Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock
Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock

A couple months ago a member of the National Guard 1/209 RTI out of Camp Ashland asked us if we could spare a couple dead hard drives for a training exercise they were planning.

Schrock had a couple hard drives that had been wiped clean and were slated for destruction, so we donated them instead. I honestly thought they would blow them up or something, but what they ended up using them for was a whole lot more fun than that!

A few days ago we received this video and a beautiful plaque thanking Schrock for the donation.

In the video you will see the 3rd Platoon on an exercise to retrieve the data storage devices from a downed UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) in a hostile environment.

You can see the soldiers move into a protective formation around the objective before recovering the data storage device.

It was a real treat to get a surprise like this, and we are all happy that we were able to help our soldiers in a small way.

Each year Three Eagles Communications in Lincoln asks listeners of their 6 Lincoln, Nebraska radio stations to vote for who they consider the best local business in a number of categories.

Schrock Innovations is proud to announce that for the 9th consecutive year we have been voted the #1 independent computer repair company in Lincoln.

At Schrock we are always working to make sure each of our customers leaves our Service Center satisfied with the work we provided and happy to refer their friends and family to us in the future.

Knowing that so many listeners across many demographics, age groups, and stations all voted for our company is extremely humbling.

Awards are a great indicator of past performance, and we all know that we are only as good as our last customer’s service experience.

We promise to continue working hard to communicate better, develop cutting-edge products and solutions, and always keep sight of the fact that each customer who asks us to work on their computer is trusting us with a small piece of their lives.

Two months before our Omaha Service Center opened we started hiring new technicians to train in Lincoln. Some of those technicians worked out and some did not, but Joe Clark is proving to be a customer service go-to guy and just the kind of employee Schrock needs in Omaha.

Joe had a significant background in network cabling, operations management, and field repair experience at Qwest so we decided to bring him on board for a 90-day trial.

From day one Joe showed professionalism and the kind of concern for our customers’ satisfaction that a tech needs to have to succeed at Schrock Innovations.

Now that the Omaha Service Center is up and running you can find Joe helping customers on the phone, in their homes, and on our benches.

Welcome aboard Joe and thank you for your commitment to Schrock’s customers!

As of October 22, 2010 computer manufacturers (including local OEM companies like Schrock Innovations) are no longer permitted to install Windows XP as a primary operating system on new computers.

The only exception to this is if the customer buys a newer operating system on the computer like Windows 7, and then buys a second license for XP and downgrades the system. This option will be supported through 2015.

With that said, the days of getting XP systems from Dell, HP or any other business provider are officially over.

In fact, and computer builder, local or otherwise, who tells you they can still build you a new Windows XP PC that is properly licensed with Microsoft is lying to you. Unless you buy 2 operating systems it can’t be done legitimately. (and trust me, you don’t want to call Microsoft’s bluff on licensing or stuff like this can happen to your company.)

One of the most popular questions I get on my radio show (now available free on iTunes) is when will XP be dead? I guess this is the final answer.

https://www.thorschrock.com/2009/01/31/schrock-innovations-opens-new-service-center-february-10/Sunday morning at 7:00 AM I took to the KFAB airwaves for our weekly Compute This radio show (available free on iTunes) to announce the opening of the Service Center that afternoon.

The show was awesome and I left the studio a little less nervous than when I got up that morning.

A Smashing Success!

We had over 100 people come in that Sunday (10/10/10 no less) and nearly all of them brought computers in for a discounted Preventative Maintenance Checkup.

The Omaha staff did a great job making everyone feel welcome, processing in the computers and making sure everyone got a helping from the Lovely Kimberly’s amazing cookie buffet.

In fact, 11 days later – after the glow of the grand opening had completely passed, our bench is STILL full with an average of 11 computers coming through the service center every day.

What is New in the Omaha Service Center?

In 2008 we built a state-of-the-art Service Center in Lincoln, NE. We got a lot of things right when we built that, but we also could have done a few things differently.

For example, we built the walls in the new Omaha Service Center all the way to the ceiling to help reduce echo, we shortened the distance from the front desk to the front door, and we leased two full bays – one for retail and service and another for repair.

The new configuration allowed us to install 40 bench spots (as opposed to Lincoln’s 26) – and thankfully so. As you can see in the picture above, the bench is full!

What’s Next for Schrock Innovations?

Now that Omaha is launched and moving I am working to catch up on things I have been neglecting (like this blog). We also have some big events coming up soon:

• Our 2010 Holiday Special
• Possibility of a Black Friday Sale
• Significant internal and external website updates
• A new software product that many of our customers have been asking us to make for years