OUR STORY
Where We Started
In 1985, Joe McCartney, a Kent State attendee, started work at a local computer company. Joe worked full time while obtaining a degree from Kent State Tuscarawas Branch. In 1989, Joe had worked himself up to the Senior Programmer. In that same year, Joe took his annual Canada trip, but this time, with a twist. He got an alert via emergency radio to come home as soon as possible; he was to report to the silent partners of the company. While Joe was in Canada, the owner of the computer company quietly and abruptly shut down the business and he left behind tens of thousands of dollars of outstanding projects. The other employees of the business left the building and locked up the doors. However, Joe’s wife and his sisters took it upon themselves to unlock the doors and take phone calls, telling clients not to worry, Joe would be back.
Joe saw an opportunity and took it; he started Pioneer Programming in the basement of his home on 4th Street in New Philadelphia, Ohio to give clients the support they needed. His wife, Cheryl McCartney, assisted in marketing, and designed the business logo, along with providing the name of the company that would carry on for almost 26 years. Joe hired Pioneer Programming’s first employee after about one year of being in operation, and in another two years, Joe moved Pioneer Programming to it’s first official office building; the Groh Building on 3rd Street in Dover, Ohio. After being in the Groh building for about three years, Joe purchased the 920 Boulevard building in Dover, Ohio in December of 1995. Pioneer Programming expanded rapidly in 920 Boulevard; starting in that building with only six employees, and exiting that building 17 years later with 32 employees and two additional part-owners. Along with expansion, Pioneer Programming also went through a name and logo change, merging Pioneer Programming and Teledata in a more cohesive manor.
Where We Are Now
In 2017, Pioneer-360 made a big move – right across the street. A new building was needed to keep up with the rapid expansion. Since moving to the new building, Pioneer has continued to grow both in size and in the IT industry.
IT is constantly changing, and with it, so is Pioneer-360. Pioneer has made the difficult journey into the Security and Compliance world by obtaining MSSP status. As a Managed Security Service Provider, new doors were opened and new opportunities took root. Pioneer-360 has just achieved their SOC2 Type 2 Compliance Certification to solidify their expertise in the field. Pioneer-360 now has 33 employees, over 2,500 clients, and over 31 years of experience in perfecting the “The Pioneer Way.”
Our Clients Love Us
“One of the problems that we faced as an organization was being big enough to require a dedicated network with specific functionality, but not so big that we needed to hire a full-time IT department. Pioneer-360 provided the perfect solution; they have the technical expertise we needed together with flexibility in the level of support. They are really responsive, prioritizing important issues that arise and dealing with them quickly and effectively. Pioneer-360 worked closely with us from the start to finish to ensure that we received exactly what we needed saving us both time and money. We could not be happier with the service Pioneer-360 has provided to us from day one.”
“If there is an IT related problem, we simply call Pioneer-360 and they remote in and take care of the problem. Since taking over the bank’s network, the stress associated with managing the network is gone. Pioneer-360 has become like an in-house IT Department as well as a partner in the management of our network. I would highly recommend Pioneer-360 to any financial institution which needs secure full-service IT support in today’s fast-changing, computer driven, high-tech banking environment.”
“They were completely supportive of the practice and teaching me things I needed to know if they weren’t here. I was still able to help around the office and I could call in and they would guide me, so it’s been a partnership. We’re extending our services to include a facial plastics practice, therefore we need more computers, we need to add on to our network, and I know Pioneer will be able to help me with that and that’s one area of this expansion project that I’m actually not really worried about, because they have the knowledge, they have the ability and they’ll be pleasant about it, and that matters.”
“We feel very comfortable with them knowing our business, demonstrating to us the level of trust we need. Their knowledge at times has proven to us to be above and beyond what other supposedly well renowned service providers advice has been. Pioneer’s been ahead of the curve and we felt very fortunate and blessed to have them as part of this community. We’re a highly regulated industry, and when it comes to our information technology, Pioneer has assisted us with that compliance. We’re examined every 18 months. We recently just went through an exam and passed that test as it relates specifically to the information technology.”