WETUMPKA, Ala. – Business Council of Alabama member Pinnacle NetworX in Wetumpka has 15 employees with more than two centuries of experience who provide information technology and service across Alabama and the Southeast.
Providing technology solutions and service to customers is the outside face of the decade-old business that was started in a semi-trailer in Keith Carter’s front yard and which now is located on Alabama 14 just east of Wetumpka.
The inside aspect of licensed general contractor PinnacleNetworx’s business is familiar to millions of owners of small businesses that make up the backbone of the nation’s employment: attracting and keeping valuable employees, providing good service, dealing with mounting regulations, making payroll, paying taxes, and ensuring business continuity.
And then there are the hundreds of other ad hoc issues that demand attention every day.
“It’s very challenging when you have a lot of regulations because you’re a legitimate business,” Carter said in a recent interview. “You have to hire a CPA to do your financials, for example, pay taxes, manage expenses, everything.”
Pinnacle NetworX team members work closely with clients to understand the nature of their business and their specific needs and then we create technology and service solutions, Carter said.
“We’re a technology company and we like to say we help our customers’ efficiency,” Carter said. “The biggest challenge is the world is changing so fast, the very (technology) we promote is always changing. Also challenging us in today’s economy is keeping customers happy and growing an employee-based business.”
Carter was the selected recipient of a YETI Hopper 20 Cooler for completing BCA’s annual member survey earlier this year to aid in developing the BCA’s 2017 Legislative Agenda for the regular legislative session that begins Feb. 7 in Montgomery.
“As a member I thought about the survey for small businesses that may not be heard from so I wanted to provide input,” Carter said.
One of the BCA’s continuing goals is to create a small business cabinet position within the governor’s office, a position that would give strength to voices of the thousands of small businesses like Pinnacle NetworX. “I definitely would be behind having a small business advocate,” Carter said.
PinnacleNetworx began about 10 years ago literally in an 18-wheeler trailer parked in Carter’s driveway.
“We have 15 employees, and we do projects all over the state and over the Southeast,” Carter said. “We’re technology oriented … and have a manufacturing partner behind us.”
The core group of employees including Carter has more than 200 combined years of experience in technology, communications, service, design, and assembling manufactured parts.
A typical project would be designing and installing a surveillance system for a two-year college, securing its facilities and data. “Everything we do is with security in mind and convenience and efficiency,” Carter said.
Carter studied marketing at Auburn University in the 1980s and like many business owners began by working for someone else.
“I’ve always been in sales,” he said. “I sold cucumbers as a kid from dad’s garden and loved it. I sold programs at Auburn football games. I always felt like I was called to be a salesman.”
Out of college he started working for a technology company in Birmingham that eventually grew and was sold to General Electric. Carter later worked for a global manufacturer for five years as a territory manager.
“I started as a reseller and integrator; it’s basically people who take products together for customers,” he said. “Now I’m trying to become a leader as we grow our company as opposed to being a salesman.”
On the Web at www.pinnaclenetworx.com.