Computer consultant wires integrity into his program
Scott Edwards is one of those people who got into computers early back in the 1980s when he was in junior high school. He went on to study electrical engineering in college and then in 1998 found himself working as a technical support representative with Dell Computers in Nashville, Tenn. One day at work, Edwards got a call from an independent computer technician who was helping a customer set up a new Dell, and he realized the guy was making five times his salary to do just that.
At this revelation, a light-emitting diode appeared over Edwards’ head, and he decided to go solo. He moved back to his home town of Vancouver and started his own computer company. That was six years ago, and at that time it was slow going for his fledgling business; he worked in IT at Nike to help pay the bills. Today, with more than 30 regular clients, Edwards is more than busy with computer consulting, repair and networking, and 60 percent of his work is for small businesses.
"This past two years is the first time I haven’t worked a second job while running my business," he said. He attributes his success to his emphasis on fair play. He says he’d rather earn a client’s trust than take its money.
"People will come to me and say, ‘We need to spend $20,000 on our system,’ and I’ll tell them, ‘No you don’t,’" Edwards said. "I really work to help people make educated decisions on what they really need in their computer. A lot of companies will fill computers full of a lot of crap that people don’t need. I want to help people optimize their system rather than just running what they get out of the box."
Edwards said he saw a need in the market for more "user friendly" technicians after watching a sketch on Saturday Night Live, which depicted computer technicians as arrogant bullies who scoffed and took advantage of their less-knowledgeable customers.
"It kind of made me cringe to watch that sketch," he said.
Edwards still uses Dell as the system of choice for his clients, but makes sure to tailor the software to their needs. He says a lot of competitors will just set up what the customer thinks they want and then send them a bill.
"To me, it’s more of an integrity thing," he said. "Educating people in the high-tech world is a very big part of my job."
Because of this approach, Edwards said he has a 98 percent retention rate with his clients.
"I know who the other two are," he said, "and it really made me feel bad to lose them, because I work so hard to be fair."
The growth of his company has required Edwards to consider moving away from his one-man-show and hiring a couple technicians. This scares him.
"The problem is, if you get too big, then your quality goes down." he said.
To this end, Edwards said he would hire people with more customer service than technical experience.
"I can teach them the job," he said. "But you can’t teach people to give a darn."
Computer Guy Northwest: onsite repair and networking
Scott Edwards, Principal
360-281-4800
scott@computerguynw.com
