Fast-Response IT Service Reaps 71% Growth for DenBe Computer Consulting

Treat every ticket like the most important ticket. That’s the mantra of DenBe Computer Consulting, which caters to professional trade services in the Metro Detroit area and beyond.

“One thing that I like to think sets us apart from our competitors is our responsiveness,” says Dennis Jock, CTO and founder. “Our average ticket time is under five minutes. We always act like every ticket is the most important ticket we’ve ever seen and needs to get settled now.”

Founded in 2004 with a focus on servicing hotel chains, DenBe Consulting soon turned its focus to professional trade services, such as electricians, landscapers, plumbers, and the like. “We’ve become so successful in these niches, because we understand what it’s like for your systems to go down and you’re just stuck waiting for help,” explains Dennis, who built the business with support from his wife, Betty.

What does success look like? Last year, DenBe chalked up 71% growth, and Dennis expects that to continue, thanks to his focus on fast-response IT service.

An Accidental IT Tech

Like many MSP business owners, Dennis always had an interest in technology. “At an early age, you could find me playing with older versions of Windows, like the 3.1 version, and tearing apart computers to figure out how they worked,” Dennis says. Although he found technology fascinating, he focused on becoming an engineer throughout high school.

Following through with this dream, Dennis began studying aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan in 1996. “I needed a job to help offset the costs of school and living expenses,” Dennis explains. “So, I got a job with a local hotel because I figured it would be something easy to do when I wasn’t at school.” Little did he know this decision would end up fundamentally changing the course of his life. A new career path revealed itself to him—IT.

Dennis has always been a person with a “get-it-done” attitude, and he brought this perspective to his new workplace. “Even though I wasn’t hired to do IT work for this hotel chain, the company that was supposed to handle their technology frankly lacked the urgency and expertise needed to support an organization of this size,” Dennis says. “We would call problems in, and our requests would sit unanswered for days—sometimes even weeks—so I would jump in and fix them.” He adds, “Someone had to do it.”

Saving The Day

At the same time, this job had introduced him to a person who would become integral to his life and subsequent business success—his future wife, Betty.

“I was in charge of overseeing the systems and software, meaning I was the one coordinating—or trying to coordinate—with the IT people we had at the time,” recalls Betty about their early days at the hotel. “I remember we were switching over computer systems, and I had this giant binder that took me over a year to go through because I had little to no support from this third-party IT team.” Fast forward to inspection day. She recounts “being asked all these questions that weren’t in the binder, and I was starting to freak out. Well, Dennis comes along and starts answering all their questions—and keep in mind, I hadn’t shared any of the prep work documents with him or anything—and basically saved the entire day.”

She continues, “At this point, we were already dating. I told him that he should start his own IT business and that this hotel chain could be his first client.”

That encouragement, said Dennis, “made sense. I was already doing all the work without getting paid. I enjoyed it, and I had always wanted to start my own company.” It just wasn’t the path he thought he’d be on. “I just thought it would be in the engineering space,” he acknowledges. Dennis and Betty married the same month they launched DenBe Computer Consulting in 2004.

Building DenBe Consulting

Today, Dennis attributes DenBe Computer Consulting’s success to a focus on its mission statement: “Do the right thing at the right time for the right reason.”

“This is how we’ve gotten a lot of business recently—from people either tired of their previous IT team’s lack of responsiveness or who were told they need to pay tens of thousands of dollars to align their procedures with these other IT vendors,” Dennis notes.

He continues, “We’re also vendor agnostic. I’ll give clients my recommendation, but I will never force them to buy something just because I say they need it. And this relates directly to our mission statement.”

Regarding the trajectory of the business over the past 20 years, DenBe has experienced massive growth, particularly in the last few years. “At first, our growth was slow and steady since we were basically learning as we went along,” notes Dennis. “But, last year, for example, we grew by 71%. We hope to see that same type of growth in the coming years.”

Enter The Second Generation

And with a second generation entering the business, this goal could easily come within reach.

“My 17-year-old has been working with me since he was probably 8 or 10 years old,” says Dennis. “He’s not only grown up around the company but has an amazing business sense. For example, he’s the one who documented our procedures and processes, taking the mess of things living in my head and putting them down on paper to help train future employees. Not only that but he’s very curious about things like profit margins and how we’re going to scale. And honestly, he’s probably the best tech I have right now.”

Ultimately, it’s clear that if Dennis hadn’t taken that random hotel job, his life would have turned out completely different. Thanks to this decision, he gets to enjoy this wonderful life he’s built, including his thriving business that focuses on fast-response IT service, amazing wife, and kids. He even has time to spend with his newest grandson. Sometimes, deviating from your original path can lead you to exactly where you need to go.

For more information about DenBe Computer Consulting, visit here.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MSP Success Magazine is a print and digital publication dedicated to helping the CEOs and owners of managed IT services businesses build strong, profitable, growth-oriented businesses. Written and published by Robin Robins, founder of Technology Marketing Toolkit, this magazine is uniquely focused on the topics of marketing, client-acquisition, sales, profitability, leadership and personal development.

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