2021 Economic Impact Awards 1-7 Years in Business Winner: Pitt Technology Group LLC

Kevin Waterland’s fascination with technology began when his grandparents gave him some old computers – a jumble of Apple IIs and old Tandys – they’d bought from a school.

“My grandpa threw them in a pile and told me to put them together and make them work,” says Waterland, co-owner and general manager of Pitt Technology Group LLC. “I never really saw it as any more than a hobby until I needed a job, a professional job.”

Waterland has worked with company namesake and co-owner Doug Pitt since the age of 18, when as a young dad working in die- cast fabrication he decided he wanted a profession that didn’t include molten aluminum.

Since then, he’s helped guide the growth of the company that began as ServiceWorld Computer Center.

Now, much as Waterland did with computers, he’s taking all of the components that grew from that first company and creating a well-run firm that offers everything technology.

Pitt Technology was formed in 2017, when Pitt and Waterland decided to buy back their original company and merge it with other companies the duo had formed on the side, along with later acquisitions of AVman & Associates Ltd. and ConceptiCode LLC.

“We just decided we could do every technology under one roof,” Waterland says.

The company offers technological solutions with a wide variety of employees, from techs in reflective gear running cable to software developers.

Waterland says with such diverse divisions, communication among them is crucial for the company’s success.

“Our secret sauce has been to get these things to work together,” he says.

Waterland says the pandemic posed some significant challenges but also brought some unexpected opportunities.

“We took advantage of the opportunities we had with COVID and really concentrated on coming up with a uniform style,” he says.

Leaders focused their efforts on creating one contract that would work in each of the divisions and uniform software.

The pandemic also offered an opportunity to help area nonprofits, which were struggling and depending heavily on technology to help them through it. When the pandemic hit, Pitt Technology’s construction and installation crews were sidelined. They got going again by creating the COVID-19 Client Technology Access Grant through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.

The grant gave nonprofits access to video conference systems, cabling and Wi-Fi systems. For example, the firm provided hardware and training to Springfield Regional Arts Council, an IT class at the Drew Lewis Foundation and the Geek Foundation, and equipment to the Discovery Center.

In all, Pitt Technology provided $350,000 in work for nonprofits in 2020 and another $150,000 in the first half of 2021.