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"TechCavalry saddles up to combat PC glitches"
Thursday, April 4, 2002
By WILLIAM FREEBAIRN

Computer frozen? Printer balking? Don't worry, the cavalry is on its way.

TechCavalry, that is.

Northampton-based TechCavalry is an on-site computer maintenance service that opened two months ago. With the motto, "Help is on the way," the founders hope to charge to the rescue of more and more small businesses, home businesses and individuals.

The company offers a one-hour PC tune-up service for $70 and provides consulting and maintenance services for $75 an hour after that.

The company will install hardware such as printers and add software programs to machines. It can maintain networks of computers and scan a computer for viruses or other problems.

"A lot of people don't know how to handle all of it," said Marlene Marrocco, chief operating officer for the company.

Chief Executive Officer Jef Sharp said he believes some people who understand how to do the maintenance will pay to spare themselves the aggravation and time spent on some computer tasks.

The three partners, Sharp, Marrocco and Chief Technology Officer Jeff Hausthor, were all former employees at XSCapacity. That Easthampton-based Internet start-up sought to create a Web-based system for factories to buy and sell excess industrial capacity, such as time on machines.

The venture was unable to attract enough financing to stay in business and the management folded the company in December.

"We decided in this environment we had to come up with an idea that didn't require outside capital," Sharp said.

Market research showed that people wanted on-site service instead of having to take their computers to a shop, he said.

The company opened Feb. 1 and has several dozen customers already. It has four technicians on hand, and has plans to hire more as demand increases.

In addition to repairing and maintaining computers, the company is prepared to offer training with almost every visit, the founders said. "We tell people how to organize their files best," Sharp said.

The company seeks technicians who are well-versed in computers, want to learn new technologies and are pleasant and helpful. "If they don't have a teaching quality about them, we don't want them," Marrocco said.

One happy customer is Thomas Horton, vice president of corporate development for Northampton-based Sustainable Technologies. The consulting company had not had good luck with other information-technology service firms, Horton said.

The firm needed occasional rapid help when its network failed or software glitches occurred. "They did the work well. And the employees aren't pierced or rude, which is nice."

TechCavalry is hoping to expand its services to a larger geographical area covering the entire Pioneer Valley soon. They have already been on service calls to the Amherst and Springfield areas, Sharp said.

In the future, the founders anticipate franchising the business, so TechCavalry branches could open around the nation. Sharp said he believes some companies with their own information technology departments could one day hire TechCavalry.

"Companies that have IT guys sometimes have other priorities than helping individual users increase their productivity."

© 2002 Union-News. Used with permission.