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.