactive computer programs. Rehbein said business is evenly divided between new installations and equipment maintenance.



“A lot of the equipment and software in these labs don’t even resemble what I was installing even 10 years ago,” Rehbein said. “Every company is looking for a competitive edge and finding a niche, even if it’s going after small businesses or people using the computer at home, is something I think a lot of these repair shops are thinking about looking at.”



In Johnston, Dicasparro said he prides himself on providing his demanding small-business clientele, who have a wide range of needs and want someone on their site and addressing their problems as soon as possible.



“I make them a priority,” Dicasparro said. “I think the technology’s reached a point where people recognize they can find honest, knowledgeable help right down the street or even delivered right to their workplace.”

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