The story of Dryke & Associates is one of evolution through fulfilling customer needs one request at a time. This Vancouver-based company began as a husband and wife team 25 years ago when computer programs promised to revolutionize the tedium for office workers everywhere.
“The company started by teaching people how to use Microsoft Office and Excel,” explained owner Chuck Dryke. “We wanted to be at the computer and train one-on-one. People were able to ask questions and we were able to get a better understanding of what your computer is doing for you. We built individual manuals around that training so if a person was at a particular screen and got lost, they could open the booklet for help. We worked to keep things simple and straight forward.”
That led to building computers and creating their own IT department. From there, Dryke & Associates began bringing all individual company email addresses into one server via a dotcom. The whole process is so automatic in 2016, Dryke said, that no one even thinks about it anymore. But back then, that seemingly simple integration drastically reduced the need for phone lines and the size of phone bills for large companies. Once a company possessed a dotcom they, again, looked to Dryke to maximize its potential.
Thus began the company’s foray into web design, which led to search engine optimization, which led to Facebook, which led to marketing and advertising.
“Every time we’ve done what a customer needed, it just worked out that we were doing marketing,” Dryke said.
Today, Dryke & Associates provides help with computer repair, graphic design, network implementation and a host of other services. They’re often told it’s impossible to offer a customer such a broad skill set, but, according to Chuck and his wife, Marilyn, they have seen so much over the years that they simply have to extend that knowledge to their clients.
Fast food companies, heating and cooling, bulk shipping, veterinary clinics, attorneys and nonprofit foundations are just a few examples of industries that Dryke & Associates has worked with. From large corporations to home-based businesses, the scope of their customer base is another one of their advantages.
“If you’re IT (support) for one company you only see their problems, but we work with a multitude of industries and are able to apply that technical expertise to a multitude of clients,” said Dryke.
One of the biggest challenges Dryke & Associates faces right now is the same one companies and individuals face all over the world as it becomes more tech-dependent: security.
Recently, Dryke was alerted to a new scam wherein someone steals an iPhone, the thief then requests the owner’s personal information in an to attempt to recover the phone and now the thief has all the secure information of the iPhone owner. Another scam, he explained, called Ransom, encrypts personal information on a smartphone and sends a message asking for a sum of money to release the information. Often, if the ransom is paid, the phone’s information will still not be released. He said that people are even accessing WordPress blogs. Dryke & Associates hosts and manages their customer’s blogs from a secure server located in Portland.
Aside from focusing on security, Dryke is maintaining its relevance by growing the marketing side of their business. They spend time educating their clients on the advantages of everything from updating logos to making the most of their social media presence.
Chris Bjerken, marketing manager and web designer for Dryke, explained that with the popularity of handheld devices, computers themselves are becoming a commodity that people would rather replace than repair.
“The further down the road we get, companies are less willing to update technology hardware and software. But what doesn’t go away is the need for marketing and advertising,” Bjerken said.
