Works Computing—a Bloomington-based IT company whose services include disaster recovery, encryption, and backup administration—recently added a third location, expanding to Duluth.
 
Chief Operating Officer Mitch Prust told Twin Cities Business that the company is currently leasing space, so it has no associated construction or startup costs attached to the facility. Prust said Works Computing will start with a small team of current employees at the Duluth office, but it may hire new employees with experience using Microsoft SharePoint and other programs as the demand for those services increases.
 
Works Computing said the Duluth expansion will increase the company’s ability to service its clients in the state’s North Shore region.
 
“Duluth offers a wide variety of commercial, health care, state, and local government businesses that align with our target market,” Works Computing CEO Pat Cadle said in a statement. “We have a history of working with Duluth businesses . . . It makes perfect business sense for our company to have a North Shore presence with IT staff experts who can help clients develop and implement IT road maps and having staff available right in their own backyard.”
 
Works Computing said the main push to expand to Duluth came from senior IT consultants Gary Hopp and Buzzy Winter. Hopp and Winter previously worked for Great Northern Services, Inc., (GNS)—a Duluth-based IT infrastructure consulting firm that began working closely with Works Computing more than a decade ago. GNS is currently undergoing a transition to integrate its operations and employees with Works Computing.
 

“We’ve essentially merged our successful professional services offering with [Works Computing’s] hardware, software, and services portfolio,” Hopp said in a statement. “Our expanded team will have new reasons to talk with new and existing customers about IT solutions.”
 
Prust said Works Computing is following a “three-pronged expansion plan” based on creating new manufacturing lines, delving deeper into its existing account base, and working to secure new accounts. He said the company will assess the need for further expansion as the existing plan progresses.
 
In April, Twin Cities Business spoke with Mitch Brown, the chief technology officer of Works Computing, to explore the benefits of cloud computing. Click here for the story.
 
Founded in 1994, Works Computing is a privately-held company. In addition to its Duluth and Bloomington offices, it operates in Omaha, Nebraska. It currently employs 38.