Membership Has Its Privileges

By John Oncea, Editor

Lynn Souza, President and CEO of Connect Computer, has been an ASCII member for six years. Ask her why and she’ll tell you it’s because ASCII is a caring group that wants to help the industry. Furthermore, ASCII members helping each other ultimately results in individuals learning to help themselves. How is this possible? Souza answered this question and more when she took time to speak with me at the ASCII Success Summit held in October in Providence, RI.

Lynn Souza is not your typical ASCII member. First off — she’s a women. Secondly … well … that’s really about it. You see, like most ASCII members, Souza looks to the community for advice on how to better serve her customers, recommendations on solutions, and the opportunity to partner with other ASCII members. She also tells a an origin story familiar to many ASCII members, one she shared with me while at the ASCII Success Summit held October, 2016 in Providence, RI.

“We have two offices in Connecticut, and we have clients that range geographically from New Jersey up to Massachusetts,” says Souza. “We’re not vertical-focused and operate in the small-to-medium business sector and don’t want to go into the enterprise, anything above 500 seats. We just love small to medium businesses — this country is run by them.”

Souza values small-to-medium size businesses because she views them as undervalued and most in need of help. “To be able to help them grow their business — that’s our mark of success,” Souza says. “When we have clients that started at 30 employee/clients and are now at 300, that’s our mark of success. We take personal pride in that growth because IT is such an integral part of any business. If it’s not running smoothly, you’re not doing your job. There’s no way your client can be successful if you’re not doing your job; their success is your success.”