In this hi-tech age, the home-based computer user or smaller business service often gets forgotten, but Easy Access Consulting Ltd. has made them a big part of their business.

Easy Access Consulting Ltd. Robert Rego spoke to The Royal Gazette about his specialty in the business.

“I focus mainly on the small business and the home user end,” said Mr. Rego. “When we first started our job was to fill the gap, because we found that many of the other companies didn’t care about the home user or the small business, because it is either a one-shot deal or they are only there for an hour.

“But when they get into the exempted companies, they are guaranteed work and guaranteed their 40 hours a week. So they do the high-end support. But you have all these people with all these problems and they are treated like second class citizens.

“So with us, we found that with the small business they can’t afford to have to have someone there, but they can call us with questions or for advice.

“Also every one of us has cell phones, so instead of having to call up and leave a message, you can reach someone directly. A lot of bigger companies try to steer away from this, but we find that it is working well.”

They have found that their business has grown by word of mouth, rather than through traditional methods of advertising.

“The thing about Bermuda is that if you do a good job, people will tell their friends, it is the whole small community thing,” he said. “So it is very good and we enjoy it.”

Sometimes the problems are very simple, but will seem quite complex for the user when all they want is for their computer, printer or Internet to work.

“Sometimes they need to print stuff or they need to get DSL to get the higher speed (Internet) access, but then with that they need all of the security stuff to protect them against viruses.

“Sometimes they get a friend to come in and help them, and sometimes they don’t know what goes with what or they need to upgrade for warranties.

Mr. Rego said Easy Access typically uses local vendors because they are then assured that the software or hardware is covered by a warranty.

“It is a lot easier to deal with the local people, because they often have parts on hand.

“If there is a problem, then you need parts, it can be next day delivery, but it doesn’t necessarily mean next day by the time it has sat on the docks. So it is good to have someone who has direct contact with the providers.”

in effect, Easy Access Consulting has made a business out of filling in where other companies would not go.

“We just fill in for an IT department; we give them someone who they can call. We just put in a new help desk that helps to keep all the information and passwords for people. We find that people will put their CDs in that safe location that they will never find, so a lot of our work is also to help get the customer organised.

“The problem is that when something goes wrong, we are going to need that stuff.”

Saving and maintaining data is another focus of the company, explained Mr. Rego.

“You are only as good as your last back up, and it is very hard to tell people that. When you ask them when was their last back up, they say: ‘I think I did it a couple of months ago.’ But they have to understand that it has to be constant.

“The biggest thing now is removable hard drives and that seems to definitely be taking off, because you just never know. The Mac store or Fujitsu has back up drives and they plug into your USB port and they hold more than ZIP drives.”

Home users have more problems with viruses and Spyware.

“Someone sends them a joke, they click on it and it loads all these different tool bars and it tries to hijack Windows,” he said.

Easy Access also helps people install computers.

“They buy it at the store and the assistant says, ‘Oh you just do this, that and that.’

“So they call us and we help them with that.”