Computer Consultants Secrets ™

Solution providers recently got word from the CMP Channel and The NPD Group of which companies had made the Mid-Year CRN Channel Bestsellers List.  The NPD Group is a research firm that worked with the CMP Channel and CRN to evaluate the performance of solution providers and their technologies and technology companies and come up with a list of the best.  

This list helps solution providers decide which products to sell within their channel as well as recognizing popular technology categories and brands that are currently being sold.  Officially called the “Mid-Year CRN Channel Bestsellers” list, it shows the top five best-selling technologies in 22 different categories, including the leading “Channel Bestseller” within each category and the “Top Growth Bestseller.”  The top Channel Bestseller is based on market share data taken from January – June, 2007.  The Top Growth Bestseller is taken by the change in share during the same time period as compared to the time period of January – June, 2006 (the previous year).  

The CRN Bestsellers List provides a real technology resource for solution providers and helps them make product decisions and recommendations to clients, according to Robert C. DeMarzo, vice president and editorial director for the CMP Channel.  It’s also an accurate portrayal of companies that may not be sector leaders in overall market share according to standard research companies but still offer a lot of dollar revenue for solution providers.

For a complete listing for solution providers, visit the attached story.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

After you’ve completed IT audits and further established a relationship with most of your clients, you will be able to start to plan a project and organize it on a monthly basis.  When you conduct IT audits, you will find some things that need to be done this month, some that can wait and still others that will be added to a wish list.    

What Are Wish List Items?

Wish list items after IT audits will be tasks that have to be done because of a vendor or regulations or because of a product that will be phased out soon.  Some wish list items will need to be completed by a specific date.

Because you are an outsourced IT department, you need to track wish list items by putting tasks down month-by-month.    

Organizing Tasks

After IT audits, you need to organize tasks clearly.  Just create an Excel spreadsheet with columns such as “Month,” “Task,” “Estimated Labor Cost,” “Estimated Product Cost” for software peripherals, etc.

For example, if a customer/client has an old Citrix server that will need to be upgraded and you don’t have the expertise to fix it yourself, knowing the project was coming up would give you time to look for a deeply-niched specialist in the area to which to subcontract.   

After IT audits, no matter what, stay organized to best create stable long-term relationships.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

CRN and VARBusiness magazine recently reported on the prevalence of counterfeit goods in the computer industry and the difficulty many solution providers can have identifying them.

Recently, Aqua Systems, a Roslyn, New York-based solution provider sold counterfeit goods to clients.  Whether or not the solution providers are guilty of knowingly doing it or not will be determined by the courts, but the incident has damaged the company and caused channel sales to decline and incredible revenue losses.

Many solution providers are finding themselves embroiled in problems with identifying bona fide hardware and software, and may end up getting trouble if they are not careful at checking products.

Recent reports by experts KPMG and the Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement (AGMA) stated that the IT industry experiences about $100 billion in losses due to black market products annually.  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also states that computer hardware made up nine percent of all counterfeit products taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2006.  The total worth of the goods seized was $14.3 million, which was an increase of 198 percent from 2005.  Other reports from the Software Piracy Study declared that 22 percent of total software installations in North America last year were from counterfeit copies, which represents a loss of $8.1 billion in sales for software companies.

The products most counterfeited for solution providers are those produced in mass quantities, including Gigabit interface converters, WAN interface cards, memory, printer cartridges, network modules and regular desktop applications from companies such as Cisco Systems and Microsoft.

Despite high-profile cases of solution providers having difficulty with counterfeit goods in the United States, China is still the country with the largest instance of hardware and software counterfeiting.  For more information on this story for solution providers, visit the attached link.

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

CRN and VARBusiness magazine recently reported on the prevalence of counterfeit goods in the computer industry and the difficulty many solution providers can have identifying them.

Recently, Aqua Systems, a Roslyn, New York-based solution provider sold counterfeit goods to clients.  Whether or not the solution providers are guilty of knowingly doing it or not will be determined by the courts, but the incident has damaged the company and caused channel sales to decline and incredible revenue losses.

Many solution providers are finding themselves embroiled in problems with identifying bona fide hardware and software, and may end up getting trouble if they are not careful at checking products.

Recent reports by experts KPMG and the Alliance for Gray Market and Counterfeit Abatement (AGMA) stated that the IT industry experiences about $100 billion in losses due to black market products annually.  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also states that computer hardware made up nine percent of all counterfeit products taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2006.  The total worth of the goods seized was $14.3 million, which was an increase of 198 percent from 2005.  Other reports from the Software Piracy Study declared that 22 percent of total software installations in North America last year were from counterfeit copies, which represents a loss of $8.1 billion in sales for software companies.

The products most counterfeited for solution providers are those produced in mass quantities, including Gigabit interface converters, WAN interface cards, memory, printer cartridges, network modules and regular desktop applications from companies such as Cisco Systems and Microsoft.

Despite high-profile cases of solution providers having difficulty with counterfeit goods in the United States, China is still the country with the largest instance of hardware and software counterfeiting.  For more information on this story for solution providers, visit the attached link.

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

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

IT audits are a typical request after big news about IT disasters.  Current events present a great opportunity to ask customers about a back-up plan that includes virus protection and other important items during IT audits.  

Your marketing efforts can be helped by worms and viruses, especially when these issues are mentioned in the news.  Your targeted small business might even have felt the consequences, which gives you a great opportunity to get sales.  Customers and clients will more deeply realize the need for power protection and shutdowns, along with backup generators.  And virus clean-up and security will really get them thinking too, which gives you the perfect opportunity to conduct IT audits.  

IT Audits:  Devise a Marketing Plan

You should compile a fixed-price IT audits package that you can really deliver.  Go in with an inventory checklist and talk to customers about system security, their plans for virus protection, license status, update status, what firewalls look like and how they are keeping things up-to-date and running smoothly.

Most new small business accounts will present you with a really great opportunity for cleanup.  Because businesses typically feel they are better protected against viruses and security than in actuality, most have real issues with which you can help.  IT audits might reveal that all antivirus software is two years old or more, which then gives you the chance to prove yourself and get valuable clients.

The Importance of Data Backups

A lot of prospects will not know much about data backup and might even tell you what they think you want to hear when asked directly about it.  Typically, small business data backup items are not current if the businesses don’t have a good tech staff or regular provider.  IT audits are the time and opportunity to think about these things.   

Opportunities with IT Audits

 IT audits give you a real chance to uncover weaknesses and put together a plan of attack for helping small businesses get organized and improve efficiency.

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg

The computer consulting business revolves around selling your personality, your charisma and of course business know-how.  But in the end, you’re selling time above all else, and wasting it is not an option.  You need to keep track of every hour spent, whether billable or part of your sales function, prospecting or administrative.  

How do you know whether a service call is appropriate?

Computer Consulting Emergency or Not?

If you want to find the time wasters to work better, you need to determine the urgency of the sales call from the very beginning.  It may be a server down problem that is destroying productivity at the company, which is really an emergency and something that requires immediate attention.  

On the other hand, it could just be a link not working between a PDA and a computer or something that is just a one-person problem.  This would be less of a good use of your time when you’re busy with computer consulting.

What’s the Computer Consulting Budget?

You need to know what your clients’ budgets is before you go into the situation.  If they are broke and have no ability to pay, you are wasting your time.  Don’t ignore them completely; put them on a follow-up list for three or six months and find out later if there is more money available for your services.

Computer Consulting:  Are You Being Polite?

You can’t ask outright about money issues.  Be subtle with your inquiries, and of course tactful.  Ask if the prospects currently get computer consulting support and how they have received it in the past.  If they use volunteers or moonlighters, it’s probably going to be a waste of your time because they most likely do not have a proper IT budget.  If the prospects are working with other VARs or with a legitimate competitor, you can assume there are funds.

What’s the Degree of Pain and How Badly Do They Need Computer Consulting Services?

You need to figure out what the prospects are facing and if you have a solution that can fix it.

Your time is part of your inventory and should not be freely offered.  Be careful when proceeding in computer consulting.

Added By:  Joshua Feinberg

Computer business innovator Red Hat, Inc. recently released information about its Enterprise Linux operating system.  The system has been selected by Nokia Corp.’s Networks Business as the primary operating system for platforms that are carrier grade.

These two companies will work together to design carrier-grade telecommunications products, and Red Hat will provide consulting, certification, training services and support as part of the partnership.  

The Networks Group is about to merge with Siemens AG to provide carrier-related services under the name Nokia Siemens Networks.  Whether or not Red Hat will transfer to the new organization is still unknown.

Red Hat announced last month that it would focus more strongly on telecommunications and was joining a European Commission project to create telecommunication service delivery platform standards.  VP of worldwide marketing and general manager of Red Hat’s product division stated that the next set of delivery services would be based around some of the concepts of open source.

Earlier in November the computer business Red Hat stated that 29 telecommunications independent software vendors had become a part of the telecommunications partner program within the past six months.

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101

When you’re in the process of IT audits, you want to solve client problems.  What problems do they have, and what can you do about them?

Questions Will Get to the Needs Analysis

Ask lots of questions during IT audits.  What are prospects looking for?  You will find that their needs have not changed for a long time.  During the course of IT audits, clients will ask you for advice on purchases.  They will need to know what the best product and platform is for their companies, and what will give them the best value.  A needs analysis will give them the answers they want during IT audits.  Look at what they have for a few hours.

Also look at what products will work together.  Any average person can go to the store and buy random things, but only an expert can make these things work together.  Integration and customization are incredibly important, as it product management.  If you can coordinate things, all the better.

What Other Services Will Clients Want?

Your clients will want formal and informal training that includes end user training and administrator training.  They will also want you to deal with upgrades and coordinate with outside vendors for package installation.  They will look to you for network installation and maintenance.

IT Audits: You Are a One-Stop Shop

Clients are seeking a single point of contact.  They want you to act as a technology advisor that will give them the expertise of an accountant or an attorney, or even a managing consulting firm or marketing consultant.  IT audits can determine your role with your clients and customers.  

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg

There are three ways you can maximize the profits of your Small Business Server consulting profits.  In the past seven years, Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) has become a very widely-used and well-respected networking suite.

Many small business computer consultants, systems integrators and VARs have decided to use Small Business Server; but before you decide to entrust your company to Microsoft Small Business Server, you need to think about some tips for maximizing your consulting profits.

Most small businesses don’t know a thing about Microsoft Small Business Server:  Even though you might know of hundreds or thousands of businesses in your area that would benefit from Small Business Server, don’t decide that your average non-technical small business owners knows what it is.  To maximize consulting profits and avoid being thought of as a commodity, lead off with a pitch for a more popular service, such as virus management, SPAM blocking or security boosting.  

Sell your company before your products to your prospects:  There is not big money in reselling Small Business Server software; the money comes from the sale of your relationships with small businesses.  Your company turns into an outsourced IT department.

No small business owner will be thinking constantly about Small Business Server, though they will think about what will happen if their companies experience system failures.  You need to be a solution to the basic survival instinct.  Once you have your foot in the door, you will have a chance to sell Small Business Server.

Microsoft doesn’t care about computer consultants as much as it says:  The truth is, the first version of Microsoft Small Business Server was planned in 1996 and launched in 1997, code-named “SAM” because Microsoft wanted to eliminate resellers and sell then product at “Sam’s Club” warehouse clubs.

The team in charge of Small Business Server made the product incredibly simple so that non-technical small business users could buy it at the warehouse club and have it running in their offices the same day.  After the first version shipped, Microsoft figured out that resellers were the best way to reach small businesses looking for Small Business Server.  Only since then has the product been flowing toward the reseller channel.  Still, today you can buy 5-user versions of Small Business Server in retail stores.

Microsoft isn’t banking everything on Small Business Server, and neither should you.  Small business owners are not shopping for Small Business Server specifically, rather for solutions provided by real and involved computer consulting companies.  

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

Computer business SGI recently stated it will be returning to the market.  A judge signed off on the company’s plan for reorganization which will allow it to rise from bankruptcy protection status as early as October.

The re-envisioned SGI computer business will sport just 1,600 staff, a smaller structure than previously.  The computer business will also appoint a new board of directors to assist the CEO Dennis McKenna.  SGI is expecting to see profit in the coming fiscal year.

A former leader in visualization, SGI is still up against many issues, according to analysts.  It will have to push its Itanium server, a task made slightly easier by Intel’s recent dual-core Itanic processor.  SGI will also have to develop a new line of Xeon-based servers.   Previously, SGI only produced Xeon technology and will continue to sell these products above others, trying to broaden its scope to get more mainstream clients interested beyond its usual engineering and computing beginnings.

Experts are concerned that if the computer business ignores Opteron, it will limit its ability to grow and change.  Rival AMD has already gathered a group of component partners that will help it make accelerators and networking gear based on Opteron-based motherboards.  These advances from other computer business moguls could draw business away from SGI.  

Other competitors, including HP, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Dell have tapped into Opteron’s benefits.  Still, some are optimistic that computer business SGI will rise to the challenge and compete.  Major investors Morgan Stanley and GE Capital have contributed $115 million to help SGI survive the start-up period.  

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Computer business software is an area where many new network consultants get overwhelmed.  There are so many great products out there that it is hard to decide which computer business software to invest your time and money in.  

You want to be able to expand your capabilities but you don’t want to sink too much time or money into any computer business software purchases until you know you have a market for them. Because computer business software is an investment, you need to think carefully about the programs and packages you purchase.

If you think in terms of whether the business computer software will attract and appeal to sweet spot clients, you are thinking on the right track.  You want to ask yourself, "If I invest eight hours in learning this and invest a few hundred dollars in some training or not-for-resale product, am I going to make it back?"

There are two computer business software products I recommend you look at seriously for sweet spot clients. 

• Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS)
• Novell’s Small Business Suite

• Both of these computer business software products are inexpensive buy-ins.
• You’re not going to have to spend a lot of money to get a demo or not-for-resale copy for you to learn with.
• For a few hundred dollars you’ll have most of what you need.
• With both types of computer business software, you should be able to take eight to ten hours and feel comfortable installing it, breaking it, and then reinstalling it.

Use the computer business software you choose to run your own business.  Sooner or later, probably within a month or two, you’ll feel comfortable enough to do a simple installation for a client.

Bottom Line on Computer Business Software
Always think of computer business software as an investment.  You need to make sure you will recover, and then make a return on, the time and money you put into acquiring and learning new computer business software.  If you stick to Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) and Novell’s Small Business Suite at the start, your computer business software investment should pay off pretty quickly.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Computer Business Software. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Computer Business Software, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business. 

Small Business Server 2003 is an excellent choice for your computer consulting business.  It is sold as a suite so you get a lot of great features.  And Small Business Server 2003 is designed strictly with the needs of small business computer consultants in mind.  

Small Business Server 2003 Features

• It includes a reporting tool that allows you to get log files emailed
• There are different performance model thresholds for when windows space is running low or when the virtual space is running low
• There are access logs for the server
• There is web proxy, Internet caching and acceleration so you can get all kinds of metrics about what is going on with a client’s network without having to be there
• There are many wizards that make it relatively easy for someone with limited knowledge to be able to install the product successful without having to be an expert on the individual components

The base line installation of Small Business Server 2003 provides for a lot of customization. This is especially important because you can then continue adding value and selling more services to your clients.  Essentially, Small Business Server 2003 allows you to build on the investment that your clients have already made.  

The Bottom Line on Small Business Server 2003
Small Business Server 2003 is a great platform and the only product that Microsoft has ever built, and continues to build today, that was designed from the ground up strictly to meet the needs of the small business computer consultant. The application has a huge number of features and Small Business Server 2003 gives you the opportunity to sell value-added services to go along with all of those features.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Small Business Server 2003.  To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Small Business Server 2003, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

When you begin talking about a small business networking upgrades, prospects and clients will often dwell on cost. They neglect to consider the soft costs of not properly investing in a network, such as lost employee productivity when imprudent corners are cut, downtime when fault-tolerance is an afterthought, and service costs from computer consultants when difficult-to-support or "dead-end" solutions are selected primarily because of their low price tag.

Addressing Client Objections

No matter how thorough your initial consultation, IT audit, site survey and network design reports, some client objections may pop up just before you get the client’s authorization to proceed with small business networking. 

One relatively minor concern might threaten to derail the entire sale, so you need to know how to overcome some of the biggest small business networking deal-closing obstacles.

Empowered with these strategies, you’ll be much less apt to get emotional, defensive, or just plain annoyed. You can then stay focused on keeping your eye on the ball and figuring out the best way to solve the prospect’s or future client’s problems - and of course, close the small business networking sale. Remember, your company isn’t in business to solve prospects’ problems; only those of paying clients.

Overcoming Apathy

If the decision-makers have an apathetic outlook toward the prospect of implementing small business networking, your decision-makers might take weeks, months, or perhaps even years before feeling a sense of urgency about your proposed network project.

However, once you discover the roots of this apathy, you’ll have a better opportunity to push (or at least nudge) the approval process along.

The Bottom Line about Small Business Networking

Situations like catastrophic data loss, (though horrible tragedies for those affected) are great motivators for combating apathy. All of a sudden, the small business owner becomes extremely receptive to your suggestions about your proposed small business networking solution, which of course, features centralized security and data protection.

In this article, you’ve learned about small business networking. To learn more about small business networking, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business

Technology assessment jobs rely on effective promotion.  Consultants should consider attending exhibitions to promote their technology assessment services.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions include trade shows and fairs.  They are an extremely popular way for technology assessment businesses to gain maximum exposure.  To get the most out of an exhibition, consider these important tips.

Design an Eye-Catching Booth

Your exhibition booth will be placed in a forum next to many other technology assessment competitors.  Designing a booth that is eye-catching and interesting will draw potential clients to you. 

Be sure to stock plenty of brochures and business cards.  Be prepared to collect all pertinent information from possible customers – names, addresses, phone numbers, and the best time to call.

Set Reasonable Expectations

New exhibitors can sometimes feel very disappointed at the end of a show.  Set an attainable goal for the exhibition. 

Even one good contact makes the trade show a worthwhile event.  While attending, be sure to visit other technology assessment booths to gain insight for future improvements. 

Follow-up is Key

Allowing ample time for follow-up is vital.  Some prospective clients will be expecting to hear from you within a day or two. 

Others may have stated that their technology assessment project will not be ready for a few months. Whatever the case, be sure to call, write, or e-mail the prospects within the first week to keep your business fresh in their minds.

The Bottom Line about Technology Assessment – Promoting Through Exhibitions

Exhibitions are an excellent means for promoting your technology assessment business.  Research which trade shows or fairs are best suited for your business. 

Understand all rules and conditions in the exhibition contract.  Finally, consider any marketing strategies that might encourage people to attend the show and visit your technology assessment booth.  By being well prepared, you will be able to enjoy the advantages of an exhibition.

In this article, you’ve learned about the technology assessment business and promoting it at exhibitions. To learn more about the technology assessment business click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

IT audits need to be as comprehensive as possible. To ensure you hit every area you need to during your IT audits, review this checklist.

1. IT Audits - Physical Security: To ensure that appropriate physical controls are in place to secure technology assets (servers, networking and telecommunications equipment) preventing unauthorized access.
2. IT Audits - Logical Security: To ensure that appropriate software security controls are in place to prevent viruses and unauthorized data access.
3. IT Audits - Logistical and Environmental Controls: To ensure that systems, networking and telecommunications equipment are housed in facilities designed to offer proper environmental conditions (regarding temperature and dust regulation, furniture, racks and physical equipment organization)
4. IT Audits - Configuration Management: To ensure that systems are installed and configured according to established requirements and standards.
5. IT Audits - Systems Administration Procedures: To ensure that security and systems administrative procedures are properly defined and assigned to staff.
6. IT Audits - Hardware Inventory Management: To ensure that all hardware is properly inventoried and that warranty and maintenance records are maintained.
7. IT Audits - Software Licensing Compliance: To ensure that all software usage is in compliance with licensing agreements, and that appropriate licensing records are maintained.
8. IT Audits - Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Procedures: To ensure that data backups are being made and tested on a scheduled basis, sufficient to recover in the event of a systems failure, data loss, or other disaster.
9. IT Audits - Documentation: To ensure that all systems, procedures, and policies are properly documented and updated, including the appropriate retention of systems reports, error, help desk, and other related problem logs.
10. IT Audits - Performance and Capacity Planning: To ensure that all systems are performing according to required levels, considering uptime, systems availability, bandwidth, data storage availability, and the archival of older data files.
11. IT Audits - Change Management: to ensure that all major changes to systems hardware and software are properly documented, tested and verified prior to implementation, with appropriate back-out plans.

The Bottom Line about IT Audits

In this article, you learned more about IT audits. To learn more about IT audits, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Keep IT audits to within a half a day as a starting point.  If there’s more exploratory work that needs to be done, that should be an added fee and done at a later time.

Keep IT Audits Short and Sweet

Generally within four hours on-site for IT audits, you usually figure out exactly what’s going on, what should be done next, how to prioritize it, and what hardware and software and services, peripherals and other similar items they need to buy.

You’ll obviously, know that you’re going to be proposing a bunch of follow-up tasks, so there’s plenty of time to come back and go into more depth after IT audits. When the meter isn’t running, don’t sit down at keyboards and do something that could end up getting you in hot water!

Your Timing Checklist

The way to keep IT audits limited to 4 hours is by coming up with a dozen or so different areas that you will look at. In that four hours, there’s no way that you’re going to be able to hit every PC or every issue. Here is how to allocate the timing.

• Half hour to an hour on a primary server
• If they have a secondary server, maybe another 15 or 20 minutes
• A few minutes on LAN hub infrastructure
• Looking at routers, CSUs, DSUs, DSL routers, hub switches in blocks of 10 or 15 minutes, making some general notes as to how it looks on visual inspection and some things you may notice with LADs or surge protection
• Half hour to 45 minutes on a couple representative PCs

What are Representative PCs?

Who are the most important PC users in the company? Ask your main company contact. They will point you in the right direction. They might say something like, “Bob, he’s the one that takes care of all the billing and accounts payable.  You should definitely look at him. And you should definitely look at mine because I’m the owner of the company.”

You should be able to look at two to four PCs and get a pretty good idea as to what’s actually going on there with configurations, drive mappings, network protocols, whether they’re in relatively good shape or whether they’re a complete mess.

The Bottom Line about IT Audits

From IT audits, you should get a pretty good idea as to what the hottest priorities are, what should be addressed within the next week or two, what should be addressed in the next month or two and then what should go into more long-range planning.

In this article, you learned about IT audits. To learn more about IT audits, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.

Worms and viruses are actually a good thing for your marketing. When they are mentioned in the news, there’s an excellent chance that the small businesses that you’re targeting are feeling the pain and feeling the pinch. There’s nothing like a massive blackout to raise tremendous awareness!

Events like these raise awareness of the need for power protection and orderly shutdowns and backup generators. And of course, the worm and the virus cleanup issues and the security ramifications are tremendous. It’s a perfect opportunity for you to do IT audits. 

Marketing Plan for IT Audits

Put together some kind of fixed price IT audits package that you can deliver. Go in with a big inventory checklist, and talk with them about the physical security of their system, what they’re doing with virus protection, if they’re properly licensed, if they’re keeping it properly updated, what their firewalls look like, how that’s kept up to date, the last time they did a check of their tape drive or storage systems, etc. 

With almost all small businesses, when you go into a new account, there’s a huge cleanup opportunity. Businesses all seem to think that they’re much better protected against viruses and security than they really are. If you ask them how current their antivirus software is, they’ll believe it is up to date. Through IT audits, you may find that it is over 2 years old.  That’s a huge opportunity for you to do your magic.

Don’t Forget Data Backups

When you ask prospects about their data backup, you sometimes you get blank stares or they tell you want they think you want to hear. In reality, their stuff is very rarely kept current if they don’t have a good tech provider or someone good in-house to do these kinds of things.

The Bottom Line about IT Audits

Those are big opportunities to identify some of the weaknesses and obviously the end result of IT audits is that you put together an organized plan of attack for what to do to fix it. It may be upgrades, more training, replacement, etc. 

In this article, you learned about IT audits. To learn more about IT audits, click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.