We Provide Full-Service IT

We serve the technology needs for Construction companies. For 38 years, if a construction company needed technology to reduce overhead and become more efficient so they can build our communities, Syscon was, and is, the partner of Choice.

In fact, we started as an IT company back in 1986. Contractors in the Chicago area were just adding computers to their offices. The most common uses at that time were to provide better accuracy when bidding jobs, and to turn around bid alternates more quickly. For many union contractors, an added goal was to speed up processing payroll, cutting checks, and preparing union reports with accuracy (and not by hand!).

Since my father-in-law was a Mason Contractor in the Chicago area, we knew many of the larger Masons. One day we received a call. ‘Your dad tells me you know computers,’ he said. ‘Yes sir, we do.’ He said, ‘Mine’s broken. Come fix it’ – and hung up. This was a time when the forward-thinking contractors knew that these computers were going to rock their world, and they wanted people they could trust; people who could help them navigate this unknown territory.

Talk about changes! Desktop computers to calculate pay checks and taxes, AP and Payroll checks; spreadsheets for fast and accurate calculations of production rates, materials, and the many aspects of the bid process. Then access to email and FTP sites to receive drawings, submit pay apps, and more. This led to backup technology (remember the tape drives?). I remember some of the first timecard scanners what a time-saver for everyone! Fax machines for faster communication, signed agreements, and PO’s. Jump to right now: we have hosted servers; cell phones to access email, websites, Power BI reports, and games!; shared documents available from anywhere with an internet connection; video meetings with the ability to collaborate ‘live’ in the shared documents; and more!

Every now and again, one of our clients is surprised to learn we are a Full Service IT company! Perhaps our Techs have assisted their team in support of Sage 100 Contractor on their server; or they read some of our Tips and Tricks regarding Social Engineering and bank scams, but they didn’t know we can take care of ALL of their computer-related and security needs.

We provide a full suite of IT Services including Managed Services for computers, remote computers and tab-lets, and office network equipment (switches, firewalls, wi-fi, etc.); back-up technologies including cloud and on-premise; as a direct Microsoft Solution Provider, we can provide, secure, and back up Microsoft 365 li-censes for email, SharePoint, OneDrive; SharePoint and email migrations; and Azure hosted servers.

Servers have changed a lot! For years, most of our clients had on-premise servers with solid backup solutions, and a few still do. The majority of our clients have moved to the cloud and are part of the Azure hosting environment, fully backed up, maintained, and supported by our Networking team. Support of Active Directory, LAN and Azure/Entra, along with InTune automation are all part of this technology shift. These offerings have allowed our clients to attract talent outside the traditional geographical confines of the past, expanding their team and their business opportunities.

Ten years into this IT journey, we started hearing a new group of questions; ‘What software should I use for construction Accounting and Project Management? From there, many clients needed custom reports, additional analytical tools to pull data right from its source, and more recently, apps that are integrated for electronic field time collection. The result? Our Consulting, Programming, and newest department, Business Applications teams!

We live in an amazing moment in time. In so many ways, it’s truly a small world. Information and research is at our fingertips, literally! News from across the globe is in our living rooms ‘live’ and on demand. Unfortunately, just like the old west ‘snake oil’ salesmen, there are those who exploit others for their own gain using the exact tools that have enriched our lives—Cyber Security is part of the landscape now. Next Month, we’ll dive into our Cyber Security offerings! – CMW