The range of new technologies on the market today can prove challenging to even experienced users. The expense of purchasing, installing and training on these technologies is often a time consuming and cost-prohibitive process that keeps small business from adopting new technologies. Nonetheless, new technologies have the potential to significantly improve the way our local businesses do business by improving efficiency, enhancing productivity and creating a competitive advantage. Through this strategic partnership, businesses in the District now have access to the expert guidance they need to not only upgrade their technological capabilities, but to maximize the return on their investment.

Examples of these technologies include:

• Interactive work spaces
• Telecommuting
• Networking office equipment (printers, fax, copiers, etc.)
• Computer and software updates
• Electronic security and back-ups
• E-marketing
• New media (website, email, teleconferencing, podcasts, blogs, etc.)
• And much more.

“Business technology has come a long way in the past few years, and it continues to evolve at a rapid pace,” said Barbara Lang, President & CEO of the DC Chamber of Commerce. “Many of our local businesses just can’t keep up-and that’s where we come in. The Chamber’s partnership with TechAssist will enable us to make emerging technologies easily accessible to all members of the District business community, whether it’s a multi-million dollar corporation or the mom-and-pop restaurant on the corner. Implementing the right technology will improve efficiency, reduce mistakes, and boost your bottom line. Those are the competitive advantages that our businesses need to succeed in today’s economic climate.”

TechAssist CEO Nick Vossburg said: “This new partnership is win-win-win: it’s a win for the DC Chamber, which is now positioned to be the most technologically advanced organization of its kind; it’s a win for TechAssist, because we’re now able to connect with a wealth of businesses in need of our technological guidance; and most importantly, it’s a win for the District business community, which can now capitalize on the many benefits made possible through new technology.”

Through this partnership, local businesses will have the ability to learn about new technologies and best practices through a series of programs and educational workshops designed to make new technologies more available to business. In addition, the partnership will give even small businesses access to strategic guidance currently only available to large businesses with enterprise IT departments.

For more information, please contact:

Nicholas Vossburg
Chief Executive Officer
TECHASSIST LLC
412-436-3460
nvossburg@techassistllc.com

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The DC Chamber of Commerce (www.dcchamber.org) is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to improving business and tourism throughout the District. Boasting nearly 2,000 member businesses, the Chamber has a powerful impact on both local legislation and the overall economic climate of the city. The Chamber aggressively pursues its goal of expanding the economy in Washington, D.C. by attracting new jobs and creating opportunities for our members and citizens. The Chamber also remains committed to the future growth and development of our community by supporting the arts, education, international trade, and government affairs.

TechAssist (www.techassistllc.com) is a leading provider of Managed IT Services to small and mid size organizations. Services include Strategic Consulting, IT Support, and Technology Development and Implementations. TechAssist is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and recently launched its new National Operations Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

As vice president of business development, Mr. Gatto will be focused on growing the business efforts. Mr. Gatto has more than 15 years of experience in the Information Technology field and joins TechAssist llc from Vertical Solutions, where he served as Director of Sales. Previously, Mr. Gatto was Co/founder President of Micros & More, Inc. Central Pennsylvania leading provider of IT consulting.

In addition to being listed in the top 20 global managed service providers, TechAssist also ranked 15th in revenue, 16th in dollar growth in managed service revenue and 17th in total devices managed.

The MSPmentor 100 is an annual survey conducted by MSPmentor and its owner, Nine Lives Media Inc. The annual survey indexes global managed service providers in terms of overall managed service revenue, overall managed service revenue growth, percentage of managed service revenue growth, managed service revenue per employee, the number of devices managed and other data points comparing fiscal 2007 to fiscal 2006 performance.

“TechAssist is pleased to enjoy the top spot in Washington, DC and even more excited to be ranked 20th among global managed service providers,” said Nick Vossburg, CEO of TechAssist. “We have been working very hard over the last year to solidify our position as one of the nation’s top managed service providers, and this ranking tells us that all of our hard work is paying off.”

TechAssist was founded in Washington, DC in 2003 and recently opened a national operations center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“We’re very excited about the new operations center because it will allow us to deliver a higher level of service to our existing customers and build a solid foundation for expansion of the company,” said TechAssist CEO Nick Vossburg.

Pittsburgh was selected as the location for the national operations center because of its location, the availability of qualified network engineers, cost of real estate and access to excellent educational institutions including Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh as well as economic development incentives offered by the State of Pennsylvania to attract high-tech companies.

TechAssist worked closely with the Allegheny Conference and Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to put a deal together that would bring as many as 100 new jobs to downtown Pittsburgh over the next three years. The deal included a $100,000 opportunity grant along with training incentives that ultimately made the difference in the decision between Pittsburgh and similar cities.

We looked at a number of cities across the country, and Pittsburgh made the most sense for a lot of reasons,” said Vossburg. “Cost was certainly a factor, but Pittsburgh has so much to offer in terms of quality of life and the quality of the workforce. It was an easy choice for us.”

“I am thrilled to welcome TechAssist to our region,” said Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato. “TechAssist is a perfect example of the high-tech companies that bring skilled, good-paying jobs to Allegheny County. We are proud to be the home of its new Executive Support Operations and look forward to a long, successful future with TechAssist.”

“I am humbled, but not surprised that TechAssist chose Pittsburgh for its expansion,” Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said. “With great sports teams, world-class arts and theatre, and affordability — America’s most livable City offers all of the amenities of a New York, with an intimate, small town feel.”

The new operations center will allow TechAssist to deliver a higher quality of service to clients across the country.

“The vast majority of the work that we perform is done remotely, and being able to bring our remote engineers together in one operations center has clear advantages for us as a company,” said Vossburg. “All of our customers will benefit from our new operations center because it will allow us a deliver a more consistent level of service and greatly improve collaboration among our engineers.”

The new service offerings bring together the best of both remote and onsite support with the monitoring, maintenance and management that have traditionally only been available to large businesses with enterprise IT departments.

True Technology Management is a complete enterprise IT solution for small business. It brings together all of the monitoring and remote support of a managed service provider, the onsite support of an IT outsourcing company and the strategic guidance of a technology consultant to one convenient, fixed-price plan, which can be scaled to fit any business.

“These new products bring a new class of services to small and mid-sized business,” said TechAssist CEO Nick Vossburg. “Not only are we delivering monitoring, proactive maintenance and support as a service, but we have also added strategic technology guidance to our service packages.”

“We have spent the summer conducting research and talking to our customers,” said Chris Knudson, VP of Marketing for TechAssist. “We listened to our customers and built service plans that were tailored to their specific needs. Some of our customers wanted remote support while some liked having on-site support. In every case, they wanted strategic guidance to help them navigate today’s complex technology environment,” said Knudson.

Along with the launch of these new service lines, TechAssist is also launching a new web site and brand enhancement campaign.

“We’re excited about the launch because it marks the beginning of a new strategic focus for our company,” said CEO Nick Vossburg. “Today we are rolling out an entire new service line that enhances the previous offerings of TechAssist. We’ve added to our existing service packages and enhanced our services in a way that makes technology management an affordable and practical option for a much wider range of businesses in the small to mid-sized business market,” said Vossburg.

“Our new web site was designed as a fresh look for our new approach,” said VP of Marketing and Communications Chris Knudson. “We spent most of the summer retooling and getting feedback from our customers to develop a new look that better represents our brand and the direction we are taking the company,” Knudson said.

The new web site is just one component of TechAssist’s brand enhancement efforts. A new corporate identity kit and new marketing materials will be available over the next couple of weeks to help showcase TechAssist’s new service lines.