Like many entrepreneurs, Wallace Barrow dreamed of owning his own company. After 11 years working in IT in Madison, he launched Barrow Consulting, LLC in 2015.
The company’s goal is to become the “local IT consultant of Madison.” A native of Lodi, Wis., Barrow wants to share his IT knowledge with other businesses in the surrounding community. His motivation stems from his observations of improper IT practices.
“I want to take over and help customers whose IT has been neglected or installed wrong,” Barrow said. “Or I’d like to manage daily IT if the client doesn’t have anyone on that.”
Becoming a business owner seemed the natural progression for Barrow, who previously spent time as an IT manager at the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research and as Senior System Administrator at SupraNet Communications. While developing his IT experience, Barrow also spent more than 10 years working in the food service industry, in which he learned the importance of excellent customer service.
“I have the technical background, business intelligence and customer service experience to support a respectable company,” Barrow said. “I want to educate the community on correct IT procedures.”
Barrow Consulting’s services are divided into managed IT services, virtual private hosting, server and installation support and IT consulting. Barrow draws on his customer service experience–from interacting with customers, managing the pressure of serving many tables at once and bartending–to help him create a tailored approach for each of his clients.
“My services are unique to each customer,” Barrow said. “I do not employ one technological strategy for each type of issue. Instead, I will listen, design, deploy and maintain systems based on their needs and budget.”
Barrow added how it is important for companies to have a daily IT support person who can oversee everything IT-related, monitor equipment and have an outlook plan to grow with the company. Hiring an IT consultant at a fixed cost also helps companies monitor the money spent on IT each month.
In the future, Barrow hopes to grow his client base within the Madison community, hire more employees and expand his services, while maintaining ties with local businesses.
“I want to be the local IT consultant that people in the community know and rely on,” Barrow said. “I strongly support other local businesses, not only IT, and feel utilizing our own community helps us grow together instead of outsourcing.”
