Company needed room to grow
By B.C. Manion
Brett and Brad Savage have had a fascination for technology since they began playing games on computers as young boys.
They remain engrossed by the cyber world, but they’ve taken their involvement to a whole new level.
The brothers are two of the four officers in DigitalBrainz, a family-owned business that has set up shop in Lutz. The other two officers in the company are their parents, Dale and Mary Kay.
The company has been a virtual operation since around 2005, but has since attracted more business than the family can handle on its own. So, the company is branching out and expects to hire three additional staff members in 2013.
As their business grows, they decided it was time to set up a location where they could meet with clients and work more closely with the staff they intend to hire, Brad said.
Each of the family members plays a vital role in the company, said Brad, who focuses on the business development aspect of DigitalBrainz.
Brett devotes most of his energy to the technical side of the business, keeping abreast of the latest developments, tools and software that may be useful for issues their customers encounter.
Dale devotes much of his time to handling out-of-town accounts, while Mary Kay provides the glue that holds the operation together, Brad said.
“We made the jump (to Lutz) in August,” Brad said, noting they chose the location at 17892 N. US 41 because the office offers ample space for current operations, plus room to grow.
Beyond the normal features of a professional workplace — such as offices, a conference room, a kitchen and restrooms — this one has a highly secure space where clients’ equipment can be safely kept overnight.
That’s important, especially because the company must be certain that their clients’ data is not vulnerable to theft, Brad said, noting many of their customers are in medical and legal fields where privacy is essential.
In general, security is a huge concern in the information technology business, Brad said. “We take it very seriously.”
When the company was founded, it initially did consulting in other places, Brad said.
“Nothing was really local,” Brad said. “Most of our contracts were out in Texas.”
But as Brad and his brother began starting families, they wanted to cut down on time spent on the road.
Initially, Brad said, the company followed a model that many information technology (IT) support companies use.
That model relies on clients calling when a problem arises, and the IT specialists come in and fix the problem, Brad said. He uses the analogy of waiting like firefighters for a call to come in, then rushing to resolve it.
If the company had continued to follow that model, it probably would have failed, Brad said.
Now, the bulk of its work is proactive in nature, Brad said.
DigitalBrainz offers a service for a flat rate, based on the number of devices the company is monitoring. They make repairs remotely, if necessary, but there’s an additional charge if they have to make the repair on-site.
The proactive approach aims to allow clients to operate their businesses without down time caused by technical difficulties, Brad said.
For instance, if a client has 25 computers and two servers, DigitalBrainz is monitoring all of those devices 24 hours a day.
“So, when there’s a hardware failure or a software failure or a virus, we’re actually monitoring for those and are notified,” Brad said. “The majority of the time we go in and fix issues, and the client doesn’t know it.”
In one case, a dental client’s system developed a problem on a Saturday, Brad said. His company’s monitoring system spotted the problem and DigitalBrainz fixed it during the weekend, thus helping the dentist avoid any down time in his practice.
While clients may not realize that DigitalBrainz has fixed problems, the data is recorded by the company when problems have occurred, Brad said
“The tools that we use to monitor the devices, it logs exactly everything that is going on with the server, for example. It gives us the heartbeat and the pulse of that device,” Brad said.
Another way companies will realize the services that DigitalBrainz provides is through their reduced need to call for IT services, Brad said.
A company with a staff of 25 is accustomed to calling for technical services on a weekly, if not daily, basis, Brad said.
“When we are taking over things proactively, they don’t have to call as much,” Brad said.
DigitalBrainz offers a broad array of services, including risk management, desktop support, server configuration, software and hardware management and computer networking.
The company’s marketing strategy is based on referrals, Brad said. It also provides a wide range of services, tailored specifically to the client’s needs.
For instance, a smaller client may simply want a server monitored, rather than the company’s entire infrastructure, Brad said.
DigitalBrainz primarily serves the Tampa Bay market, but it also is capable of helping customers in other locales, Brad said. Dale also travels to handle clients out-of-state, and the company aspires to continue branching out.
“We’re hoping to close this week on a contract in Chicago, where we are actually going to monitor a company that has 40 desktops and seven servers. We’re going to be their monitoring and management company,” Brad said.
So far, the family has managed to keep their home and work lives separate, Dale said.
“At work, we’re focused,” Dale said. “We have a lot to do, so we have to focus.”
They try to refrain from talking about work at family gatherings at their homes in Wesley Chapel, Dade City and Brooksville. Their spouses help them with that, Dale said, laughing.
For more information about DigitalBrainz, call (813) 406-0999 or visit digitalbrainz.com.
