POST-TRIBUNE :: Business :: IT help just a click away -
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Published on: 1/6/2007
Last Visited: 1/6/2007
On the market for about three years, Think HelpDesk was born out of a necessity to help industries in which hiring a full-time IT staff was not only cost prohibitive, but prohibitive altogether, ThinkTank President Jim Gagan said.
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School systems and municipalities are among ThinkTank's greatest number of clients, Gagan said, with about 50 percent of Think HelpDesk's users in those industries.
Word about Think HelpDesk has spread, with Gagan and his 20-person staff implementing user-suggested changes to the software along the way.Now, the product is used all over Indiana as well as states as far away as New York and California.
The product can be found in Michigan City's City Hall, where Deputy Controller Yvonne Hoffmaster swears by its efficiency.She recalls the days when employees would call out to her, saying, "My computer's broke," and she never wants to go back there again.
"We hired them when we realized we couldn't afford a full-time IT staff," she said."Last year, we used their services to the tune of a little under $50,000; if we'd have hired a full-time person, we would've spent $60,000 to $75,000, and that's getting someone out of college."
ThinkTank's new building, located behind Direct Buy and United Consumers Club at 8450 Broadway and of which ThinkTank takes up one-third, will include a 30-laptop station training facility for onsite training.The laptops can be used offsite as well.But even more exciting, at least to Gagan, is that the office space was designed by the same people who designed Google's offices.
"We're going to have equipment that allows for teleconferencing every day, and we're going to be implementing more in the way of digital signage," he said."All told, we've spent $4 million on the building and another $500,000 in furnishings and other odds and ends."
Talks are also in the works for a South Bend or Fort Wayne office, but that may be a little down the road.Nevertheless, Gagan remains exhilarated by all the business.
"A lot of vendors have disappeared because they sold hardware and not service," he said.