Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NILES — A Niles business was awarded for its dedication to integrity and ethical practices.

The Better Business Bureau of Western Michigan named Custom Computer Company, 303 N. 3rd St., Niles, a winner of the 2022 BBB Torch Award for Ethics Monday, Nov. 14 at the JW Marriott in Grand Rapids.

“It feels amazing when your hard work is recognized,” said CCC owner Michael Reed. “We’re extremely proud of our team and beyond grateful for the support from our amazing community. We’ve accomplished so much since 2016, here’s looking forward to the rest of this decade and beyond.”

The Torch Award for Ethics is an annual BBB awards program that publicly recognizes organizations that have practices in place that elevate their commitment to ethical operations.

An independent panel of judges reviewed submitted applications for each award, which are categorized by number of employees. CCC won the 1 to 10 employees category.

A full service IT company, CCC has provided system repairs, new network installs, network fixes, camera work and more to hundreds of businesses and customers since opening its doors in 2017.

“We’re a locally-owned IT company that services the 60-mile radius of Niles,” Reed said in an interview with BBB. “We started as just an IT company for businesses, we opened it up to residential repairs. We really needed something in this area for residential… I feel like every IT company that opens nowadays has their doors locked, you can’t go in, you know, and we really want to open it up and then have people come in and and, and use our services.”

According to Reed, what sets CCC apart from other IT companies is its independence.

“IT is getting weird now, it’s all contracted, it’s all behind A desk,” he said. “Everyone wants to be a managed service provider where they sign long contracts and they provide service when they can. Unless you request it, we actually refuse contracts. We don’t want a contract. We have over 150 commercial customers. We’ve onboarded a ton over the last seven years and we’ve unloaded maybe two. It’s almost like a break fixed model. We’re there for you when you need us and we’re not billing you when you don’t. 

“Honesty and friendship is what we build it on. To get recognized is huge and that’s super exciting.”