As a business owner who can only use the technology available to me enough to keep my business running, anytime there’s a glitch — and believe me, there have been many — that affects my ability to complete the work I have to do, there is no way for me to fix that problem myself.
In other words, when you consider that I need to use a computer to write stories, help my graphic designer create ads, edit stories written by others, lay those stories and ads in on digital pages, transmit those pages to our printer, create invoices and sales receipts for our advertisers, Auto-Pay the credit cards and communicate with dozens of local businesses every day, etc. — well, let’s just say that there are a lot of glitches that can happen during that process that can prevent me from being able to complete an issue every two weeks.
So, even though I know absolutely nothing about Information Technology (IT), I understand enough to know that I need someone to handle my IT needs so I can focus on my business.
That’s why I feel fortunate to have met (and become friends with) Linwood Wright, the owner of My Tampa IT, and his marketing/sales director Peggy D’Alessandro. My Tampa IT has a convenient office located in the Windguard Professional Center off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in Wesley Chapel, but even if Linwood was operating out of a home office (like Jannah and I do), I would still recommend him and his team of IT experts that keep me and the Neighborhood News glitch-free.
When we first decided to utilize My Tampa IT’s services, Linwood had to get our email back up and running when our primary email account was hacked. Not only were we completely shut down, the hackers sent fake messages to all of our email contacts that looked like they came from us. He and his crew got us back up and running — within 24 hours or so — and implemented new security protocols to protect us as best as they could going forward, which was done remotely.
But next, he and his team came to our home office to check out the computers and programs we were using to figure out where we were most vulnerable to possible future hacking — since everything we do, every program we use, is connected to the internet. They determined that because of the age (close to 10 years old or more) of our computers, they couldn’t provide the type of security we needed unless I would invest in new computers. But, while ours had gotten slower over the years, I worried about how I could afford that significant investment in new computers.
And, even though he didn’t sell me my new computers (I bought them directly from Apple but My Tampa IT does also sell computers to its clients), I knew Linwood was right (pun intended).
He and his team again came to our home office to set up and protect all of our new gear, so that if any part of our operation is hacked in the future, his computers receive an immediate notification and they are normally able to immediately get to work to correct the problem, usually within ten minutes of its detection.
“We have to be able to act quickly,” Linwood says. “If it ever takes us more than twelve minutes to call you after a threat is detected, well, let’s just say that is unacceptable to me.”
I receive a “Quarantine List” of potential threat emails every day and go through that list so I can determine if each is a legitimate email from either an existing or potential advertiser or from a member of the communities we serve before I even consider opening it. Months after My Tampa IT set me up, our operation has continued to run smoothly, and just knowing I have proper backup helps yours truly sleep soundly every night.
“There are literally millions of hackers around the world — some of whom are basically unpaid slaves,” he says, “so, if you think your business is too small for anyone to try to hack into your computers, smartphones and bank accounts, we have proof you’re playing a dangerous game.”
Meet The My Tampa IT Team
Linwood admits that even at a young age, he was always something of a technology “geek.”
“I think my first IT job was in 1997,” Linwood says. “I was actually introduced to computing in high school in 1985— at a small town in the middle of Illinois, which was surprisingly advanced for computing at the time — and I excelled at it and really liked it. But, back then, there was really only one thing you could do in IT and that was programming, which didn’t really do it for me, so I went to business school. But, when Microsoft came out with one of their first servers ever — the Windows NT4 — I put myself through Microsoft training because I saw that people really liked the Windows system. and that really kind of set the stage for everything for me going forward.”
Linwood moved to Florida and got a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology and a Master of Science degree in Information Studies from Florida State University in Tallahassee.
“I worked for quite a few companies,” he says, “including the Florida Department of Labor, and as a consultant to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Police Department of San Juan, Puerto Rico. I had a one terabyte drive in 2001. It was 20 feet long, 8 feet tall and 3 feet deep. No one had ever even heard of a terabyte back then.”
He was consulting with FDLE when 9-11 happened. “Things got crazy real quick after that,” he said. “I had to log every single person and photo the computers tagged as a possible threat.”
From there, Linwood says, he was working as an IT director for a company, when some people he used to work with had started their own engineering firm. “They said, ‘We don’t have any IT support. Can you help us?’ I said, well, I can only help you nights and weekends because I work full time,’ but they said ‘OK.’ That was in 2009 and I still have that customer to this day.”
And, although it was just Linwood at the time and wasn’t yet called My Tampa IT, “That was how I started this business. Every year, someone else would come to me with a similar problem. By 2014, I had founded My Tampa IT.”
He adds, “As an IT person, I’m like the opposite of a sales person, so I helped found a BNI (Business Networking International) chapter to get my ‘elevator pitch’ down and, by 2021, Peggy agreed to handle sales and marketing for me.”
Peggy says she worked for Sears for 30 years. “I went from a part-time sales associate in the tool department for one year, and then in appliances, in Flushing, NY.”
But then, when she moved to Florida, she says, “I moved into commercial sales and I started reaching out to home builders asking, ‘Who needs appliances?’ Instead of one house at a time, I was now selling 300 sets of appliances at once to multi-family builders, which became my niche. I ended up in the top 1% of sales for the entire company and did that for about 20 years. But, after Sears eventually shut down my division, I ended up asking Linwood if we could team up. He said, ‘Oh my God, yes.’ And that was it.”
Peggy says she then immersed herself in learning enough about technology to translate Linwood’s “tech speak” into everyday English for business owners, “So it’s really been a great partnership between us.”
She adds that even people who buy the absolute top-of-the-line computers still have problems, “and when they do, they’re upset. They’re not mad at us, they’re mad because they’re shut down. It’s up to us to have empathy and solve their problem.”
And for that, Linwood needs capable techs and he says he is proud that, “all of my techs are local — not in a foreign country — and have been with me for at least three years now.”
So, whether the business you own is a CPA, law, engineering or architectural firm, a manufacturing business, home service company (HVACs, plumbers, roofers, etc.) a health care or any other type of small business, My Tampa IT can help — not only keep your computers up and running, but also make sure you stay in compliance with the laws and rules of the business.
Still think you can’t afford it? I say you can’t afford to not give My Tampa IT a call!
For more info about My Tampa IT (2816 Windguard Cir., Ste. 101), call (813) 513-9849 or visit MyTampaIT.com.
