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COMPANIES
TO WATCH - A
Monthly Focus on Regional Success Stories
C -
Computer Systems Integrator.
 Jitendra Changela is
looking forward to a vacation.
Maybe next year.
That’s when he
expects to break the $1 million mark in sales for his fledgling computer
sales/Internet service company, and when he does he’ll be ready to
relax and celebrate. He’ll have earned the break. He’s devoted the
past several years to taking his company from a me-person operation
featuring computer sales and service, to a five-person operation that
now features such services as network design and installation and
Internet access.
It’s been a long,
winding road for Changela, who came to the Pioneer Valley from England
in 1989, tried his luck in the corporate world, failed, went back to
England, and then returned to Eastern Mass., only to struggle again.
In 1994, he was laid off from his job in Needham. He eventually took a
position selling computers at Lechmere, and something clicked,
allowing the entrepreneurial spirit in the former electronic engineer to
come to the surface.
“That’s where it
all started,” Changela reminisced. “People kept asking me-if we installed
hard drives. No one at the time was doing it, so I would go to
their house and install them. It then dawned on me that people needed
these services:’
Changela then created
Comp-U-Tech, a business devoted to computer sales and service. He ran
the operation out of his tiny apartment in Framingham until his
brother-in-law — the one who originally talked him into coming to the
Pioneer Valley urged him to set up shop in Palmer.
In 1995 he moved his
one man operation into the back of 1501 Main St., and changed the name
to C-Computer Systems Integrator, which more accurately reflected his
growing roster of products and services. One of his first
successful sales — to a New York consulting company called
IDEA turned out to be quite lucrative when his contact there moved to
Cellular One and funneled more business his way.
In 1996, with sales
approaching $200,000, Changela moved the company into a basement at
1483 Main St. Six months later, another person was hired and the company
exits services to include not only PC sales but also accessories.
Sales climbed more 40% that year; and by 1997 Changela hired two more
people and started offering on-site repairs, network installation, and
the sale of custom-made computer systems by Acer.
Just four months ago
he took the operation another step forward, establishing an Internet
service called “ccsinet.net” and increasing his staff to five. With
the expansion came another move — back to his first location on Main
Street but this time to a more visible front office.
Today his client list
includes the Town of Palmer, Warren Pump, LamcoTech, M&M Paving, and
Moulton Insurance, and others. Among the services he offers is one
called the Virtual Private Network (VPN), where companies, instead of
leasing lines from the telephone company to connect their computers to
other office locations, instead connect through Changela’s Internet
network.
Changela is now
putting his energy toward growing the Internet end of his business. He
is equipped to take on 100,000 customers, and is focusing increasingly
on municipal and commercial clients.
“Take a look at
this one,” he said, pointing to a brochure detailing one government
contract. “It pays $1.3 million ... that one would work!"
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