In today’s world many runt businesses struggle to retain up with technologies to encourage their business needs. You can’t turn on the TV without seeing an ad from some company telling you how they can give you all the advice you need. Maybe you need a geek from the local technology desirable market to arrive in the unlit and white car to fix everything. There is no shortage of vendors out there who claim to have everything you need. The pain is in colorful which one of them to bear.
I have been consulting in the technology field for ten years now. I have seen all forms of both grand and not-so-great vendors. This is truly a mine field for any runt business looking for support making technical decisions. I will attempt to encourage the non-technical business owner communicate with those of us indoctrinated in geek screech.
The following 7 items will aid when evaluating technology vendors.
1. Trust your instincts.
First and foremost, you have to understand that you don’t need to be a technically trained person to know what bull excrement smells like. If you are working with a vendor that consistently makes you feel like you are getting ripped off, you probably are.
Owning a business usually means that you have to be proficient dealing with people. To be successful you have to be really splendid at reading people. This applies to your relationships with vendors. A worthy technology vendor will go out of their method to not only meet your needs, but to do it in a contrivance that helps you understand what they are doing and why it is famous.
2. Do your research.
What makes them the expert? Before you ask someone to approach in and evaluate your technology needs, you should always examine into their qualifications. I suggest that all businesses ask for references from perspective vendors. If you are a specialized business you should ask for similar references to your company. If you are a dinky bank, for example, the company should be familiar with the highly specialized needs of the banking industry, regulatory issues, and know what type of systems will fit your sized institution. Check with the Better Business Bureau for any claims against them as well. (www.bbb.org)
One thing to be cautious of is looking for the letters gradual names as proof of their success. Not all stout techs have MCSE, CCNA, A+, BS, MBA, etc slow their names. These can be generous indicators that a person has spent a gargantuan deal of time in class and taking tests. You should see for experience in the valid world as well. What have they done in the industry? In most cases I would consume the advice of a successful tech with ten years experience and the respect of their peers over the view of a modern graduate from any university. Life teaches us in ways that books cannot. I am in no draw trying to diminish the importance of obtaining an education. It is simply to raise awareness to the fact that there are people out there that pride themselves on getting certifications. They have minute to no experience in applying that knowledge and simply go out and bewitch tests. Manufacture determined you check for their fair experience and weigh their advice accordingly.
Ensure the vendor has a confidentiality agreement in region with you prior to working with them on any level. Your clients examine you to protect their private information from outside sources. You have a responsibility to ensure that whoever you have working on your network will be able to do this effectively for you as well.
3. Know your limitations.
If you went to the hospital with a broken arm, would you sit and argue with the doctor about the best draw to position it? (Doctors are not allowed to retort that!) You have requested this vendor reach in and give you information. Don’t go out and read a “Dummies” book on fixing computers and then argue with everything the representative says.
Clients ask that I approach out and evaluate their needs based on my concept of the IT field. I can’t snort you how many times someone with diminutive to no training has argued with me over industry standard IT security principles and whether they are significant. Many times it is to mask a feeling of inadequacy because they are responsible for the network and feel threatened by the fact that I am pointing out deficiencies. The bottom line is you should know your limitations. Don’t rob things personally. Come By out of the procedure and let the expert aid you.
However, do not engage their word at face value! I am all for shopping around and getting a second or third notion. Once they give you their suggestions you should research those ideas and eye if they are truly a honorable fit for your business’ needs. Construct an educated evaluation of the information. Refer to excellent IT industry sources to resolve the value of their suggestions for your business. I suggest having multiple companies give you quotes and suggestions. If you have completed steps one and two then you should trust them to give you expedient information and simply need to compare the choices.
4. Don’t be an ostrich!
Burying your head in the sand will not originate life the device you want it to be. I was working with a client in rural Kansas that was less than two miles away from where a severe tornado had destroyed a number of local businesses and homes. They asked me to abet them construct a grief recovery/business continuity view for their business with regard to technology. I looked over their residence and made my suggestions based on the threat level to them. I let them know that they needed to ensure they had a robust and derive offsite storage strategy. Their data storage was in the basement and could be severely damaged in a weather event. Their tape system was ineffective and they stood to lose a week or two worth of data if the server was damaged. I showed them how grand they stood to lose, gave examples of other businesses in their field that were similar in size and what they were doing, gave them sign ranges, etc. Now mind you I was not going to actually sell them anything. I was simply providing them with information. Their response to my assessment of the threat…….”That will never happen.”
What could I say to that? If you have ever responded in this manner to a tech that gave you a risk assessment, you should be very concerned upright about now. Helpful techs issue to understand what the risks to your business are. We research these threats to come by out if they are credible. Denying an assessment, because you don’t like it could be setting your business up for catastrophe.
Imagine that your IT systems go down true now and are down for the next two hours. How distinguished money would you stand to lose in down time? Is there a backup idea in set to handle transactions? Can you function as a business? How about for 24 hours or 48 hours? Another plan, do you have Internet connections to your equipment? If some hacker got into your system and stole every share of data in it, how noteworthy would you stand to lose? Do you store customer credit card information? Are there liabilities for not protecting that information? Proprietary ideas and plans for your business? Tarnished reputation and loss of clients?
All of these items are unprejudiced the tip of the iceberg when talking about your IT liabilities. You have to hold these potential losses into legend when evaluating IT investments. Where does this investment fit into your strategic plans or business continuity? Is it going to provide better reliability or address some risk that your business faces? It is imperative that you rob a well informed gape at these items and gain serve from obliging experts in determining what your business risks are as well as your needs. We are not trying terror tactics to trick folks into buying technology products. We are basing our findings on information from businesses that have gone through disasters in the past few years. The ones that are left have made it because they didn’t bury their head in the sand and wish catastrophe away.
5. Frugal vs. cheap.
I have lost count of the number of businesses that turned down an opinion that they knew should have been implemented simply because it looked “expensive”. Nothing worth having in life is free. Judge of the investment in IT infrastructure and security as insurance. You have to insure your business assets, you have liability insurance, and you have many other insurance policies that you pay your hard earned dollars toward. If one of those insurance policies lapsed for a few hours, you would only feel it if the tornado ripped the building apart during that time.
Your IT infrastructure is like an insurance policy. It ensures the protection of your data, provides services for your business, supports services for your clients, and many other things that are the heartbeat of your business. It costs money to implement, beget, and protect this investment.
Compare apples to apples when it comes to cost. Once you have established the features that you are looking for, you should shop for the solutions that will provide those at the best label. Ask for an ROI evaluation. Gather out if this investment will attach you money in the long race. What is the learning curve? Ask questions that will give you a accurate representation of the cost of implementation and the outlook on what your business could get from the product or service.
Discuss your findings with your vendors. They should already have an view of what options are out there and how they compare to their possess. Obtain feedback from all of them and go with the one that fits your needs the best. It may mean working with your accountant to strategize how to screen these costs. It may mean setting some financial goals or restructuring. The bottom line is that paying to possess your technology needs is honest as indispensable as paying your electric bill. You have to retain the technology infrastructure up and functioning securely in order to do business.
There are many articles and resources out there to assist you understand how to manage your IT infrastructure costs. Here are two links to sites that offer up discussions from CIO’s regarding managing IT costs effectively. These are blog sites and should not be held as the “gospel truth” on the subject. Facts should be verified, but the ideas are plenty and there are some fine insights.
http://www.smartenterprisemag.com/articles/2007winter/ciosspeakout.jhtml
http://www.cio-weblog.com/50226711/managing_it_costs.php
6. Train
Not every business has an IT guy and many outsource. Businesses should ensure that the person in charge of technology help some sort of technology training annually. At minimum go online and join a professional discussion group to accept out what technology trends are out there for your type of business. Contact vendors and accept out what training is available from them. Network with participants and gain out what issues they are dealing with. Gain out who helps them with their strategies and what concerns they have for the future. Learn from the experiences of your peers.
The bottom line here is that you have to win ownership of all aspects of your business. Technology is no longer an optional piece of doing business. If you want to compete, you better sustain your technology plans properly accounted for in your overall business plans. Sing yourself on what is out there for your business, what responsibilities you have, and what regulations affect you. Relying on vendors is resplendent, but you should be aware of what they are doing. Your name is on the door, not theirs. Be familiar with what they are responsible for and know how to track that they are fulfilling their responsibilities.
Too many times I discover petite businesses trusting wholly in a vendor for their technology needs and win out the business is not getting the services it is paying for. Scream yourself to a level that you can at least know how to properly monitor your vendors to ensure they are providing the best possible attend for your business. If this is not an option, hire a consultant to advance in and audit the operations to ensure things are being done correctly.
7. Have written plans
Your business must have a solid strategic belief and trouble recovery/business continuity opinion. Of companies that had a major loss of business data, 43% never reopen, 51% halt within two years, and only 6% will survive long-term.1 This is fair one of many expert statistics on inconvenience recovery and the risk any business takes when refusing to idea for a peril. Data loss can occur in a multitude of ways and should be carefully considered.
Without a written strategic understanding, a written danger recovery/business continuity opinion, and a written risk assessment you are putting your business in jeopardy. To thrive, a business needs written goals to guide it. It sets standards to reflect how well the business is doing, and sets up the parameters in which to apply technology. I cannot effectively relate a client that has no view of where they are headed.
Creating a risk assessment will aid to identify liabilities the business faces. Work with other businesses in your site, your insurance agency, hire a consultant, objective do whatever it takes to ensure you are meeting the needs of your business and mitigating risks to its success. Once created, the risk assessment will identify the areas that your trouble recovery/business continuity understanding should address. Once the danger recovery notion is in plot, practice the view to ensure that your people know what to do. Placing adequate attention on these areas will be the disagreement between thriving in adverse conditions and closing the doors. This process takes time to do proper. It is indispensable, so dedicate the trouble needed.
Include mission vital components in these plans. If your electricity goes out, what will you do? If your IT vendor goes out of business, what will you do? What happens if your credit card processing machine goes out? You may know, but do your employees? State the goals for the company and identify risks that might interfere with reaching them. Then site out plans to mitigate these risks. Communicate these with your employees to ensure that everyone understands their role in the success of your business. After all, your success is their job security. In today’s financial climate it will go a long method to abet ease the minds of your employees to know that you have given serious concept to the prolonged success of your business. Obviously these plans are not small to your technology needs and risks. They will wait on focus in on other issues that need attention as well.
We former to say in the military that we should hope for the best and concept for the worst. It worked there. We were confident that our crew was prepared to handle the obstacles in front of them. Developing and implementing these plans will attend your business to provide its services to your clients through a peril.
All of these suggestions are provided to abet you in both searching for and monitoring your fresh IT vendors. Following these steps will succor you evaluate your recent technology vendors as well as potential current vendors. These steps were born out of my experiences dealing with multiple businesses across the country. They will support you to navigate the huge array of technology vendors and solutions they provide to pick up the ones that work best for your business.
1. Hoffer, Jim. “Backing Up Business – Industry Trend or Event.” Health Management Technology, Jan 2001 [1]
In today’s world many itsy-bitsy businesses struggle to support up with technologies to aid their business needs. You can’t turn on the TV without seeing an ad from some company telling you how they can give you all the advice you need. Maybe you need a geek from the local technology natty market to arrive in the shadowy and white car to fix everything. There is no shortage of vendors out there who claim to have everything you need. The distress is in smart which one of them to contain.
I have been consulting in the technology field for ten years now. I have seen all forms of both sizable and not-so-great vendors. This is truly a mine field for any slight business looking for support making technical decisions. I will attempt to attend the non-technical business owner communicate with those of us indoctrinated in geek tell.
The following 7 items will encourage when evaluating technology vendors.
1. Trust your instincts.
First and foremost, you have to understand that you don’t need to be a technically trained person to know what bull excrement smells like. If you are working with a vendor that consistently makes you feel like you are getting ripped off, you probably are.
Owning a business usually means that you have to be proficient dealing with people. To be successful you have to be really capable at reading people. This applies to your relationships with vendors. A worthy technology vendor will go out of their design to not only meet your needs, but to do it in a design that helps you understand what they are doing and why it is principal.
2. Do your research.
What makes them the expert? Before you ask someone to arrive in and evaluate your technology needs, you should always recognize into their qualifications. I suggest that all businesses ask for references from perspective vendors. If you are a specialized business you should ask for similar references to your company. If you are a shrimp bank, for example, the company should be familiar with the highly specialized needs of the banking industry, regulatory issues, and know what type of systems will fit your sized institution. Check with the Better Business Bureau for any claims against them as well. (www.bbb.org)
One thing to be cautious of is looking for the letters slow names as proof of their success. Not all large techs have MCSE, CCNA, A+, BS, MBA, etc slow their names. These can be trustworthy indicators that a person has spent a huge deal of time in class and taking tests. You should perceive for experience in the precise world as well. What have they done in the industry? In most cases I would grasp the advice of a successful tech with ten years experience and the respect of their peers over the concept of a modern graduate from any university. Life teaches us in ways that books cannot. I am in no plan trying to diminish the importance of obtaining an education. It is simply to raise awareness to the fact that there are people out there that pride themselves on getting certifications. They have itsy-bitsy to no experience in applying that knowledge and simply go out and steal tests. Acquire obvious you check for their factual experience and weigh their advice accordingly.
Ensure the vendor has a confidentiality agreement in state with you prior to working with them on any level. Your clients demand you to protect their private information from outside sources. You have a responsibility to ensure that whoever you have working on your network will be able to do this effectively for you as well.
3. Know your limitations.
If you went to the hospital with a broken arm, would you sit and argue with the doctor about the best device to state it? (Doctors are not allowed to respond that!) You have requested this vendor near in and give you information. Don’t go out and read a “Dummies” book on fixing computers and then argue with everything the representative says.
Clients quiz that I advance out and evaluate their needs based on my plan of the IT field. I can’t teach you how many times someone with shrimp to no training has argued with me over industry standard IT security principles and whether they are significant. Many times it is to camouflage a feeling of inadequacy because they are responsible for the network and feel threatened by the fact that I am pointing out deficiencies. The bottom line is you should know your limitations. Don’t choose things personally. Salvage out of the map and let the expert succor you.
However, do not assume their word at face value! I am all for shopping around and getting a second or third belief. Once they give you their suggestions you should research those ideas and peer if they are truly a well-behaved fit for your business’ needs. Create an educated evaluation of the information. Refer to beneficial IT industry sources to resolve the value of their suggestions for your business. I suggest having multiple companies give you quotes and suggestions. If you have completed steps one and two then you should trust them to give you apt information and simply need to compare the choices.
4. Don’t be an ostrich!
Burying your head in the sand will not earn life the scheme you want it to be. I was working with a client in rural Kansas that was less than two miles away from where a severe tornado had destroyed a number of local businesses and homes. They asked me to relieve them beget a inconvenience recovery/business continuity concept for their business with regard to technology. I looked over their spot and made my suggestions based on the threat level to them. I let them know that they needed to ensure they had a robust and gain offsite storage strategy. Their data storage was in the basement and could be severely damaged in a weather event. Their tape system was ineffective and they stood to lose a week or two worth of data if the server was damaged. I showed them how noteworthy they stood to lose, gave examples of other businesses in their field that were similar in size and what they were doing, gave them imprint ranges, etc. Now mind you I was not going to actually sell them anything. I was simply providing them with information. Their response to my assessment of the threat…….”That will never happen.”
What could I say to that? If you have ever responded in this manner to a tech that gave you a risk assessment, you should be very concerned accurate about now. Suitable techs insist to understand what the risks to your business are. We research these threats to regain out if they are credible. Denying an assessment, because you don’t like it could be setting your business up for catastrophe.
Imagine that your IT systems go down true now and are down for the next two hours. How great money would you stand to lose in down time? Is there a backup opinion in region to handle transactions? Can you function as a business? How about for 24 hours or 48 hours? Another idea, do you have Internet connections to your equipment? If some hacker got into your system and stole every fraction of data in it, how grand would you stand to lose? Do you store customer credit card information? Are there liabilities for not protecting that information? Proprietary ideas and plans for your business? Tarnished reputation and loss of clients?
All of these items are impartial the tip of the iceberg when talking about your IT liabilities. You have to choose these potential losses into fable when evaluating IT investments. Where does this investment fit into your strategic plans or business continuity? Is it going to provide better reliability or address some risk that your business faces? It is imperative that you seize a well informed glimpse at these items and obtain back from helpful experts in determining what your business risks are as well as your needs. We are not trying dread tactics to trick folks into buying technology products. We are basing our findings on information from businesses that have gone through disasters in the past few years. The ones that are left have made it because they didn’t bury their head in the sand and wish catastrophe away.
5. Frugal vs. cheap.
I have lost count of the number of businesses that turned down an understanding that they knew should have been implemented simply because it looked “expensive”. Nothing worth having in life is free. Mediate of the investment in IT infrastructure and security as insurance. You have to insure your business assets, you have liability insurance, and you have many other insurance policies that you pay your hard earned dollars toward. If one of those insurance policies lapsed for a few hours, you would only feel it if the tornado ripped the building apart during that time.
Your IT infrastructure is like an insurance policy. It ensures the protection of your data, provides services for your business, supports services for your clients, and many other things that are the heartbeat of your business. It costs money to implement, beget, and protect this investment.
Compare apples to apples when it comes to cost. Once you have established the features that you are looking for, you should shop for the solutions that will provide those at the best mark. Ask for an ROI evaluation. Salvage out if this investment will place you money in the long hasten. What is the learning curve? Ask questions that will give you a upright representation of the cost of implementation and the outlook on what your business could salvage from the product or service.
Discuss your findings with your vendors. They should already have an view of what options are out there and how they compare to their hold. Win feedback from all of them and go with the one that fits your needs the best. It may mean working with your accountant to strategize how to hide these costs. It may mean setting some financial goals or restructuring. The bottom line is that paying to fill your technology needs is honest as critical as paying your electric bill. You have to preserve the technology infrastructure up and functioning securely in order to do business.
There are many articles and resources out there to aid you understand how to manage your IT infrastructure costs. Here are two links to sites that offer up discussions from CIO’s regarding managing IT costs effectively. These are blog sites and should not be held as the “gospel truth” on the subject. Facts should be verified, but the ideas are plenty and there are some suitable insights.
http://www.smartenterprisemag.com/articles/2007winter/ciosspeakout.jhtml
http://www.cio-weblog.com/50226711/managing_it_costs.php
6. Train
Not every business has an IT guy and many outsource. Businesses should ensure that the person in charge of technology aid some sort of technology training annually. At minimum go online and join a professional discussion group to earn out what technology trends are out there for your type of business. Contact vendors and gain out what training is available from them. Network with participants and procure out what issues they are dealing with. Gather out who helps them with their strategies and what concerns they have for the future. Learn from the experiences of your peers.
The bottom line here is that you have to steal ownership of all aspects of your business. Technology is no longer an optional share of doing business. If you want to compete, you better hold your technology plans properly accounted for in your overall business plans. Assure yourself on what is out there for your business, what responsibilities you have, and what regulations affect you. Relying on vendors is splendid, but you should be aware of what they are doing. Your name is on the door, not theirs. Be familiar with what they are responsible for and know how to track that they are fulfilling their responsibilities.
Too many times I search for minute businesses trusting wholly in a vendor for their technology needs and acquire out the business is not getting the services it is paying for. Announce yourself to a level that you can at least know how to properly monitor your vendors to ensure they are providing the best possible benefit for your business. If this is not an option, hire a consultant to arrive in and audit the operations to ensure things are being done correctly.
7. Have written plans
Your business must have a solid strategic opinion and concern recovery/business continuity belief. Of companies that had a major loss of business data, 43% never reopen, 51% discontinuance within two years, and only 6% will survive long-term.1 This is unbiased one of many expert statistics on worry recovery and the risk any business takes when refusing to opinion for a distress. Data loss can occur in a multitude of ways and should be carefully considered.
Without a written strategic opinion, a written effort recovery/business continuity thought, and a written risk assessment you are putting your business in jeopardy. To thrive, a business needs written goals to guide it. It sets standards to consider how well the business is doing, and sets up the parameters in which to apply technology. I cannot effectively stutter a client that has no view of where they are headed.
Creating a risk assessment will back to identify liabilities the business faces. Work with other businesses in your residence, your insurance agency, hire a consultant, honest do whatever it takes to ensure you are meeting the needs of your business and mitigating risks to its success. Once created, the risk assessment will identify the areas that your pain recovery/business continuity notion should address. Once the wretchedness recovery conception is in dwelling, practice the conception to ensure that your people know what to do. Placing adequate attention on these areas will be the incompatibility between thriving in adverse conditions and closing the doors. This process takes time to do honest. It is necessary, so dedicate the peril needed.
Include mission considerable components in these plans. If your electricity goes out, what will you do? If your IT vendor goes out of business, what will you do? What happens if your credit card processing machine goes out? You may know, but do your employees? Residence the goals for the company and identify risks that might interfere with reaching them. Then plot out plans to mitigate these risks. Communicate these with your employees to ensure that everyone understands their role in the success of your business. After all, your success is their job security. In today’s financial climate it will go a long diagram to attend ease the minds of your employees to know that you have given serious concept to the prolonged success of your business. Obviously these plans are not little to your technology needs and risks. They will assist focus in on other issues that need attention as well.
We outmoded to say in the military that we should hope for the best and idea for the worst. It worked there. We were confident that our crew was prepared to handle the obstacles in front of them. Developing and implementing these plans will support your business to provide its services to your clients through a danger.
All of these suggestions are provided to befriend you in both searching for and monitoring your unique IT vendors. Following these steps will befriend you evaluate your recent technology vendors as well as potential recent vendors. These steps were born out of my experiences dealing with multiple businesses across the country. They will benefit you to navigate the immense array of technology vendors and solutions they provide to pick up the ones that work best for your business.
1. Hoffer, Jim. “Backing Up Business – Industry Trend or Event.” Health Management Technology, Jan 2001 [1]
