Localloop relocating, still providing customer IT solutions

Published 2:00 pm Monday, September 6, 2021

After 14 years working with a local IT company in Milledgeville, Keith Waddell made the decision to go out on his own, founding Localloop in 2009. 

He said that decision largely grew from a desire to work for himself. 

“I wanted something for myself, something that would be mine, and I could do it like I wanted to,” said Waddell.

Localloop Inc., was originally known as Data Protection Services and went from offering data backup to offering a whole host of services as the years progressed. With that passage of time came the changing of the name of the business and a shift to communications.

“Localloop is a telecommunications term, meaning local provider,” said Waddell.  

Waddell and his business are currently prepping for another change as Localloop prepares to move into a new location after purchasing its first building. 

Localloop offers a number of services including data backup, setting up and repairing computers, providing IT services to small and medium businesses, virus/malware removal, and they also provide phone systems. 

Customers can call to get a free quote. 

During the thick of the pandemic, Localloop provided phone systems for seven of the state of Georgia’s COVID-19 call centers, which handled testing and vaccination scheduling. 

Waddell said that most people might recognize the new location as the old Petland. 

“We’ve been working out of 1,500 square feet building with eight people working out of a very small space. That’s been working for us for a while, but we’ve been looking for other opportunities to move out, and never really found anything that fit us,” Waddell said of their situation at their current location at 1820B N. Columbia St. in Milledgeville. 

They eventually found their way to 159 Garrett Way, which wound up being a bigger space than they needed. As a result, Waddell and Localloop are subdividing the building with his daughter, Kayla, who runsLetterLoop, an embroidery and gift shop. 

“We’ll take half and then she’ll take the other half,” Waddell explained. “So, although it was too big of a building for us, we made it work. We’re actually looking to move in within the next two weeks. This’ll provide us a better space to grow into.”

Waddell said that his favorite part about running Localloop is the people that he works alongside.

“It’s the employees. I’ve got the best employees of any business that I do work for and I do work for a lot of businesses. My guys know that this business doesn’t function without them. They are the best at what they do, they offer the best costumer service, and they really bought into the business itself of ‘What can I do today to provide the best customer service’,” he said. “We tell everybody, especially in the phone business side, ‘our system will do exactly what these other nine systems will do and IT services can be offered by a lot of different people, but can they offer it with the customer service that we do?’ That’s what we have to use to make us stand out and like I said, they’re the absolute best, I love working with them. If there was nothing to do, I’d like to come to work and be with them.”

Why does Waddell do what he does what he does and what keeps him going? The answer to that is simple. 

“As a younger person, my brother really got me interested in computers. He had the first computer that I knew of and he was in there and he’d tinker with that thing and write programs on it. So, computers were always interesting to me. I think I enjoyed problem solving and helping people,” he said. “I love the people we work for; I enjoy providing solutions for them, and that kind of keeps me going. Just that drive to succeed, that drive to provide that service for other people.”