Joaquin Hernandez recently started a local franchise of CMIT Solutions.
Photo by: Courtesy
CMIT Solutions is your neighborhood mobile IT department. Joaquin Hernandez recently became a franchisee of the La Jolla and Sorrento Valley areas for CMIT Solutions, a company providing out-sourced Information Technology services to small-business owners since 1996. "We provide peace of mind," Hernandez said about his company's services. "We want our clients working on growing their business, not worrying about their computers."
CMIT Solutions provides a free assessment of a company's technology infrastructure to help a small-business owner understand CMIT's capabilities and establish the foundation of a beneficial partnership.
CMIT Solutions has built a national organization by providing affordable services from certified professionals. By partnering with industry giants like Dell, Symantec and Intuit, CMIT has established itself as a company that small-business owners can consider a trusted, reliable, long-term partner.
Whether it's thawing frozen servers, curing software viruses, enabling disabled e-mail, removing spyware from company servers or helping companies develop software solutions to handle growth, CMIT Solutions of La Jolla gets the job done. "We really focus on small- and mid-sized businesses not big enough to have their own IT teams," said Hernandez. "The idea of the franchise system is to provide proactive and reactive outsourced computer networks. In the industry, it's known as managed services."
Hernandez noted small- and mid-sized businesses contend with the same computer issues as larger firms. "These businesses have the same needs as larger ones, just not in the same volume," Hernandez said.
For most small-business owners, the costs of maintaining a separate IT department are prohibitive. So upper management crosses their fingers every day hoping nothing will go wrong. When something does, they end up calling a brother, sister or cousin who "knows computers."
"Which ends up costing them in the long run," said Hernandez. "We usually end up getting a call when there's an emergency and these small-business owners aren't getting the service they need."
A 25-year veteran in the international telecommunications industry, Hernandez decided it was time to strike out on his own. "I was convinced it was time for me to use my experience, my skills, for my own business," he said. "I'm a man who likes challenges. One of the challenges people face every day is keeping their computers running, not only in the office environment, but in their homes. You have spyware, viruses. It can ruin all your (computer) information."
Hernandez noted it's an ongoing battle to keep computers properly maintained. "In most cases," he noted, "You will find some-thing is wrong when you need your computer up and running most."
What CMIT La Jolla does for a new client is offer them a 37-point diagnostic technical and security audit.
"With that audit, we first look at all the concerns and possible ideas and plans the business owner has," said Hernandez, "and we try to understand the business's language in order to provide the best technological solution. I'm kind of a bridge that connects everything together."
According to Hernandez, a second part of the technical audit his franchise provides deals with a complete assessment of the company's IT resources, of which security is an important part. CMIT looks at three aspects of a company's security system; backup of the system, anti-virus protection and spyware.
"We recommend remote backup at a location where information will be safe," noted Hernandez. "Then we look to see if we can find problems with security and capacity. Some of the problems are related to printers not working."
CMIT charges approximately $100 per hour for its services. There are also payment plans providing companies with round-the-clock proactive monitoring of their computer systems via a network operations center. "If any problem in the network is detected, it is immediately and remotely trouble shooted," Hernandez said. "We also provide preventative maintenance during after-business hours. While the customer is sleeping, we are checking their systems, cleaning the spyware, operating their anti-virus spyware, doing everything it takes to keep the computer running."
The company also has a help desk comprised of specialist technicians who take calls from customers to help solve their computer problems during working hours. If they can't help them solve their issues remotely, the help desk will dispatch a technician from a local team to make an on-site visit. CMIT Solutions of La Jolla presently has two computer technicians on duty to serve clients.
"The success of my business won't depend on my client's pain," concluded Hernandez, "but on minimizing computer failures by proactively addressing them before they could effect the end-user. We deliver a total, IT solution by integrating hardware and software, spam filtering, remote backup, hosting solutions and telephony from our market leader partners."
For more information about CMIT Solutions of La Jolla call (858) 248 4386 or e-mail jhernandez@cmitsolutions.com.
Dave Schwab Dave Schwab is a reporter with the La Jolla Light. Contact Dave at (858) 875-5951 or daves@lajollalight.com.
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