By Stephen Appezzato
RED BANK – PCS, LLC, a managed services provider (MSP) based in New Jersey and with an office in Red Bank, is experiencing remarkable growth, as companies increasingly seek reliable IT solutions in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
Anthony Mongeluzo, president and CEO, founded PCS in 2000. The business, which began as a side job offering residential IT services, transformed over the years into a thriving enterprise, serving clients across the country and the globe.
“I’ve actually been doing this for over half my life. I was always a tech guy, tech kid, whatever you want to call it, and while I was in college at Rowan, I was 20 years old and I worked at the supermarket,” Mongeluzo recalled. Mongeluzo was born and raised in Philadelphia and moved to South Jersey at 16. Through his supermarket job, he connected with customers who needed home IT and computer services.
“It just really went from there,” he said.
As word of mouth and referrals spread, Mongeluzo established PCS from his parents’ home in 2000.
“When I got started, it seemed to start getting some traction. I hired a few people a few years in, and was like ‘OK, cool. This is going to be a lifestyle business. Maybe I’ll get three, four or five people, and that’ll be really fun.’ ”
From 2000 to 2010, the company grew to 11 employees, and, from 2010 to 2018, to 60.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and many companies shifting to virtual operations, business boomed.
“There was so much fear and so much worry, while the pandemic actually made companies like us more valuable” as businesses recognized the importance of IT management and digital security, Mongeluzo said. “We had to beef up a lot of infrastructures so they could handle the remote work. A lot of it was cloud migration. But from ‘18 to where we are now, we’re just a little over 250 (employees),” he said.
PCS is an MSP, meaning it manages certain or all IT services for a business, depending on the business’ size and needs. Mongeluzo said currently, co-managed IT is popular among companies. “That’s where a company might have one, two, three IT people, but it’s really not enough, because there’s so many different services, availability, uptime and platforms, where a company like ours could come in and save companies money, because we already have access to all the tools,” he explained. The other major service PCS offers is cybersecurity, helping companies around the world navigate ransomware attacks.
“When a hacker comes in and drops a bomb, literally, and locks you out of your network, we’re part of a team that brings you back up so you can function again with your business,” Mongeluzo said.
To achieve this, PCS has a Critical Incident Response Team ready for cyber emergencies, with specialists positioned around the country to quickly address attacks.
What makes PCS’ success story unique is its approach to growth.
“None of us have that necessarily business pedigree, or background, we’ve never had a business plan since I started the company,” Mongeluzo said. Instead of pouring resources into marketing, PCS was dedicated to “doing the right thing in the community,” donating money and time to nonprofits to further their causes.
Mongeluzo served on the YMCA of Burlington County’s Board of Governors for nine years, as well as the board for Turning Point, a New Jersey-based drug and alcohol treatment nonprofit.
“Our team is very good at getting involved in the community. A lot of times, when you’re on different boards and you do different associations and other things, business just comes naturally,” he explained.
“The last thing that we can really attribute it to is our clients are great. I would say over 75% of our business, probably even more, is referral-based. So, you know, our clients like the job that we provide,” he said.
PCS’ unique growth is remarkable and many are taking note. What started as a small side business in South Jersey grew into a regional IT powerhouse, with offices across New Jersey, including one in Red Bank, and locations in Florida, Delaware and Boston. Recently, PCS was named a finalist in NJBIZ’s 2024 Business of the Year Awards in the for-profit category for businesses with more than 250 employees.
The article originally appeared in the November 7 – November 13, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
