ECI - MetroNorth Chamber Member of the Month

Member of the Month


Terry Hendriksen

Computers used to be the exclusive province of huge companies that could supply massively air-conditioned rooms to house them and squads of technicians to maintain them. Terry Hendriksen worked for many of those companies - AT&T, NCR, Control Data, and Digital Equipment.

Soon the technology from those mainframe computers began finding its way into the PCs of smaller companies. They couldn't afford the in-house technicians to set up and troubleshoot the networks of computers that make their businesses run. In 1993, Terry founded Enterprise Communications to provide this expertise on an outsourced basis.

"We can come in and resolve a specific problem that a client is having," says Terry. "At the other extreme, we can take complete responsibility for managing the company's Information Systems on a day to day basis. Or we can do anything in between." Enterprise Communications also handles the complexities of moving computer systems. They'll come in on a Friday noon, and by Monday morning have the client's systems up and running at their new location.

Surprisingly, Terry's clients include not just smaller companies but some of those large ones that have their own in-house IS departments. "Our customer base ranges from 3M and Imation down to the local dentist's office," Terry says. The large companies hire Enterprise Communications to create custom applications. Also, individual departments may prefer to have someone responsible directly to them instead of relying solely on the corporate IS people.

Today there are a dozen full time, part time, and contract employees working for Enterprise. Eighty percent of their business involves designing, installing, and maintaining computer networks or installing software applications produced by someone else. The other twenty percent involves creating unique applications for clients. For example, someone may need a program that takes the output from an old database and inputs it smoothly into some other application.

The company has grown entirely by word of mouth and is proud of its 95% customer retention rate. Anyone interested in talking about their computer needs can reach Terry or his sales and marketing manager, Cathy Young, at (763) 783-0100.

When he's not busy finding technical solutions for his clients, Terry wrestles with the problems of a fast-growing municipality as a City Council Member for Ramsey. Before his election three years ago, he served for fourteen years on the Planning Commission.

Terry has suggested that the Chamber form a Technology Committee to help the organization and its members address technical issues. He's also interested in developing some seminars and workshops for Chamber members.

What are the biggest problems most people have with their computers? Terry says that when PCs lock up or refuse to shut down properly, the problem can often be solved by updates or fixes that are already published, if you know where to find them and how to install them. The other problem he always runs into is that people rely on their virus protection software but fail to keep it updated so it can detect each season's new crop of viruses.