Businesses often get started because a dissatisfied customer decides to provide services that are lacking in the marketplace. Sam Hiranandaney, vice president of Long Island-based Micropower Computer Institute, told us how his training company is built on what others aren't offering.
What made you decide to start Micropower?
When I wanted to change my career from accounting to computers, I visited a few schools and eventually picked one. But I was not satisfied with the kind of education that I received--especially at an exorbitant price of $18,000! I realized there was no school offering specific targeted training at an affordable price, so I decided to open an school offering such training. My motto was, if Bill Gates from Microsoft wants to see a PC in every home, I wanted to have an network engineer or a programmer in every home. Every year we bring in 300,000 foreign technology professionals from abroad and pay them high salaries. Why can't we train people of this country and change their lives?
What does your company focus on?
The company started as a computer systems integrator with focus to providing IT solutions to corporate and governmental organizations. That included hardware, network infrastructure, software, integration and support. In 1995 we realized that training was the most critical component of any successful organization, and that it could produce tremendous productivity gains on the infrastructure and computing costs incurred.
Most of the other training providers were still entrenched in generic electronic training, with some Novell, but the product certification training was nowhere in sight. We launched the first successful batch of MCSE programs at a very affordable cost in 1996. We consider ourselves pioneers in providing training in Microsoft, Cisco, Novell, Sun, Checkpoint Security, Nortell, Comptia, and CIW product offerings. We have provided customized training to the United States Customs Department, Time Warner Cable, St. John's University, the New York Department of Education, Chase Manhattan Bank, Plumbers Union Local 1, Commonwealth Associates Investment Bank, and several other large and small scale companies. We've graduated more than 6,000 students so far.
What makes your company stand out in this marketplace?
Our ability to customize curricula for specific market needs fairly quickly. In some instances we have put ourselves in their shoes, learned their problems and provided training based on that. We were the first training provider to offer MCSE in 1995, the first to market Windows 2000 training in January 2000, and the first to offer the new MCSA training initiative. We are pioneers in offering bundled training because we have a philosophy that students should learn the complete platform and technology surrounding it.
What are your most popular programs or classes?
Our most popular programs are in several arenas: Web Design and programming using the Microsoft .Net platform; networking with Unix, Microsoft and checkpoint security software; the Microsoft Office 2000 MOUS program; and medical billing and management for applications. We train about 500 students a year at our facilities.
What does the company have planned for the future?
We are exploring and looking to offer students training in gaming platforms. We hope to someday train students in how to develop and code gaming software for proprietary boxes like the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 platforms. We think there are tremendous job opportunities for these professionals and there are very few universities who are making any headway in offering this type of training. These curricula are in the development and approval stage, and we're hoping to offer them in the spring of 2003.
We would be one of the few schools offering these curricula. We also have very aggressive expansion plans, and we're on track to open at least 10 new centers by 2003. We have already started to offer our programs at some of the major colleges and universities in the United States and in Europe.
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