The Company

When Frank Zamarelli founded Salem Computer Center (SCC) in 1988, he was among the first to bring technology services and support to business and residential customers in the Appalachians of southeastern Ohio. Today, the majority of SCC’s client base is small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Salem, Ohio, including police and fire departments, law offices, medical and veterinary clinics, manufacturing, and more.

Frank explains, “Although Salem is several hours from the major metropolitan areas of Cleveland, Columbus, and Pittsburgh, there is a growing base of small businesses and larger manufacturing companies that have critical technology needs,” explains Frank. “We believe no matter the size of your operations, you deserve access to the latest cybersecurity and IT services. Competitors have come and gone but our customers continue doing business with us because we are fair, reliable, and deliver a high quality of service.”

The Challenge

One of the biggest challenges facing SCC is educating customers about the value of IT and security services. With the upcoming launch of SCC Cloud Services, the company’s managed services business, this has become even more important.

“Every small business has budget constraints and this requires us to spend time explaining the value we deliver and how critical it is to work with a trusted source,” says Frank. “For example, when we price our services, this reflects our 30 years of experience in the business, our best-in-class solutions, and our dedicated management. The challenge is educating customers about the value behind these costs and helping them understand the concept of managed services.”

The Solution

Frank has used Avast Business CloudCare since his days as an AVG channel partner and has continued to adopt new versions.

“We initially deployed CloudCare for one customer and our business took off after that. We were adding 1-2 CloudCare clients each week,” he shares. “CloudCare is a very easy sell and is ideal for bundling and delivering security services.”

CloudCare has become a central element as SCC builds its managed services business. The team is bundling and selling CloudCare’s Antivirus Pro Plus, Cloud Backup, and Content Filtering services, and also using the Remote IT Control tool.

“CloudCare’s technology is top notch. Every aspect of CloudCare is purpose-built and you can tell there was a lot of thought put into the solution,” says Frank.

Cloud Backup and Content Filtering have become key to SCC’s portfolio. “With every new server installation we do, we upsell the CloudCare Cloud Backup service,” he adds. “Some customers believe they are protected with external drives but this won’t help you if your building burns down – unless your backups are offsite.”

After a fire destroyed a customer’s operations, Frank was reminded of Cloud Backup’s value. “Our grain mill customer’s operations burned to the ground two years ago. Because we had them set up with CloudCare Cloud Backup, we had their data and systems fully restored quickly. They were able to still do payroll that week. When you can fully recover a company’s IT infrastructure after a devastating fire, that says a lot about the CloudCare solution.”

The Results

According to Frank, CloudCare has helped make SCC’s move to managed services possible. He also credits CloudCare for SCC’s continued profitability.

“The AVG and Avast brands have name recognition that resonates with our customers. This, coupled with the sheer usability of CloudCare, has helped us increase our CloudCare sales on average by 25% each quarter,” explains Frank. “Using CloudCare, we have better visibility into the security needs of our customers and can recommend proactive services and deliver these very efficiently. Our customer satisfaction is high, we have the confidence that our clients are secure, and we see the benefits to our bottom line.”