Location: Washington Twp.
Owner’s name: Patty McNerney, Samantha McNerney and Brett McNerney (Woman-owned business–EDGE Certified)
Years in operation: Eight years
Describe what your business does: Support schools IT infrastructure design, installation and 24/7 management. Support schools student and staff technology needs and training. Support schools in developing technology and design-thinking curriculum. Support schools software from management and implementation. Support schools through placement of technology teachers/coaches. Support schools in remote learning. Support schools with help desk services. Support access control and security system design, installation and management. Support schools through e-rate process.
What inspired you to start this business? The need for quality support for the small- and medium-sized schools. To help create positive change moving schools toward productive use of technology to help enhance the learning environment.
How has your business embraced innovation? We help create positive change for schools in helping them embrace technology as a tool to better deliver content and curriculum. We keep up to date on the latest trends in the educational realm from curriculum and technology. We developed our model to be flexible and collaborative. We can fill the holes in technology schools have; we can be a one-stop shop for their needs no matter how large or small; we save them money by creating a working environment that can allow savings. We only send the staffing needed on the amount of days needed and provide 24/7 remote monitoring. We do not have a physical site; we work on-site and remotely from home, which provides cost-savings we can pass through to our clients.
What’s your biggest challenge right now? The ever-changing landscape and uncertainties of what the school day will look like and how we prepare to support student, staff and even parents in whatever this new school year looks like. So, trying to plan for the unknown.
What’s your biggest opportunity right now? Helping schools navigate these changes and how best support the students, staff and parents in the event we are doing more remote learning and make it as smooth and affordable as possible to reduce the stress on staff, students and parents.
What do you want readers to know about your business today? We are passionate about what we do and how we approach things. We love what we do, and we love to create positive change and the passion that comes with student and staff embracing technology in positive ways. Our mix of technology experts/engineers, education specialists, and staff who have administrative experience in education provides a company who understands technology. We take on a lot of the negotiations for e-rate, software and hardware, saving the schools money while only charging for our labor. We are hardware/software agnostic and try to utilize what the schools already have if possible. The majority of our business is word of mouth. While the focus of our business is small to medium schools, we do service libraries, city governmental entities and businesses due to the expertise of our engineers. Principals who change schools take us with them.
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