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How’s Business?: IT diversity

By Joe Palumbo

You hear it all the time on Wall Street: Diversify! What appears as sound investing advice also is taking shape more and more in the Information Technology arena.

I had an interesting discussion with Brenda Christie of Breito Computer Solutions Inc. at 84-10 Jamaica Ave. in Woodhaven. Christie is quite a connoisseur in the computer business. Her training goes back to those big, awesome mainframe jobs in the early ’80s. With her former corporate experience she decided to start her own business.

The timing of the new business was not the greatest, however, with Christie signing her lease just five days before the Sept. 11 tragedy. After this bad news broke, Christie’s first response was “uh-oh.” But she decided she would make lemonade from a lemon by greatly diversifying.

In addition to providing training skills in Word, Excel and Access programs, Christie covers client typing and word processing, desktop publishing, translations, direct mail service, customer software production, office automation and Web site design and analysis. She even produces her own software for language arts and math study.

With our corporate “keep costs down” philosophy comes a demand for such services on a contractual basis, in lieu of the former classic in-house operation. By using such services companies keep a lower payroll structure, which contributes to additional savings such as health insurance, for example.

Since the bubble burst in the high-tech arena, it has become necessary to find alternate avenues of revenue production in working through these very lean and competitive times. And size does not matter.

Even the real big boys with household names such as Microsoft, AOL and Phillip Morris have branched out into alternate business environments in the ever-constant attempt to maintain continued positive earnings and corporate growth. The need for IT service and expertise will remain; however, staying competitive for the purpose of survival will be difficult.

Starting and maintaining an IT business, even with diversification, will still require good, old-fashioned bookkeeping, in which cost does not exceed revenue. All this being said, how’s business for Breito Computer Solutions? Christie says she will soon have an additional opening on her staff. And, of course, you’re not hiring additional personnel unless your business is growing.

Joe Palumbo is the fund manager for The Palco Group, Inc. and can be reached at [email protected] or 718-461-8317.