Clients of your firm may think about giving their top managers and producers the latest PC hardware believing these gadgets will help them stay on top of performance and productivity.  But your job is to tell clients how they should really spend their money.

PC Hardware:  What Do Clients Need?

You need to examine clients’ software application requirements before you let them choose to make extravagant PC hardware purchases.  If the CFO of a company sits all day doing math with Excel spreadsheets and sending e-mails in Microsoft Outlook, he/she will not need high-tech PC hardware.  

PC Hardware:  Where Else Could Money Be Spent?

You are the virtual CIO for your clients, and thus you might find ten or more financial software projects you could work on that would help a CFO and get better results than ego-based PC hardware purchases.  You need to stress how much more profitable to your own clients’ companies these projects will be than purchasing commodities in the form of PC hardware.  Also, these types of projects will benefit your computer consulting firm more than PC hardware purchases as well.

PC Hardware:  Notebook PCs?

Clients need to be realistic about notebook purchases.  Your clients can get great multimedia features with high-end notebooks that cost $4,000 to $5,000; but if the CEO of a main client just wants to get remote e-mail, expensive notebooks are unnecessary.  A more affordable brand-name notebook for $1,500 - $2,000 should suffice.   

PC Hardware:  Use Your Expertise

You have a lot of responsibility as a virtual CIO and technology expert, and you can’t let clients be tempted by high-tech PC hardware they don’t need.  Technology funds spent on consulting projects are better spent than those blown on PC hardware.  

The Bottom Line About PC Hardware

If you’re not sure about the necessity of PC hardware items, ask yourself a basic question:  “If my client took $5,000 that could have been spent on a great piece of PC hardware and spent it on computer consulting services instead, what would be the impact on their business?”

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg