Automation of basic IT processes?

Yes....I think this is the answer to helping SMB (Small and Medium Businesses) begin to cut costs. The challenge is to understand which parts to automate that will ultimately save you money. A lot of managed services companies today want to come in and give a business one fixed monthly fee to managed the entire network and all issues. In some cases this is good. If the price is in line with what the business should be paying for annualized IT support. In some cases it is overkill. For some companies I suggest baby steps. Why not automate antivirus or backup to start. See how it can benefit your company by putting your big toe in the water before making the plunge. A simple example is backup. If this is a managed solution it happens automatically, every day and virtually no interaction is required by your IT consulting firm. If it is a traditional backup to tape or disc solution it can require hours of consulting work to constantly tweak the backup software and reset jobs that have failed. When you look at the total costs this an easy ROI. Even if you cannot make the numbers make sense on a yearly basis just think about the peace of mind knowing you have a disaster recovery solution in place. Most businesses that have a complete data loss never recover. Most business owners know this but they don't know how to make sure they have their bases covered. There are easy, affordable, automated solutions available. If you just start with automating backup, for instance, it can cost as little as $100.00/month. Not a huge investment but a huge weight off your mind. So if you are looking for ways to save money in this tough economy consider taking a baby step and automating a thing or two. You might just find you sleep better at night too.





Thanks for reading.

Communication is the key!

When I think about the greatest challenges I've had to overcome with clients, I am always impressed by how our relationships have grown more positive through the interaction and communication. When I was running my own company the quality and depth of communication I had with my employees was the best indicator of our commitment to each other and to our success together. This last week I've spent a lot of time improving on internal communication where I work and on external communication with my clients. The funny thing with communication is that, the small issues sometimes make the biggest difference. Just the other day we had a customer who was waiting to hear back from an engineer that had been on site. The engineer had some more work to do in order to complete the ticket. He was actively working to reschedule his time to go on site. The important issue that we caught was that the customer needed to know we were working on it. They wanted to know they had not been forgotten. What a simple thing. How many providers are working hard to take care of their customers but their customers don't know it be cause it was not communicated? How many customers are waiting for a proposal but don't know that the engineering team is taking extra time to make sure they recommend the right product? How many times is a customer looking for a solution that their current provider already offers but the provider has no idea that the customer needs it? This happens all of the time in the IT industry. Communication is a constant challenge for technology solution providers. They have a hard time with it because technology stuff is complicated. Us geeks speak a different language. In the end it is the providers responsibility to regularly, proactively communicate with high quality to our customers. I guess I'd better get on the phone and call some customers.


Have a great week!

The truth about the big boyz

I see my primary responsibility in being a technology consultant as keeping my customers interests at the forefront. Up until just recently I've never received pressure to do otherwise from my vendors. But, life hands us twists and turns to learn from. Just recently, I've had a major IT equipment manufacturer who decided to throw a temper tantrum when I was not pushing the sale the way they wanted me too. Apparently working in the SMB (small and medium business) realm for all of these years has softened me. I'm amazed and confused by the whole incident. I was asking questions about their process for bringing solutions to my customer. I was getting a sense that they were going to take this around me and go directly to the customer, which the customer told me they did not want. I was asking qualifying questions to this vendor about their presence here in Minneapolis. What their makeup of staff is. They were so offended that I would ask that they berated me for a 1/2 hour. After they acted this way they put the blame on me and told me that I did not know sales. Well, I guess I don't know sales. What I do know is how to protect and take care of my customers. I know that one of the problems with publicly traded IT manufacturers is that they have to please the shareholder, no matter what. I know now, more than ever I have to take care of my customers and watch out for the big boyz. It turns out I was right. Today the vendor went around me and went directly to my customer. How does this make the customer feel? Does it give them confidence in sales people? Does it make them want to buy the products? Does it give them a deeper feeling of trust? My guess is that it makes them want to run the other way. I know that the higher path, the one of honesty and keeping the customer first, will help me sleep at night and lead to the best and longest lasting customer relationships. I wonder if my vendor is sleeping tonight?