New IT business aims to serve on the road system and off

WASILLA — It’s a whole new era of customer service when the tech guy can adjust your computer’s attitude without even laying a finger on it.

That’s especially good news for the many folks who live off the road system in the Mat-Su Borough and the surrounding area, said Mat Su Valley IT owner Caleb Andersen.

He estimates that 90 percent of issues his customers experience with their computers or servers are things he can resolve remotely by logging into their systems.

Andersen and his wife, Emily, moved to Alaska from Minnesota three years ago.

“We wanted a new adventure,” Andersen said.

The photos that play as a screen saver on his laptop show scenes of him hunting — another thing that drew the young couple to the Last Frontier, he said.

After working for other businesses in Minnesota and Alaska for 19 years, he decided to open his own business providing IT services to small- and medium-sized businesses in Southcentral Alaska.

“I went to my wife and said, ‘Let’s start our own business,’” Andersen said.

Mat Su Valley IT began serving customers on Nov. 1, and for now Andersen said he works from his Wasilla home. But he said his business plan for 2013 includes adding a storefront, sales person and a couple more technicians to help maintain clients’ systems.

“We want to be able to help people out more efficiently,” he said. “We want to be a partner in out clients’ success.”

Mat Su Valley IT offers a three-tier management plan beginning with only server monitoring and expanding to include support, maintenance, security, and software and hardware management. Fees are based on the level of service and the number of computers involved.

Andersen said Mat Su Valley IT’s system actively monitors clients’ servers around the clock and submits work tickets when errors are found.

“That way we can head off a disaster before it happens. Everything we do is to prevent disasters,” he said.

Another service the business offers is management plans for software and hardware replacement. Andersen said the idea is to create a plan, and budget, to upgrade five or so computers each year.

So far, he said technology tends to be older in Alaska.

“It’s like I was thrown back into the 1990s a little bit,” Andersen said.

But he said he thinks a lack of support may be preventing local businesses from adopting new technology as quickly as their Lower 48 counterparts.

“You don’t have to settle for second-rate just because we live in Alaska,” he said.

Andersen said he also is wrapping up work on requirements to earn his private pilot’s license, too. Once that’s complete, he said he will be able to fly into customers’ airstrips, service their equipment and fly home back to Wasilla.

“If you can get on the Internet, or if we can fly to you, we can take care of you,” Andersen said.

For more information, contact info@matsuvalleyit.com or visit matsuvalleyit.com.

Contact managing editor Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.