The Charlton Group, Inc. provides IT outsourcing services to small businesses in the Boston area with a focus on IT infrastructure management and communication technologies implementation. James Jankowski founded The Charlton Group in 1992 to enable owners of companies to focus on their core business while outsourcing their technology infrastructure to an expert team. In the first five years, he grew the business to be among the 50 fastest growing technology companies in New England and made the Deloitte & Touche 1998 National Technology Fast 500 list.
Over the years, the Charlton Group has maintained an exceptionally loyal client base by offering technical support beyond the typical maintenance. The company's team constantly seeks to reduce cost and improve business processes by leveraging the power of IT. In the past 10 years, The Charlton Group has helped organizations improve their IT infrastructure as follows:• Implemented “green” computer practices to reduce power consumption, resulting in over $4,000 energy cost saving a year. • Recommended and managed installation of a new phone system connecting offices in ten different states saving $42,000 a year in phone bills.• Provided infrastructure installation and on-going maintenance of both Practice Management software and Electronic Medical Records systems, resulting in reduced paper consumption, improved record keeping accuracy and increased efficiency.• Created and implemented a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for a prestigious mutual fund company. The plan was successfully used during a day of unexpected office building closure: employees were able to conduct business as usual from remote locations.

My work at Raytheon was a fast track experience. I started on a small team within a department and a few years later accepted a technical position at corporate headquarters. Leading up to my position in the corporate office I received Total Quality Management (TQM) training during the initial year of the program. TQM training required teams to complete a project using Total Quality principles. Our 4 person team was given a very visible project involving the division’s executive, financial, and marketing offices. All TQM projects were evaluated at the end of the year. Our project ranked 6th out of 100 company projects based on Total Quality metrics, due to significant cost saving and process enhancement.Other achievements while at Raytheon included becoming the company’s first certified LAN administrator and the in-house expert on a new security concern called a computer virus. Up to that point most security concerns were about physical security until computer viruses started appearing in the news. In the corporate office my responsibilities encompassed training technical staff on systems, supporting all corporate office staff members including the president’s office, implementing networking and desktop standards, and working on special projects relating to technology. I learned a great deal about how large corporations function and was successful at working at any level within the corporation. Although I found my time at Raytheon very rewarding, I wanted to start my own consulting firm and venture out on my own and to start The Charlton Group.

I was very fortunate to have started my professional career at Union College. Unbeknownst to me I learned about technologies that put me years ahead of my peers. The college was in its final year of a state-of-the-art technology infrastructure project. The project director took me under his wing and what I learned about technology, management, and communications was invaluable. A fiber optic and copper network was being used throughout the campus…in 1987! The telecommunications infrastructure was based on an AT&T phone system of which there were only five in the United States at that time. The college systems ran on different brands of mini computers, I become backup systems administrator. Learning these technologies was imperative for support both the Academic and Administrative parts of the college.After learning these technologies I was put in charge of the computer helpdesk, setting schedules, hiring, and managing 10+ resources. I built the college’s first PC Labs one based on Microsoft the other on Apple at a time when desktop computing was in its infancy. In addition I assisted in connecting the college to an educational computer network of other colleges. Years later these college networks along with business networks formed what has become the internet. During my time at Union College I was invited to be an instructor in a new summer program called STEP, sponsored by the State of New York. The Science & Technology Entry Program’s (STEP) goal is to increase the number of students from under-represented groups in mathematics, science, technology, and health-related fields. I really enjoyed being an instructor for these talented students and was honored to receive recognition from both students and the college program administrator. This was the finest first job that any technology minded person could hope to have. I learned so much about technology, managing, along with the opportunity to be an instructor, and made lifelong friends.