The Experts

TURNER TELECO AND LOUISIANA IT SOLUTIONS PROVIDE BUSINESSES WITH SUPERIOR
SERVICE AND THE INDUSTRY’S MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

ARTICLE BY KAY STOTHART RECTOR AND PHOTO BY MARTIN G MEYERS

In an age of constantly changing technology, few things are more crucial to business success than effective communication. Mark Redding, owner of Turner Teleco and co-founder of Louisiana IT Solutions, has spent his career providing businesses with state-of-the-art communication services and innovative technology.

Redding began his telecommunications career as a technician for Turner Teleco, the company he now runs. As a college student at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Redding worked for then-owner Joel Turner, installing, maintaining and repairing commercial telephone systems. He was eventually promoted to sales and helped customers select the system that best fit their business communication needs. Redding later worked as an outside salesman for two other telephone companies—Telecom Solutions and Network Telephone Company.

In 2010, Redding had taken a short detour from his career path in telephone sales and service and was operating business development centers for three local auto dealerships when Joel Turner contacted him about purchasing Turner Teleco. Turner was ready to retire and offered to sell his former employee the company. Realizing the value of the business Turner had built, Redding eagerly accepted this opportunity to get back into the communication business.
In the eight years since Redding took over Turner Teleco, the company has continued to grow and profits have steadily increased. In 2013, Redding bought out another former employer. Turner Teleco purchased Telecom Solutions from its founder, Paul James. With the acquisition of Telecom Solutions, Turner Teleco doubled its staff and gained a number of valuable customers they still service today, including St. Francis Medical Center.

“We do a lot of fiber and data cabling,” says Redding. “We can design, install and upgrade a business’s cabling, which is the backbone of the network. We also do surveillance systems, something we added two years ago.” Redding says the IP based surveillance cameras can be accessed remotely from a mobile device.

Redding notes that the industry has changed tremendously since he began. “Telephones have evolved into something completely different,” Redding says. “The telephone is now a device on a network and just one part of an overall communication system that encompasses data, voice and video communication integrated with other technology. Everything is data based now.”

In early 2017, recognizing these changes and understanding that the future of business communication was in network-based systems, Redding partnered with Carlos Smith to form Louisiana IT Solutions, a full service information technology company. “We are based in West Monroe,” Redding says, “but we service business and professional offices all over North Louisiana.”

Like Turner Teleco, Louisiana IT Solutions is a local company with deep roots in the community it serves. Redding is a native of West Monroe. He and his wife, Anna, have three young children—five year old twins, Miles and Keeton, and two year old Marlee. Anna teaches school at George Welch Elementary and has been an educator in the Ouachita Parish school system for more than ten years.

Smith lives on his family farm in Gilbert, Louisiana, where he was grew up. Before embarking on a career in the IT field, Smith ran a catfish farm in nearby Wisner. Fifteen years ago, he started his own IT company, which he developed into a successful business with multiple clients, including a large number of medical providers. After selling that business, Smith became the IT director at P&S Surgical Center in Monroe.

Smith and Redding knew each other and had worked together for years, servicing many of the same clients. They say that becoming business partners was a natural fit for them individually and in terms of their areas of expertise. Redding describes Turner Teleco and Louisiana IT Solutions as “sister companies” that work together to handle all of a business’ information technology needs.

“It’s still young, but it’s growing rapidly,” Redding says of Louisiana IT Solutions. “We have so much combined experience between us and our employees. Carlos is this area’s premier IT expert, and he has a team behind him, so anything that comes up we can handle it.”

The company’s logo—a pelican with wings that resemble the globally recognized symbol for wireless internet connectivity—reflects its identity as a Louisiana company with the expertise and advanced technology to maintain access to data and information worldwide.

“We serve as the IT department for our customers,” says Redding. “Instead of hiring and paying full-time employee to maintain and monitor their IT system, a business can hire us to handle it and pay us a portion of what a full blown IT employee would cost. And we can structure it in whatever way works best for them.”

“One thing that sets us apart from other companies is that we are very relationship focused,” notes Smith. “We have a very close relationship with each of our customers. They trust us to come into their networks, and that trust is essential. For example, we service a lot of medical providers, and we are familiar with HIPPA and all of the security issues that go along with that. We look at each system from a security standpoint.”

Smith and Redding work closely with each business owner or manager to design a system that will work most effectively for their operation. Each business is different,” Redding says of their customers. “We try to tailor solutions to whatever the customer needs.”

Through its managed IT services, Louisiana IT Solutions provides a comprehensive array of technology management, including constant monitoring of a business’s servers, computers and mobile devices. They ensure that data backups are completed as needed and that security patches and anti-virus protocols are up to date. They also address server alerts and remediate any process or services that fail or may be in jeopardy.

“We come in and assess your entire network. Everything that affects your computer, we manage,” explains Smith. “Our goal is to be proactive and avoid issues. By addressing them early, we can usually prevent problems before they start. We try to create a ‘monitor and prevent’ scenario instead of a ‘break then fix’ scenario. We believe this is the best way to keep small problems from becoming big, expensive problems.”

If a customer’s network goes down, is infiltrated by a virus or develops some other issue, a member of the Louisiana IT Solutions team will receive an alert and can address it immediately. Their employees often work late into the night, monitoring customers’ computer systems and addressing any issues that may arise.

“This is not 9 to 5 job,” Smith points out. “And this is not your typical workplace.” The offices of Louisiana IT Solutions confirms this. Employees work in an obviously laid back atmosphere, a large open room with brightly colored, modern décor and music playing the background. Couches, televisions and an Xbox gaming system occupy the workspace along with desks and computer terminals. A guitar leans against the wall in a corner. “We wanted to create a fun and easy work environment,” Smith says. “Our company policies are different from other people’s. We enjoy coming to work.”
“Our employees really are the best at what they do,” says Redding. “I don’t have to micromanage these guys. I know that they are going to do their best work and that their work will be excellent.” Much of their work is done at night or during early morning hours, when the customer’s office is closed. “We try to do as much as we can during those times, so that when our customers come in to work, everything is up and running properly,” explains Smith.

“We do what we do so that our customers can concentrate on what they do best and not have to worry about their IT systems,” Redding says. The experts at Louisiana IT Solutions and Turner Teleco pride themselves on providing superior service and the latest in advanced technology to keep local businesses seamlessly connected to a global business world.

For more information about Louisiana IT Solutions and Turner Teleco, visit www.louisianait.solutions and www.TurnerTeleco.com.