2021 Trusted Advisers Technology Professional: Andrew Dierks

Being vice president of operations for a company should bring some perks – nevertheless, Andrew Dierks still makes himself available to Pitt Technology Group LLC clients 24 hours a day.

“Personal service and long-term relationships are the hallmark of Pitt Technology,” he says. “My clients know they can contact me directly at any time, day or night.”

Dierks knows technical problems happen on their own schedule.

“Emergencies come at all hours, and I have been in data centers at 3 a.m. troubleshooting outages,” he says.

“I have traveled to Kansas City, St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Dallas and other locations to personally set up new customer sites and regularly work with clients to schedule projects outside normal hours to minimize downtime for their business.”

Dierks takes a hands-on approach, helping clients through changes to their internal information technology staff and in the interview process for IT candidates.

He also makes the security of his clients a top priority.

“Security is at the forefront of everything in today’s technology landscape,” he says.

“Threats are more impactful than ever before. We work with top security vendors such as Sophos and Datta to bring the latest solutions to clients and learn from what those vendors are seeing across their large global footprints.”

The services of Dierks and Pitt Technology Group became even more vital to clients during coronavirus pandemic-related closures and the transition to remote work.

“We have helped numerous clients evolve to support employees working from home and improve their ability to connect through video and secure sharing of data in new ways,” he says.

When asked to define his role as a trusted adviser, Dierks pointed to his clients’ faith in him to translate their business goals into action through technology projects and initiatives.

“My role is to make our staff an extension of our client’s business, to guide and consult on technology decisions, and to bring innovative solutions to leverage technology for growth,” he says.

Dierks says his team works in nearly every industry, helping to increase efficiency by migrating multiple organizations from legacy solutions to Microsoft Office 365 and improving data security by implementing central network storage devices.

For multisite clients, Dierks says he and his team have deployed long-distance networks to allow seamless nationwide communication.

“In one course, our network deployment enabled a retail client to grow from 27 locations to 49 over the last three years,” he says.

Dierks has led the company’s donations of services and support to nonprofits, including The Discovery Center, Isabel’s House, Springfield Regional Arts Council and Care to Learn. He also serves on the advisory board of Missouri State University’s College of Arts and Letters and volunteered in the “Yes on S” effort to help pass the $168 million bond issue for facility improvements for Springfield Public Schools.