A Call Into Macsupport.com

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN: It was April 15, 2010 and what better day than “tax day” to talk with the good folks over at Macsupport.com — a company dedicated to keeping our computers running so we can keep working so we can keep paying those taxes.

Macs are the nerve center of my business. I own a three-room audio post facility where all the rooms are running Pro Tools HD rigs on a Mac. So my interests in Mac and Mac support run deep.

This conversation took place with Tony Ricciardi, one of the co-founders of Macsupport.com, Liam Derman the head technician and Francis Gulotta, Director of Technology, builder of the Macsupport.com site.

Your business is mostly remote, correct? So you’re primarily helping people over the phone?

We are based out of the west side of Manhattan. We’re on 29th and 7th, but we primarily offer telephone and remote support. We have remote control software that lets our techs see the computer remotely.

Most of us in the audio community use Macs daily and we all have our own love stories…but how did you first get interested in Macs and what allowed you to develop your expertise?

Tony Ricciardi

Tony Ricciardi:  Well, it started when I was in high school. I was working on a typewriter, typing term papers and things like that, and around the time I graduated high school we were considering getting a computer. My dad had a friend who was an architect and he had a Macintosh SE.  This was, I want to say, 1988…

Was that a dual core SE?

Not quite! It was actually the same form factor as the original 128k Mac. That’s how far back it was.  I was just amazed at the power of the machine, I was amazed at what he could do with it, and honestly…at that moment I realized that technology, and specifically this kind of Apple technology, would play a big role in my life, though I didn’t know how yet.

And what allowed you to develop an expertise after that?  Was it just purely your excitement around the product?

Partly, yes.  I think just to do tech support in general you need to have an inquisitive personality, and I think I had that coupled with the fact that I just enjoyed the technology. So it wasn’t long after I bought my first Mac that I was doing troubleshooting. I guess the next jump was right after college when I started working for a small software company.  I was doing some marketing for the company and I realized pretty quickly that it was not marketing I was interested in. It was the technology, and at that point I got into the IT business.

What do you find interesting about solving technical problems, and what’s challenging about that work?

Liam Derman

Liam Derman: There’s something really wonderful about coming to work every day and being Sherlock Holmes. There are kind of two aspects to every technical problem.  On the one hand, there’s the technology quagmire that you have to muck through, and that’s certainly challenging.  And, on the other hand, when people need their computer fixed they’re usually scared, angry, or both.  So the most challenging thing, I would say, is not simply the technical aspect, it’s making sure the person remains calm and gives you the pertinent information.

The user is a treasure trove of information that could help you with your job and I think too many technicians forget about that, and that bedside manner helps!  So, I’d say it’s a combination of those two. I don’t know if that answers your question or not…

No, that’s great!  What it tells me, Tony, is that Liam was a great hire!  What differentiates your business from your competitors?  And especially here in New York, obviously, there are specific Mac companies that have been here as well, what makes you guys different?

That’s a good question… I think there are a few things that make us specifically different. One of the differences is that my co-founder, Paul Meyerson, and I have been in the IT business for a very long time and when dealing with support companies, and support in general, a lot of times the goal is a financial equation: to solve the problem as quickly as possible and move on to the next customer as fast as possible, and we’ve never been of that mindset. When we first started the company, we founded it on the principal of, ‘we really want to kill people with kindness’ and, if anything, go overboard in terms of treating them with respect.

It’s a great philosophy.  From being a professional user and using computers of all kinds for many years, it can feel very upsetting when you’re talking to a tech who sounds like he or she couldn’t care less.  I’ve been in a situation where I had music for the Grammys and my Mac crashed and I literally had to get that music off and it was very stressful and you really want to feel like someone’s in the foxhole with you.  Can you guys give me some sample success stories?

Francis Gulotta

On the bigger side, we helped a bi-coastal record company communicate more efficiently and share large files quickly on a private network.  Basically we set up the server here in New York and we set up a VPN tunnel between the two offices. They have a high-speed cable line here and they have a T1 line in LA.  It allowed them to share resources on one server.  So it was really more getting the two offices connected in a way that they can share this content reasonably quickly and securely — that was the most important thing.

Recently, we got a call from a small recording studio: They had musicians in who had rented equipment, and they’d hired someone to come in and do drums.  They were having horrible issues with Pro Tools. It kept stuttering, they couldn’t bring in the different tracks, it would crash out in the middle of saving. They had gotten some advice from Digidesign but they were having difficulty implementing their suggestions. We were able to help them with disk allocation and their system setup and get them up and recording.  We’re not Pro Tools techs, but we understood the issues they were having with their Macs, and in that case we were able to help.

In another case, we have a client who captures video with an AJA board. And during a recording they had a power dip — literally the power went out for just a minute or two. But it was enough to spike the power everywhere and their 30-inch Apple display went completely dead, and the AJA board became unresponsive.  Now, this is the 30in Apple display, they probably spent three grand on it! They plugged it in, they moved it, nothing.  And they were literally going to toss it.

I remembered, specifically from an Apple training session I attended (as part of our ongoing training), that when you have a power surge or dip the displays are very sensitive and what you actually have to do is unplug the monitor, leave it out for about five minutes, and it sort of recycles itself.  The power adapter part recycles itself, and then you plug it back in and it comes up fine.  But if you leave it out even for a couple of minutes and try and plug it back in, it won’t work. And it will appear dead, literally.  They were going to throw it in the garbage.

So, you’re working with pro audio, video, music industry, and non-technical users… What makes your business an “only in New York” story?  What are the advantages and disadvantages for your offices to be located in New York?

When my partner and I first came up with the idea to do this, we figured it’s a call center so theoretically we could be anywhere.  But we felt that to be really effective at what we do and to really have our finger on the pulse of what’s happening technologically, we needed to stay in New York.

Macsupport.com / (707) your-mac

Just the other day, I was at the Apple market center down on 14th St., at one of their new stores, and I met the Apple business director who is overseeing everything in the company in terms of their retail locations.  He shared a lot of insight with me into what Apple’s thinking is in terms of enterprise and where they’re moving in 2012. You don’t have access to those kinds of people outside New York and I think, ultimately, it makes us a more well-rounded company, and a better resource for our customers, knowing that we have access to those kinds of people.

Also, there’s definitely a convergence in this city. That essentially ensures that we have some of the best and brightest techs, who like to have their finger on the pulse of technology, right here in NYC.

Yeah, Tony, just from the brief conversation I’ve had with you guys, it sounds like you’ve really hired some top top-notch people.

I’d like to think so. I’ve been doing this a long time and I believe a company’s success hinges on hiring the right people.

But you guys help pros and those at home with email and printer problems, right?

I think that’s pretty accurate.  I used to have this egotistical idea that some problems were just not worthy of our time or expertise. And then a long time ago I realized something — that mom who just lost her infant child’s pictures or video from birth up through their childhood? Who’s to say that’s not as important as that large company that accidentally deleted a really important document? In a lot of cases the loss of personal things are infinitely more important than a work-related problem. A lot of the home user issues that we deal with are in a lot of ways just as important.

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