NANAIMO, BC – Living as we do in a digital age the computer has become ubiquitous – it’s everywhere and part of virtually everything – even if you’re not aware of it. Keeping those complex but irreplaceable systems operating at peak efficiency, keeping businesses functioning, keeping networks free of threats and viruses is the backbone of NCI Technical’s expanding list of services to its clients. “From a strictly IT (Information Technology) point of view the core functionality of what we do hasn’t changed that much since we opened 21 years ago,” explained NCI’s owner Nigel Fee.
“What has changed is the inclusive way business and even individuals have adopted computers as a routine part of their daily lives. You go back 25 years plenty of businesses weren’t even using computers, they were still paper-based, printing cheques and that sort of thing. Now everybody, everything at every business is using tech. Everyone has a computer; everyone has an email; everyone is integrated into a system. Keeping those systems running and especially today secure, is at the heart of everything we do,” he explained.
NCI Technical’s main role is to work with companies of varying sizes to essentially serve as their personal IT department. Rather than maintaining an in-house IT staff many clients have found it more cost effective to outsource this service to NCI, who respond quickly and professionally whenever the need arises. Not merely a company that clients call when something is broken, NCI works alongside the client, functioning as a member of their corporate team.
“We participate not in reactive support but provide proactive solutions to match the needs of each individual client,” Fee stated.
One of the services NCI Technical provides is training clients to help keep them ahead of any problems.
“We’re getting notifications when something goes wrong or receive an alert that a hard drive is starting to fail and many other situations. We’re able to monitor all that, and respond accordingly, ideally before it causes downtime. Your computer system creates logs for everything that happens continually, including errors and problems. It would be crazy for you as a computer user to be constantly monitoring these logs searching for errors, this is where our tools and systems come into play allowing us to head off and deal with the problems on the client’s behalf, before they cause a major problem,” he explained.
There are multiple core functions NCI performs for its clients, all designed to keep businesses operating and efficient, these include providing IT support as illustrated above, Cybersecurity Services, providing Data Backups for clients, delivering additional technical systems such as office telephones and surveillance systems and a key service education – offering skills training to help clients get the most out of the systems they have.
“We work with the clients to do consultation, by doing forecasts and budgets and that sort of things, we do IT meetings and we develop IT roadmaps to help them plan for tomorrow. The best way to describe what we do is what is known as a ‘Managed IT Services’ that’s essentially what we’re doing. This is especially of value to small and mid sized businesses as they get what is basically an IT Department, but in a way that is far more affordable than hiring for this service in-house,” he said.
Involved with technology since his final year of High School, Fee was inspired by local educators who encouraged him and fired his imagination over the career potential offered by the emerging computer boom. “I had some great teachers who recognized that I sucked at everything else, but I had a real interest and aptitude for tech. They linked me up with the school IT person, so when he was there, I would shadow him and assist him in anyway I could, receiving a real hands on education at a very early age,” he remembers.
Nigel Fee is more than NCI Technical’s owner, he’s also a hands-on member of the team working with clients across Vancouver Island.
Today cybersecurity is an increasingly important and in-demand part of the services NCI Technical provides, crafting cybersecurity strategies for their clients to head off digital intrusions and to blunt the effort of hackers and other criminals attempting to access corporate information. Headlines around the world have reported on major cases of hacking, ransomware and other digital crimes, but thanks to the proactive approach NCI has taken its client base can be assured their information is secure.
“Our customers have been very receptive to the measures we’ve taken right from the beginning to ensure their digital safety. We get calls from people who’ve been hacked all the time and we’re having to go in there to help them out. There are also a lot of people right now who have been hacked, and they don’t even know it. When we discover this and inform them, they often still don’t believe us. This has become a big part of our business, not by choice but because it’s veer serious, it’s always evolving and it’s something you can’t get away from,” he said.
Moving forward NCI Technical has no major plans for expansion, or to begin servicing clients nationwide – it’s content working with the growing list of clients it has in the Central Vancouver Island region. “We’re not a faceless entity, we’re here, we’re local, we’re a good group of people who really care about our work and for the people we work with. That’s basically the essence of NCI Technical,” Fee proudly stated.
