A perfect storm of factors has led to the closure of the retail arm of a Warrnambool business.
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Multicomm, which opened in the city almost two decades ago, recently closed its retail outlet.
Owners Jed Mast and Kerry Clapham have retired, while Jarrod Mast has taken over the commercial arm of the business.
Jed Mast said the business was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's been an extremely challenging time for the business," Jed said.
He said a large part of the business was repairing Apple products. However, he was advised Apple was putting its focus on contracting this work to metropolitan businesses.
"That was pretty tough," Jed said.
Jarrod said there was an initial increase in work when the pandemic hit, with people working from home.
"From the commercial side, it was just the worst possible timing for us, the initial mad rush to work from home brought in a heap of work, but it dried up quickly," Mr Mast said.
"We had a whole range of projects that were delayed thanks to the supply chain issues worldwide, affecting almost every product category we deal with.
"At the same time a number of businesses switched their mindset from seeing IT as an investment to looking at it as a pure cost centre, which saw some pressure put on our existing agreements."
Jarrod said said Multicomm worked really well with businesses that partnered with the company to invest in IT.
"We've worked really hard to maximise the value we provide the market, so we can only hope that this will speak for itself and allow us to grow into 2024 and beyond," Jarrod said.
He said the company would continue to offer sales and service for computers, servers, networking and print solutions for business clients.
"We provide fixed-fee IT service agreements and projects with a focus on full Microsoft Cloud services and solutions," Jarrod said.
"We also found ourselves looking after VoIP telephones, meeting rooms, videoconferencing solutions and even Internet services for our clients - one Orange to squeeze - to provide a complete IT solution."
Jarrod said it was vitally important businesses knew which areas of IT were important to invest in.
"I know there are numerous places which will be looking to cut back as the cost of living pressures bite," Jarrod said.
But he said businesses needed to ensure they were protected from the "bad guys". "I want to make sure businesses are protected," Jarrod said.
He said the business' point of difference was ensuring systems remained operational, rather than fixing a problem when it arose.
"It's in our best interest to keep your systems up and running, the less work we have to do and the more productive your systems - it's better for both our bottom lines," Jarrod said.
Multicomm now employs six staff members.
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