It’s 1:30 in the morning and you’re trying to order a gift basket from a Web site as a last-minute present. But you can’t find the order form, so you click on an icon to ask for help. hrough instant messages, an operator answers your questions and directs you to the right information on the Web site. She might even send the order form directly to your computer. Welcome to the information age.

And two Natchez natives are ready to take the community into that information age with a new telemessaging service that will include a traditional answering service and such features as the Internet customer service.

&uot;We’re going to try to grow Natchez into one of the biggest answering services in Mississippi,&uot; said David Yates, owner of Key Tech Communications.

But Yates and Key Tech General Manager Richard Criswell are wary of calling their business just an &uot;answering service&uot;; they prefer &uot;complete telemessaging service.&uot;

In addition to a 24-hour answering service and eventually the Internet customer service Answer Web, they hope to offer Answer Med, an outsourcing service for physicians that would provide everything from an off-hours operator to medical transcription to billing services. &uot;We’re doing some things on the cutting edge,&uot; Criswell said.

Key Tech is now sharing a building with pager distributor Metro Communications on Shields Lane. Key Tech’s corporate office is in Monroe, La.

Key Tech has about 12 operators working at its Natchez office now, but Yates and Criswell hope eventually to hire many more people — as many as 100.

Criswell pointed out that the Monroe office grew from five to 35 employees in just 15 months and from three accounts in February 1999 to 500.

Yates and Criswell will need the extra help if the business grows as large as they plan. They will be installing all new digital equipment in the building soon and are preparing a sales force to get more accounts throughout the state.

But despite the foray into cyberspace, Criswell and Yates want Key Tech in Natchez to keep a hometown feel. One way they plan to give back to the community is to give free answering services to non-profit organizations and to the chambers of commerce in both Natchez and Vidalia.

Criswell said he hopes answering the phones off-hours for the chambers will help give prospective industries the best impression of Natchez. &uot;Our whole thing is building industry,&uot; Criswell said.