The End of the World?
I thought ringing in a new year was supposed to be a time for renewed optimism. A time where we should be celebrating all of the potential opportunities that that lay ahead.
So why do I feel like I’m surrounded by nothing but “gloom-and-doom” speak about the dismal future for IT Support Providers? Blog posts… forum chatter… even a recent CRN article talking about “major shakeouts” and huge declines that are coming for the MSP market…
“Managed Service Sales are too tough.”
“It’s too hard to grow an IT Support business in this economy.”
“Small providers can’t compete with the large MSP’s that are emerging.”
Maybe I don’t have the same crystal ball these guys are holding, but statements like these don’t sound like tell-tale signs of an industry in danger. Sounds more to me like the rants of a struggling computer consultant who hasn’t yet learned how to properly market and manage his or her MSP Business and is simply looking to point fingers.
IT Consulting began, and for many remains under the break/fix support model. The computer breaks, the computer guy comes out to fix it – sends a bill – repeat.
Unfortunately, this design puts the needs of the consultant directly at odds with the needs of the customer.
The customer most often views the consultant as an expense. If the consultant makes an on-site visit to the customer, it probably means that something is broken, and it’s costing the customer money – both in lost productivity and for repair. Under the break/fix model,the customer is automatically conditioned to want to see the consultant as little as possible.
This works directly against the needs of the consultant, who needs to bill enough hours in a day to make a living.
It would be a lot easier and probably more pleasant of a consultant-customer relationship if our support model was based on a win-win principal. For us to do this, let’s take a look at what everyone wants.
Well, we all know what the consultant wants.
The Consultant Wants:
- To make a good salary. Perhaps a great salary.
- To not have any concerns for job security.
- To continue to learn and be challenged by new technologies.
- To work with a diverse group of clients, keeping the work week varied – avoiding boring routine.
- To work reasonable hours and to take an occasional vacation.
The Customer Wants:
- They want their systems to work reliably, with minimal downtime.
- They want immediate response when they have a problem.
- They want problems prevented or identified early, before a larger problem develops.
- They want their consultant to be able to fix their problems remotely (instant gratification).
- They don’t want surprises when the bill comes. And a large bill is ALWAYS a surprise.
- They want up-to-date technology (even if they don’t always appear to want to pay for it).
- They want a consultant who understands their network and their needs.
- They want to have confidence in their consultant’s abilities to maintain their current systems and to guide them in future growth.
When looking at the above lists, the solution as to what needs to be provided to the customer to ensure satisfaction is readily apparent:
- System Monitoring – Ensures minimal downtime, early problem detection and provides asset management
- Access to a HelpDesk – Provides immediate response and remote support
- Personal Attention – They want a dedicated consultant who knows and understands their systems and needs
- Low Cost!
The Managed Service Provider – MSP model (which if IT support is your chosen career, you should be very familiar with by now) is designed to address the above Customer wants by taking advantage of emerging technologies, allowing the support of larger numbers of customers, with less overhead. The development of support tools that provide remote preventative maintenance, remote monitoring and remote desktop and server support, has helped the industry of IT Support provisioning to evolve into a commodity that can be provided more efficiently and for lower, more predictable fees than was ever possible under the break/fix model.
Many well run and well funded MSPs are now emerging – vying for market share and working to establish name recognition and market dominance. As regional and national companies become more prolific and as current market leaders on the retail and development side of IT, such as Microsoft, Dell, CDW, etc. enter the realm of small business IT Support, it can seem inevitable that the role of Independent Computer Consultant is destined for extinction.
Not so!
There is not a single item in the above list that YOU, as an Independent Consultant cannot provide to your customers.
- YOU can monitor your clients around the clock, receiving early alerts to potential problems.
- YOU can minimize downtime by keeping tabs on the age and performance levels of your customer’s equipment.
- YOU can provide your customers with real-time inventory, service and network performance reporting.
- YOU can perform remote service to your customers INSTANTLY from ANY location.
- YOU can provide your customers with the consistency they want from a dedicated consultant who knows their network, their users and their needs.
And you can do ALL of these items with lower overhead than your corporate competition, resulting higher profitability and greater growth opportunities for YOU!
So, let’s get started! Join me at www.SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com and learn how you can become a truly Successful Independent Computer Consultant TODAY!
Most small and mid-sized businesses are using email as a primary communication channel with customers, colleagues and suppliers. But many of these companies stop there, missing out on productivity-boosting features like shared calendars, contact information and files.
By upgrading to the world’s most popular business messaging software, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, you can significantly raise your team’s efficiency for a small monthly fee.
When the economy takes a downward turn, corporate IT budgets are usually one of the first casualties. This is the case with the current recession, as evidenced by an October 2008 CIO Magazine survey in which 40 percent of 234 IT chiefs surveyed said they are cutting spending, essentially freezing new IT initiatives, if not scrapping them altogether.
However, technology is a critical element of business, and despite the current economic climate, the need for reliable IT remains the same—especially when it comes to fundamental business applications such as email or customer relationship management (CRM). As companies across all industries face tough decisions about where to put their limited dollars, here are three key reasons why the hosted or “software as a service” (SaaS) model makes a great deal of sense.
Computers and electronic goods become outdated very quickly, and it becomes a big question as to what is the best thing to do with this outdated computer equipment that gets stacked up in your home or office. Already space is often a limiting factor for us. Letting this machinery lie around and take up more space is definitely not desirable! Let us look at 5 ways to get rid of such equipment.
Computer Recycling
The very first thing that you can do is look for a store or a business that is associated with computer recycling. These recycling businesses do nothing but get hold of the outdated computer equipments and use them to create new parts using the ones that are still worth it. There are various factors that are taken into consideration to do this.
The age of the old computer parts, the condition of these parts, the re-usability, etc all play a vital role in this case. Hence, everything that you might have extracted from your home or office while de-cluttering might not prove to be useful after all for the recycling businesses that we are talking about. Sometimes you might even get some money if the parts are good enough!
Donating
Often there are various organizations and businesses that might actually benefit from the old and outdated equipment that you don’t want to use anymore. If your computer or computer equipment seems to be in working condition, such companies or organizations ma actually put them to work which might benefit them. This is also an option towards getting rid of the outdated parts.
Contacting the Producer
Often the manufacturing company might be eager to get hold of your obsolete equipment for their own uses. Thus, if you can find out the brand that deals with the parts that you are looking to get rid of, you can find the contact details of the manufacturer and check to see if they are interested in getting back the parts you have with you.
IT Stores
There are a number of IT and computer stores who might be interested in the parts as well. Finding out such a store can be another option where you can leave your older computer parts and carry on with the newer ones. Often these stores are places from where other people interested in these parts will check them and pick them up for their requirements.
Trash It
The last thing that is doable is to find out the agencies in your locality who deal with getting rid of such equipment. These need to be disposed of in a proper way as such parts can often be chemically hazardous and cause damage to the environment.
Hence, these are 5 different ways in which you can get rid of your outdated computer equipment.
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