It's true, I have been around computers for the majority of my life..  I've been in and out of sales, programming, and support for 12 years..  Sure, programming languages should sound foreign to the average user, but why does it still have to be so complicated for a small business owner who feels handcuffed by their IT provider due to lack of understanding 'the language'?

I suppose I should have noticed this first in 1996 while selling computers for a small retail outlet in West County, St. Louis.  The knowledge of some customers that came in our store was (to stick with the language theme) probably at a third grade level.  Why should I have expected any different?  When a customer knows what they want to do with a computer, it is the position of the sales person/consultant to help them make the best choice, within their parameters, what hardware will suit their needs.  The customer just wants their computer to work the way they want.. all the time.

Let's take that thought and apply it to the small business owner:

Just like the customer above in the retail store.. the business owner should not be expected to know what they really want nor should they be expected to know the language or frankly anything about computers besides how to use them.  A business owner should only be concerned with the tasks of running their business (unfortunately that also includes everything from finance, human resources, managing staff, and driving sales) and not understanding fluent computer lingo.

What is a business owner really supposed to do even after they decided it's time to outsource or hire someone to translate the world of technology for them?

When a business owner takes the risk and relies on either another individual or perhaps an outsourced firm to handle their network infrastructure how can they be sure that they sill aren't being taken advantage of or being provided with false information?

I recently had an experience with a client where they were completely happy with the 'professional' IT firm they were using to manage their corporate network.  Luckily the company agreed to let one of my engineers take a quick look at their system as either a second pair of eyes or a piece of mind comb through with a few possible recommendations at the end or our review.  Several critical issues, including not one single data backup for several months, were found during our review.  The prospective client decided he still had faith in their current firm and wanted to have them fix the line items we found, which we agreed too.  After the issues were apparently fixed we offered a second look at the system, again just to check and make sure they were indeed secure.  Again, the problems still existed..  Long story short, my firm and the competing firm were saying, as far as the client was concerned, two completely different things.  The client thought it would be sensible to have a third firm come in and do the same audit and make their own recommendations (after the client showed this third firm our recommendations).  The result as you could image was yet a third version of the story!!

Well, who do you believe??  This is a foreign language for the client and they just want their system to function the way they envisioned and to have someone ensure they are protected from everything bad in cyberspace.

Who can they trust and how do they know that they aren't being lied to by another sales person saying that whatever service model they have is going to take away all of their pain and is a perfect fit for the client?

How can one IT firm have the perfect solution, simply a boxed solution at times, that is perfect for this or any other unique potential client?

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of great solutions out there.. but not everyone or anyone for that matter is perfect for every prospect.

So now what?

Give me a call and I will act as your translator.  We will begin by assesing what your needs are and help you find the firm with which you naturally belong.