The computer industry is about 70 years old if you measure from the introduction of the ENIAC computer. The small business computer network consulting and it support services industry is really less than 30 years old if you measure from the introduction of the terminate-and-stay-resident programming trick that led to pc networks. The industry has changed dramatically in that short time, and it continues to do so at an amazing rate. When we started port-to-port consulting in 1991, I was willing to say that between my partner and me we knew everything necessary to run a small business computer network.

Today, I wouldn't pretend that the entire staff at Port-to-Port knows anywhere close to enough about business computer support. we spend a good portion of our time, both at work and at home, reading, researching, and experimenting with hardware and software that may have an impact on some small businesses. Now we're a pretty bright group of people, which makes me wonder how any one or two people can even pretend to keep up with the technology to run your operation.

I'm spending this week at an industry conference where I get to spend time in conversation with my peers from around the country. in every interaction I or the person with whom I'm speaking learn something previously unknown about some aspect of it support services. If you're depending on one guy to keep your system at the point where it truly helps your organization, you are not optimizing the benefit of your computer system. There are too many new things to review for potential fit.