IT Support: What Are Your Responsibilities with Clients?
Providing IT support to your important clients is full of responsibilities. But which are really required to be part of your services?
1. Coordinate Telecommunications Solutions. When you are dealing with sweet spot clients, you will have to coordinate IT support with a local phone company – CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier) or ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier). You’ll have to help clients get a leased line and also research which types of connections your clients will need. You will also probably have to give basic dial-up networking recommendations and coordinate tech support with ISPs for your long-term clients.
2. Get Ready to Test. As part of IT support, you will probably have to know about vertical industry-niched applications. You might bring the applications in yourself or your clients may already have them and want your firm to test and evaluate the application before they make the investment. Regardless, your job will be to evaluate how the application fits in with your clients’ sophisticated network.
3. Train the Guru … or the Masses. Your firm will have to be involved in training, no matter what. Sometimes the training may be formal end-user training involving small groups and new applications. The training can also be more informal and just be with the internal guru that everyone comes to with problems and questions. When you train the guru, you help the guru offer IT support for the others when it comes to simple tasks.
4. You Can Expect Disaster. You will need to be plan for disaster with IT support. This means you’ll have to check out the data backup system, antivirus software, power protection and security regularly along with engage in very proactive maintenance of systems.
You will be most valuable to customers with IT support when you have great problem-solving and strategic-planning skills. You have to be ready to help with everything that is IT related and organize a very specific list of IT support priorities.
Added By: Joshua Feinberg
Which Type of Computer Repair Business Do You Want to Start?
People starting their own computer repair businesses make the decision to open many different types of companies for a variety of reasons. But how do you decide?
The decision really depends on whether you want to build a business from the ground, up or take some shortcuts by opening a franchise. What are the pros and cons of each?
Deciding on a Computer Repair Business Means Some Hard Work
No matter what, during the startup phase of your computer repair business, you will have several months where you will need to put in some very hard work putting your name out in the community. You will be following up on a lot of leads, generating proposals and going on sales calls. And this will all happen before you get any billable projects.
Just because you decide on a franchised doesn’t mean all the work is done for you. There are other issues to consider.
The Right Decision
One type of computer repair business is very different from the other, and how you decide on which type to open will depend upon what you are looking for personally from your business, your skills and how much time and money you have.
Blogged By: Computer Consulting Kit
Become an IT Consultant: Training or Clients First?
When you are trying to become an IT consultant, do you get computer consulting training first and then look for clients or do you start out looking for clients and then work on getting training?
The answer is simply, “Both.”
Become an IT Consultant by Getting Training and Clients
Client recruitment and skills development should really be done simultaneously when you are on the road to become an IT consultant. Don’t take many months off to do training or you will find yourself unable to pay the bills. You NEED paying clients.
However, if you let six months pass and you neglect to keep technical skills sharp, you will eventually lose the ability to take on the high-end projects you need to survive.
Achieve a Balance
The average person that tries to become an IT consultant usually balances training and obtaining clients in a variety of ways. Some consultants might spend a couple days a month or weeks a year going to formal classroom training.
Many consultants also have lab systems that give them the ability to test and train in their offices so they can work with basic entry-level server hardware on a regular basis.
What’s Your Program?
You can belong to a lot of different programs that give you access to copies of software that can be used internally for training purposes. Many vendor partners, such as Microsoft do this as part of their annual program membership fee.
Evaluation software can be a great way to keep your technical skills up to speed as you become an IT consultant. You can make sure you are proficient on the software before you go out into the field and work with it.
Submitted By: Joshua Feinberg
Starting Your Computer Consultant Business is Hard Work
When you are starting your own computer consultant business, you will need to spend a lot of time going to meetings and shaking hands. You will have to make plenty of follow-up calls and use display ads and direct mail campaigns to establish connections.
Because you need plenty of hands-on time to start your computer consultant business, you will have to be very realistic.
A Franchise Isn’t a Guaranteed Computer Consultant Business
Even when you buy a franchise, you don’t get a guarantee of everything going smoothly. You won’t get a client list; if you want that, you will have to buy a current business, which will be even more capital-intensive than a franchise. If you want to buy a small company that is doing well, you will have to spend a multiple of the company’s annual sales.
What Are Your Computer Consultant Business Start-Up Costs?
You can start your own business for just a few thousand dollars. All you need is a business phone number and voicemail, a cell phone, business cards and licensing registrations. You will also have to meet with an attorney or an accountant (so don’t forget this cost!). You will need insurance. You can often work out of a home office. Franchises cost significantly more than this in terms of start-up costs.
If You’re a Control Freak, Think Carefully!
If you like being in control, you will probably not like having a franchise. You have to do things a certain way and follow pre-established rules. Your company will also have to pay a franchiser a part of its revenue forever. And flexibility will be less when you want to take your computer consultant business in new directions.
Added By: Computer Consulting Kit
