A recent Scientific American article discusses the way in which we make snap judgments about people based on their warmth and competence. In it, the author describes how recent research is showing that people all over the world form their initial impression of you based on warmth and competence. Stereotypes feed these impressions, but they do not account for the whole first impression. The research also shows how a gain in one area leads to a loss in the other. For instance, people who are warm are assumed to be less competent than people who are cold. That must be why so many computer consultants treat their small business computer support customers so poorly. They must believe that appearing cold will also make them appear more competent.

Here at Port-to-Port Consulting, we're willing to take that chance. Our entire IT support services staff is committed to treating our network support customers kindly. We understand that most people are a little anxious or perturbed during most of their interactions with us. They either have a problem that is getting in the way of their work success, or they are trying to make a purchase decision based on limited understanding of the options. We strive first to put our computer network services customers at ease. I guess this research means we risk giving them a first impression of incompetence. So be it.

Our primary goal in providing Information Technology services in Indianapolis is to help our customers get better at what they do. We can't start helping if we aren't approachable.

I met with a prospective new small business computer network support customer this morning. As we talked about the IT services we provide thru our Pertingo^® Computer Support Service, the application of Dragon Dictate came up. I had to admit that this was an area of Information Technology that had not progressed as quickly as I had expected it to do. I was predicting in the early 1990s that we'd all be talking to our computers like the folks on the Starship Enterprise by the mid-90s. I was wrong by more than a decade so far. While the current version of Dragon Dictate and many of its competitors will do a pretty decent job of allowing you to dictate documents, none of them are particularly good at allowing you to control your PC using your voice.

Imagine my surprise when I get back to the office and discover that researchers at the University of North Florida have moved from voice recognition to thought recognition. That's right. They've connected two epilepsy patients to a computer via electrocorticography (ECoG). The process requires drilling a hole in your skull so it probably won't catch on too quickly. However, the results were nearly 100 percent accurate.

As exciting as this research may be for some, it still doesn't solve the real problem with voice recognition. The English language (and any other popular human language) is too complicated for a computer to learn. It can recognize the words, but it cannot discern meaning from them. That's why dictation is fairly simple and highly accurate but understanding is about zero. Talking to your computer is still a good decade or more away. But I'll keep hoping.

I recently read a blog post titled Excuses are Not a Customer Service Policy. In it, the author describes a bad breakfast experience with friends. The post wasn't as interesting as its title, but it made me think about the way in which most computer network services companies behave toward their customers. It's amazing how most people think that a customer who has been mistreated in some way wants to hear excuses for the abuse. In most instances, the customer wants an apology first and a resolution second. If these two are adequate to save the relationship, then she might want to hear the excuse.

At Port-to-Port Consulting, we recognize this and we try very hard not to make excuses for the mistakes that occur in the process of providing computer support to our Indianapolis area customers. We know that things will often go wrong in IT support services. That's the reason we have a Help Desk in the first place. However, one of our main tenets is to avoid escalating the problem by tossing out lame excuses, or worse, telling our customers what they did wrong. Sometimes the problem is created by a customer who improperly uses his computer, but it doesn't get fixed by us throwing that in his face. So we don't.

Good Information Technology consulting requires a solid working relationship. My network technicians often find themselves taking the blame for something that may not have been our fault. Finding fault doesn't fix problems. The faster we can get past that point, the sooner we can start helping our customers move forward again. Besides, if they hired us to manage their computer network services and they aren't working properly for any reason, isn't that ultimately our fault?

One of the computer network service technicians here at Port-to-Port Consulting just returned from a training class in Tampa, Florida. One of his complaints about spending time in Tampa was that it seemed to him that everything closed around 5:00 PM each day. I explained to him that the majority of people living in Tampa are old (Data bears me out on this one.) and tend to get inside early for the evening. Businesses start closing early because the bulk of their customers go home early.

It struck me that this is an important element in becoming a successful business computer support company. There are things about your target market that are specific to them and quite different from other categories of businesses. This is why we focus ALL of our efforts on Indianapolis small businesses. The difference between the needs of a 30 person law firm and the legal department at Wellpoint is stark. It's nearly impossible to handle the information technology needs of a 40 person real estate company while also worrying about the needs of the City of Carmel.

I'm often asked why we don't go after the network support business of some of our community's larger companies. My answer always revolves around this idea. If I serve large and small customers, whenever there is a conflict between them, the little guy is almost bound to lose. Besides, working with Indianapolis area small businesses allows us to see the impact we have as we help their businesses grow.

I met with a couple of guys this morning who are about to launch a new business. My computer tech support business is going to help set them up. As we talked, I found it interesting that they didn't initially expect me to add to the conversation. They had a list of questions that they wanted answered by an IT consultant so they could make decisions about next steps. As I started asking clarifying questions of them they began to see the real value of a good computer outsourcing company.

The trick isn't in knowing how to set up a computer network. It's in knowing what the small business is going to do with the network. Most IT services providers forget this fact after they've been in business for a few years. It's forgetting this that puts so many of my Indianapolis IT outsourcing peers out of business. The number one job of an Information Technology provider is to make the small business owner's job easier to do.

At the end of the meeting this morning, these two guys shook my hand and turned their attention away from technology needs to the innumerable other things that have to be done in order to launch their new enterprise. I'm excited to be a part of it all.

When we started doing computer network support as Port-to-Port Consulting in 1991, people didn't have much trouble figuring out the connection between our name and the PC on their desk. Sure, we've had a few troubled souls along the way who wanted to know if we were overseas shippers. We even had one poor man who hoped to rent portable toilets from us. Most, however, had no problem understanding that we were referring to all of those different ports on the back of your machine. As the PC has progressed, the number of ports on the back has gone down considerably. Today you can connect just about everything using only a USB port. So much for a cool business name!

About the only thing that is the same about our Indianapolis small business computer support company is the name. Our logo has changed several times. Nearly 100 people have worked here at one time or another. We've served more than 300 different businesses. And the IT industry has changed so much that we tell stories to our new staff members that sound like our grandparents stories of walking to school in the snow (uphill both ways).

My son turned 21 over the weekend. Thinking about how much he has changed thru the years made me start to think about how much other things have changed. One steady element of central Indiana computer outsourcing has been the people at Port-to-Port Consulting. While there are as many as 60 companies in the Indianapolis area that provide some subset of the services we provide, few of them have been around for more than a few years. Most are the result of recent layoffs. 

It does make me feel old to reminisce about the times we've spent working with Indianapolis small businesses on their Information Technology support. It also makes me proud of the incredible things we've done for our community thru our efforts to keep some of the most vital organizations in the area operating at peak efficiency.

About a year ago, my business partner joined an industry peer group: HTG. Both of us had been members of the Young Entrepreneur's Organization. His group disolved and mine defected. He decided to join HTG to get a different peer experience. In YEO, the commonality is business size and geography. Everyone is local but works in a non-competing industry. In HTG, everyone is geographically separated but works in the Computer Network Consulting industry.

Last week was the fourth quarterly meeting of Rob's group, and he wanted me to attend with him. I had a blast! I'm a fairly gregarious person. I like meeting new people and I believe everyone has something to teach me. It's that curiousity about people that makes my job of supporting the Information Technology of many Indianapolis small businesses appealing to me. I get to learn how businesses in different industries operate. But I digress. At the HTG meeting, the owners of 12 IT support services companies spent two days talking to each other about their businesses.

Two things struck me. We are on a par with the companies that are most professional in our industry, and none of us has found the silver bullet or secret sauce that will allow us to revolutionize small business computer outsourcing. Both were reassuring revelations. I appreciate the challenge of running my little Indianapolis Information Technology company. If there were a cookbook, I'd want to treat it like all the other instruction manuals I get.

Many of my Indianapolis small business computer support customers ask me what additional things they can do to ensure their data security. They all have the expected firewall, anti-virus software, anti-phishing software, and password protection in place. Most have tightened their password policy to require more difficult passwords and periodic changes. So, when they ask what else they can do, my response is usually to tell them they need to train their staffs on the importance of information technology security.

I mentioned in a previous post that an incredibly large number of people in a random survey admitted to have visited pornographic sites while at work in the previous 30 days. Now a new survey reveals that about half of people say their corporate data security policies are largely ignored. Nearly half admitted to have shared their password with another employee or contractor, and twenty percent have turned off their anti-virus or firewall.

Add to that the increase in power of mobile devices and things get even scarier. How many of your staff members have a complete list of all of your corporate contacts in their cell phones? Do you even know for sure? What about those who transport corporate documents by copying them to a USB flash drive? Is anything ever encrypted?

Nothing your computer consultants do can prevent things like password sharing. We can create rules that prevent some of the other abuses, but in the end, you and your staff are the weakest link. If everyone in your organization doesn't follow the guidelines in your Acceptable Use and other Network Services policies (or if you don't even have them), your data and network resources will remain at risk.

In the end, if someone wants to get your corporate data specifically, you can't do much to prevent it. However, you should take the steps to ensure you've done the common things that prevent data loss or resource compromise. Your network consulting company can offer some guidance.

 In a recent blog post, Mack Earnhart asked the question, "How do you tell someone they stink?" The title caught my attention because I really thought he was discussing BODY ODOR and it's a sensitive topic that I have a hard time with when I find myself in an "odiferous" situation. To my surprise, and slight amusement, he was writing about getting introduced to prospects thru networking. How do you prep your new networking acquaintance to introduce you to his friend, your prospect?

I've found that most of my Indianapolis small business computer outsourcing customers don't need to be told that their Information Technology is bad. They know it deep down inside, but they are in denial of it. They've spent months, or even years pretending that their computer network is modern and up-to-date. And I don't think it's my place to tell them differently. Certainly that's no way to start a relationship. Imagine the bedside manner!

No, instead of telling that small business owner that his network support stinks, I encourage him to talk about his business and how his computer services support his business. Then I suggest other ways in which it might be able to help if it consisted of slightly different pieces or configuration. I haven't found a nice way to tell someone their network stinks because the reality is that it works, at least somewhat. Your network doesn't stink, nor do your IT consultants. The odor you're smelling is from the relationship you have with your computer consultant. And, like Mack's readers suggest, if we find that we can get along, then we can work together.

Today is the first day that small businesses in the Indianapolis area, including Carmel, Greenwood, Avon, Brownsburg, Zionsville and others can nominate themselves to win over $80,000 in business upgrades. The prizes are being offered by other Indianapolis small business owners: Compendium Blogware, Creative Office Solutions, PHSI Pure Water Tech, Pivot Marketing, Port-to-Port Consulting, Print Resources, Royal Treatment Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning, Small Box Consulting, and Tronitech. In addition, the award luncheon is sponsored by MBP Catering.

This prize covers all elements of a small business operation. Everything from carpet cleaning to Information Technology consulting to web design. Central Indiana small businesses should take advantage of this opportunity.

Earlier this year, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of a survey that indicates more than 20 percent of US households had a cell phone and NO land line. This is notable because the number of homes that had a land line but NO cell phone was only 17 percent, making this the first time that the cell phone only homes outnumbered the land line only ones. The rate is accelerating too. In the first half of 2003, the same survey found only 3 percent of cell-only homes and 43 percent of land line only ones.

More interesting is that 15 percent of the homes have both cell phones and land lines but don't make or receive calls on the land line! This is reminiscent of some conversations I have with my Indianapolis small business computer support customers about old technology in their offices. It seems we become attached to things that we used to use all the time. So much attached that we don't even realize that we're paying for something that we don't need and won't use. We justify it by considering how small the payment is.

I'm not a keeper or collector of things (except for the coffee cups that drive my wife batty). When something has no ongoing use for me, I'm quick to get rid of it. Realizing that about myself cause me to speak gently with my computer outsourcing clients about throwing out old information technology equipment that has little chance of providing any future service. Yet, telling them that it's time to let go is a part of my job as their IT support company.

So, if you can't remember the last time your home phone rang other than pollsters and solicitors, perhaps in addition to getting rid of that monthly bill at home, you should ask your computer systems consultants to give you a list of "things that should be gone."

Every now and then we drop the ball on a network support project. We don't do it because we're incompetent. We don't do it because we're mean. There is absolutely no malice intended. We sometimes drop the ball because we're human, and people make mistakes. I've discovered over the years that our response to those mistakes determines the kind of relationship we have with our Indianapolis small business computer outsourcing customers. I've also found that it isn't in the normal nature of most Information Technology support companies to handle these mistakes correctly.

Many of my competitors in the Indianapolis and Carmel area will, as soon as they discover a problem, start looking for someone other than themselves to blame.
"It's stupid Microsoft!" 

"I can't believe they didn't put that in the instructions."

"Who would make a part that doesn't fit a standard jack?"

And on and on until they get to the worst one: "That's what you told me you wanted!"

If my dear IT outsourcing peers would stop for a minute and consider what these excuses really say to their computer services customers, they might not ever make excuses again. Didn't you hire them because they are the experts? Aren't they supposed to investigate the IT solution they recommended to be sure it meets your needs? Shouldn't they have known going in how stupid Microsoft is? What my friends in Indianapolis IT consulting are saying is, "We don't have the necessary knowledge to provide you with a working solution." They're screaming it with each excuse until they finally turn on you. 

Not at Port-to-Port Consulting. When we drop the ball we take responsibility for it. We'll tell you what went wrong, and why, and what we're going to do to get it fixed.

"We should have expected that Microsoft was exagerating their claim and tested this in advance. We'll put things back while we go do that testing."

"It's surprising that this part doesn't fit a standard jack but we should have checked that back in our office."

"When you told me that this was what you wanted, I should have questioned more to be sure we had the same understanding."

We'll continue to make mistakes. If we don't, we'll have difficulty learning. We understand that it's a part of doing business as a computer consultant. We won't go on witch hunts when mistakes happen. We'll own them, just like we own the computer network that powers your business.

 

I hate doing work more than once or making something more complicated than it needs to be in Indianpolis Information Technology. Take for instance, Casseroles! Casseroles are fast easy and everything is in one dish. One dish to take to a party, one dish to clean. No worries about the proper proportions of Veggies, and meat. Those choices were done ahead of time.

This is why I like Dell. Sorry, HP/Compaq and Toshiba. Although the Hardware in all three manufacturers’ Indianapolis Small Business Computer machines is pretty similar when it comes to their business class, Dell comes out ahead in the Indianapolis IT Outsourcing world for three main and very influential reasons.

Proprietary Software Galore! So let me ask you this. When did the world decide it wanted The manufacturer to create and install loads of poorly written software on business class machines? When receive a new machine for a client and it has more than 20 proprietary nonsense software installed which has nothing to do with the machine performing properly, it makes me ask why? Why make this machine more complicated and include more points of failure. I can understand 1-5 things the manufacturer may want to included to say, “Hey, we thought about you” but please do not drown us. It wastes our time by having to go through deleting all of this junk so it will not interfere later on. So Dell, you get an A+ for having far fewer junk applications installed on your new business class machines.

Speaking of making things harder and more complicated than it needs to be, HP and Toshiba have restore CD/DVD’s which ship with their new equipment. Great idea right? Kinda. If you are a regular home user or an in house technician with a small or medium size business then this should not bother you much. However, for Larger IT departments and  Computer Network Consulting Groups, and Computer Outsooucing scompanies managing more than 20 machines it begins to become quite difficult keeping track of so many CD’s and ensuring you have the proper discs if a machine needs to be restored. Especially if you have an HP machine, as HP requires 2 discs, one for system prep which Must be used prior to using the Recovery Disc. By the way, they are not labeled so be sure not to accidentally mix them up with another set.  Also, HP and Toshiba Recovery Discs are Model Specific. This means, as an outsourced company trying to follow the Boy Scout modo “Be Prepared” you would be insane to try and carry around recovery discs to clients, if by chance you needed one or the client miss placed their copy (which happens a lot).  Dell Shines here because each OS disc shipped from Dell can be used on any other Dell Machine. One Disc, Many Computers. Can you Say Freedom or Simple. Of course this opens the door for licensing problems, so be careful not to install Vista on a machine the only came with XP.

So far Dell has been Rock’n out with simple machines and simple recovery options for computer services. Dell continues this trend online support. If by chance you miss place your driver disc, all three manufacturers have support online to download the original or updated drivers. All you have to do is look at the three websites support pages and you will know who will come on top, as if this blog has not given it away already. Once again Dells simple design enables you to easily find and download the 5 or so drivers you need to run your system. HP and Toshiba are left to feel silly as they must offer the myriad of proprietary software which originally shipped with the PC, leave the technician to filter through to find the required chipsets nic drivers.

So Dell My Hat is off to you. Thank you for making my life simply easy. Everything from the initial install onsite to the rebuild/repair of a machine is simpler with your products. Keep it up and you will keep my business. I hope this has encouraged other IT support Companies as well. So Keep your Network Support Clean and Simple with Dell.
 

As a part of my regular business reviews with my Indianapolis small business computer outsourcing customers I have an agenda item titled Technology Update. I describe it as information that will at least give them something to talk to their geek relative about at the next family gathering. My real goal is to inform my customers about upcoming changes or new trends in the Information Technology industry that may have an impact on the way they operate their businesses. Recently, I've included a little blurb about Cloud Computing.

I start by explaining that the concept isn't as new as the term. Before it was called Cloud Computing it was called Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Before that it was called Application Service Providing (ASP). Way before that it was called Client/Server computing. This background is what will help them impress that geeky relative. Next I give them a short description of it: Cloud computing is the process in which the software actually runs on a computer somewhere outside your office that you connect to via the Internet. Finally I explain why I'm telling them about it. In this case, I take the opportunity to point out that Cloud Computing is a win-win-win for them, the software vendor, and their IT outsourcing company, us.

I also point out that they will hear all kinds of horror stories from our competitors here in Indianapolis and Carmel. These are the technology support companies that still bill by the hour in a Time and Materials mode. They don't want you to switch to cloud computing because it simplifies your internal network. A simpler network means fewer things break which reduces the number of billable hours they can generate at your office. Since our Pertingo Computer Support Service is a fixed fee program, we're all for things that will increase the availability and effectiveness of your IT resources. While I can't deny that there are risks to Cloud Computing, I can say they are overblown by the naysayers. For each risk that Cloud Computing increases, there is at least one other that it decreases.

In the end, we may all have to move to Cloud Computing for some (or all) of our small business computing. That's because it's a more efficient way for programmers to deliver patches, fixes, and updates. It also makes technical support easier because every person using the software is using the exact same version. I didn't start out as a fan of this model of application delivery. I realize now that it was because the early software was just bad. Today, I'm telling my customers during our business reviews that they should expect to move one or more of their applications to the cloud in the course of the next year. They will be more comfortable with the idea when it becomes a decision they have to make.

Just about all of the Information Technology industry analysts, including giants Gartner Group and Forrester Research, agree that the soon-to-be overwhelming problem for most small businesses will be storage and backup of the incredibly fast growing data they create and collect in the process of doing business. The quantities are so large that they are starting to use units of measure that mean nothing to most of us. An exabyte, which is a thousand petabytes, which is a thousand terabytes, which is a thousand gigabytes, which is about 2 CDs or more than 15,000 documents. The reason we’ll all become used to these new terms is that we now generate more electronic data each year than the total accumulated in all of history. The problem is that we have to do something with all of that data.

The message I get from my small business computer consulting customers is that we have to keep it all. We just might need that spreadsheet with the buy vs lease comparison for the copier that we threw away two years ago, right? More troublesome is that if we keep it then we must back it up. If we back it up we must be able to restore it. If we restore it, we must do it quickly so we can continue to operate our businesses. A study by Michael Croy for iUniverse concluded that 29% of businesses that suffer a major disaster fail within four months of the disaster. He also found that 50% of all US companies have had to activate their disaster recovery plans. I’m surprised that 50% of US companies even have a disaster recovery plan.

If your disaster recovery plan is nothing more than an idea of where the most recent offsite backup tape is located, you don’t have a disaster recovery plan. The essence of your disaster recovery plan should include the Who’s, What’s, and When’s of your business. Who must have What capability by When after the disaster strikes. This approach to planning will force you to think thru the most important elements of your business operation. You’ll also be able to see what critical functions add cost to your disaster recovery plan, which might lead to creation of processes that lessen the criticality of those functions or provide alternate ways of accomplishing key tasks. In any case, remember that the plan must consider more than just the computer systems. It has to include things like telephone answering, mail delivery, and a place for your staff to work during the time when your office is unavailable. Your computer outsourcing provider should be able to assist with this effort.

I'm attending the Ingram Micro Seismic Partner Conference in Dallas this week. The opening presentation talked about computer outsourcing business owners taking time to work ON their business rather than IN their business. This is a statement that comes up often in the popular business literature. It's one of the things that I try hard to do, but it takes time. I've found that this is the same problem that most of my Indianapolis small business computer consulting customers fight as they try to grow their businesses. I often wonder how our computer tech support company can help them with this.

I realize that this isn't an Information Technology problem. I also realize that there's little that IT can do to help my small business customers find the time to work on their businesses. Yet I see the most successful of the 50 or so companies we support, the owners and leaders find regular time to think about their business. They are the inspiration that makes me take the time to work on my business.

I'm not sure this conference is really the best place for business computer support company owners to work ON our businesses. It's a better place to discover what my peers are doing to serve their customers. In the end, the time for working on the business has to be built into our normal routines.

There is a concept in Eastern philosophy of Beginner's Mind. It's the idea that when we first attempt something we pay close attention to everything about it because we don't know what's important and what's not. Having this beginner's mind makes it possible for us to learn quickly and see new possibilities. As we become expert at a task, the actions become familiar and rote. We start to overlook information that might indicate we need to pay more attention. We become complacent. In my Indianapolis Information Technology company, I try to keep everybody in the Beginner's Mind mode. It's easier to do in the world of computer outsourcing because things change so often that we have to constantly learn new things.

The place where our familiarity with things gets us into trouble is in our relationships with our Indianapolis small business computer support customers. We've worked with many of them for more than a decade. In that period of time, we become familiar with them and, much like we do with family and friends, we start to take for granted that we know what they are thinking and what's important to them. We stop asking them what's going on in their world and begin to offer the computer services that we "know" they need. Lately, we've worked extra hard at avoiding this trap. We have been meeting with each of our IT outsourcing customers to talk specifically about their needs and expectations of us. It's increased our connection and understanding of their businesses.

Strangely enough, I got the idea from the efforts my wife and I have put into getting to know one another again after two decades spent raising children. We've become practicing empty-nesters. What a blast to start learning new things about this woman with whom I've spent my entire adult life. It struck me that if I can learn new things about her and her needs after all these years, then there's more to learn about every one of the companies to which we provide computer tech support. Amazingly, they are learning more about us too.

 There are days when I'd like to fire the person who does my scheduling. The problem is that I am that person. Yesterday was a day like that. I struggle with the conflict between my desire to interact with everyone my Indianapolis Information Technology company touches each day, my need to provide the best service to each of our computer outsourcing customers, and the nonadjustable 24 hours that constitute each day. From time to time, I forget that time is required to get from the meeting in Carmel to the next one downtown. Well, I don't really forget that time is required. I just forget how much time is required. The result is my dashing from place to place and arriving just barely in time (or just slightly behind time). More importantly, my mind arrives a little bit after I do. 

I use all of the latest technology to keep myself up to date. I have my calendar synchronized with my phone. I carry a digital recorder to take notes while driving. I've read the oldest and the latest plans for effective time management. Still, I try to cram more into some days than will ever fit. And they are always days that are cold, windy, and wet, like yesterday.

My Indianapolis small business computer services customers tend to understand my dilemma. They are dealing with the same thing. We rush from place to place trying to squeeze in a few more minutes of productive time out of each hour. It's easy for me to tell my customers that they should take a moment and just breathe. It reminds me of the adage, "Do as I say, not as I do." One of my favorite computer network consulting customers reminded me of that statement near the end of the day yesterday. She said, "You and your people do good work for us. We will always want more. Keep doing what you're doing and know that we appreciate it, even when we sound like we don't."

That statement allowed me to slow down and enjoy the remainder of the blustery day.

Port-to-Port Consulting is an Indianapolis Information Technology company.  But what do we do exactly?  I think the best description is that we are an IT department for companies that have significant computer related needs, but don't want the hassle or expense of managing an entire computer department.

Our typical tasks include network support, answering computer help desk phone calls, going onsite for required support, managing updates and upgrades, dealing with Internet service providers and telephone providers.  We also work with our customers in planning for new technologies and helping them use technology as a competitive weapon.

These are things that any IT Department must do.  But what separates us from internal staff?

Experience is a key thing.  For companies that have more than just a couple of computers, the breadth of competence needed to make them an asset to the company is rather large.   Internal staffs can't keep up with technology when the get they opportunity to try something new only once every few years.  For example, servers typically need replaced every 3 or 4 years.  We replace on the average about 2 servers a month.  We can be much better at server deployment than an internal staff because we'll replace about 100 servers  in the same time an internal staff will replace 1.

We see things, plan for and correct things everyday that internal staffs might only see a few times a year.  Volume gives us experience that make us an efficient IT staff.

I continue to be amazed at the number of people who aren't very good at their jobs. I don't know if it's due to apathy, or boredom, or just plain stupidity. Whatever the reason, it bothers me when I run into someone who seems to be doing a task for the very first time even though it is clearly a part of their daily routine.

When we started providing computer network consulting in Indianapolis, we often ran into other Indianapolis area computer consultants who would talk about their skill and knowledge in a particular area. We'd be awed by their confidence since we still learned an incredible amount about technology consulting every day. That's when we started speaking of these guys as the "One Page Ahead Guys." You see, they didn't really know all that much. They knew just enough more than others to seem like they knew a lot. We found that if we just turned the page in the manual, we'd know as much as they did. They weren't any more knowledgeable. They just knew how to fake it very well. Recall the scene in Mr. Mom where Jack (Michael Keaton) is telling his wife's boss Ron (Martin Mull) about his home rennovation project. Ron asks if he will wire it 220. Jack responds, "220, 221. Whatever it takes." An excellent example of the response you get from a One Page Ahead Guy.

We've done it to ourselves. There is so much to know about business computer support that it's impossible for any one person to know it all any more. Consequently, it's easy for someone to look like they know a lot. Well, I don't know nearly as much as I used to (as a percentage of all there is to know) about Information Technology, but I still learn something new every day.