Small Business Computer Consulting

VARs will have more options for customer access and security advice when Bell Micro opens its new Security Academy.  This academy is designed for VARs that have no experience with security sales and will open in November.  It will offer free training to enterprise and SME VARs and will be based in Chessington.

Director of Bell’s security division, Duncan Hume states that as the company’s vendor roster increases, many are looking for better access to VARs for partnerships.  The academy will have a dual purpose:  it will help get more VARs involved in the world of security; it will give vendors better ways to reach new customers.  The academy will be free of charge for participants.       

Hume stated that as part of the launch, Bell is looking for 25 VARs to sign up for training at the academy.  The training will consist of an overview course to help participants learn about the security market and its technology along with a course introducing vendor partners to their roles within the industry.  The courses will combine both business elements and technology.

The academy will not interfere with the activities of VARs currently working with security and Bell.  In fact, Hume hopes that existing customers will send new recruits into the program for education.

Also in development at Bell and the Security Academy is a division that will offer sales tools to VARs that participate in the academy and help new recruits launch their security businesses.

Submitted By:  Joshua Feinberg

Before you officially open a computer consulting business, you need to be well-prepared.  Pick a company name and get business cards together.  You also need to think about which types of customers you will be acquiring and where you will meet them.

Printing Business Cards

Even if you don’t think you’ll keep the same information forever with your computer consulting business, get business cards together right away.  Even if you change information in six months, you can change it.  You need to start handing out computer consulting business cards, even if you just do it with family members and friends.

Tell People

Networking means that whenever you are out and about, meeting people at kids’ soccer games, church or synagogue or just standing on line talking to people in the store or at the movies, you need to take the opportunity to tell them about your business and give out business cards.  

Your Business Community – Get Involved!

You should join local organizations that cater to small business owners.  Find three or four good local trade groups and get involved.  Examples are your chamber of commerce, user group or trade groups related to your industry other types of trade groups.

Computer Consulting:  Start from a Known Point

You should pick an industry focus that interests you and in which you have experience.  You can always branch out later, but starting with a niche you already know and with which you already have some experience can really jump start your credibility, make you more memorable and improve your computer consulting business. 

Evaluate Your Niche for Prospects

For example, you might choose the medical field if you have a background in nursing.  Focus your early activities on small doctors’ offices in your local area.  You should be sure you have at least 500 – 1,000 prospects within a one-hour radius of your location.

You can even brand yourself by putting industry focus in the name of your company.  Add “health care systems” or “medical office systems” to your name for extra emphasis on your computer consulting specialty. 

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Perficient, Inc., an IT consulting firm based in Austin, Texas announced on Friday that it had purchased BoldTech Systems, Inc., based in Denver.  The purchase price of the deal was set at $20.8 million in combined cash and stock.

The deal should, according to the IT consulting firm spokespeople increase earnings for Perficient and bring its revenue to around $240 million.  Thomas Financial assessed the company and predicted it would post a 2007 revenue of $214.8 million.

The breakdown of the IT consulting deal is, Perficient will pay $10.4 million in cash and $10.4 million in stock for BoldTech.  This price is based on closing price for the company for 30 days prior to the acquisition.  

Perficient stated that the purchase would not affect third-quarter results; they will still fall within the normal range.  In August, third-quarter services and software revenue was predicted to fall between $51.8 million and $56 million.

Annual sales for the acquired IT consulting firm BoldTech are $20 million.  The company also has a global development center in China.  

For more information on this IT consulting development, visit the attached link.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Case studies and websites can be very strong IT marketing tools and can help show prospects that you can provide the best solution to their IT problems.  

Case Studies

A case study is an IT marketing tool that is essentially a sophisticated testimonial.  It typically features a client picture, logo, full name, address and contact information.  

A case study is a few short paragraphs talking about the benefits your client received by working with your firm.  This is an endorsement with a signature and your firm’s contact information at the bottom to encourage prospects to call you.  Case studies related to your specialty are incredibly powerful IT marketing tools.  

Websites

With the right content, a website can have a huge impact on prospective clients as IT marketing collateral.  Don’t waste time advertising the cheapest power supply or motherboard; instead focus on your industry specific solutions and solving your niche’s biggest problems.  

Have Each Page on Your Website Address a Niche

If you have three niches you’re targeting with your IT marketing campaign, make a page for each of them.  Each page should talk about an industry-specific trend and how your solutions can help with common problems.

What are your niche’s hot buttons?  Make sure you know the software packages that will entice people and make them believe in your competence.  Also know benefits you are delivering and have them on your website.  

IT Marketing and Your Website:  Service

Most of your website traffic will come from demand you’ve generated somewhere else or competitors looking for information.  Make sure prospects are clear when they view your website that you focus on services and the problems services solve for specific types of small businesses.     

The Main Idea

Use case studies and websites as important IT marketing collateral that address your individual niches and their problems.  

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

A two-year old independent startup network is publishing a new resource for VARs that are not part of major partner programs.  The Advanced Service Network, created by IT veteran of 18 years Joseph Canzonieri (founder of Crescent Computer Technologies) already consists of over 400 VARs that can see each other through the organization’s website.   

While ASN is still young, it has grown a great deal in the past year.  It began as a side project and has turned into the yellow pages for VARs.  VARs have the option of filling out a form asking to join the network.  The board of advisors approves applications only after they determine companies are completely legitimate.  The ASN network members can contact each other and coordinate projects and payment on their own, giving them greater freedom than those involved in larger partner programs.

Canzionieri says he started this VARs network in response to a belief that the larger networks were too selective and impersonal.

The organization is free and supports itself through advertising sold on its website and in newsletters.  All VARs are welcome to join the network, but the number that can participate in a given region is limited in order to help minimize competition.  Canzionieri wants the network to continue to grow in order to provide real benefit to VARs.

Submitted By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Part of being involved in computer consulting is selling your personality and your business knowledge.  But you are also selling your time, and you can’t afford to deal with people or tasks that will waste it.  You have to be able to use every hour to its fullest.  How do you tell if a service call is a good use of your time?

Is it an Emergency?

To work more efficiently, you have to be able to find out whether computer consulting clients are actually having an emergency or if they just want your time.  You should be able to determine this as soon as you hear from them – on the phone, over e-mail or in person.  A server down issue has a much greater sense of urgency than an unlinking PDA.  

What is the Budget?

You simply can’t waste time with prospects that don’t have any money to pay you for your services.  If you come across a broke computer consulting prospect, you need to put the person on a follow-up list for three to six months to figure out if there is going to be more IT money to be spent.  Otherwise, don’t waste your time.

Be Tactful

You can’t ask directly if a prospect is broke or even, “Do you have any money?”  To determine whether a prospect can afford your support, as if he/she gets computer consulting support currently, how he/she has received it in the past and whether he/she has only used moonlighters or volunteers.  You can find out how big the budget is for IT by asking these questions.

If you find out the prospect is already working with someone else that you think of as a competitor, you can assume the funds are there to hire you.

What is Their Pain?

You need to know how much pain a prospect is in and what the nature of the pain is in order to pitch a sophisticated solution to solve customers’ and prospects’ problems. 

 
The Bottom Line about Computer Consulting

You need to think of time as part of your valuable inventory; don’t give it away in computer consulting unless you are sure it will be worth it.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

On September 7, several leading solution providers announced they would be offering their first products featuring Microsoft’s VC-1 Encoder SDK.  On the same day, Microsoft stated it would be providing industry support for this software officially, though the first statement regarding the new development was announced at the 2007 National Association of Broadcasters conference in April. 

These products have improved products offered by leading companies that provide digital delivery services and compression tools.  The new SDK technology offered by solution providers will offer better video imagery and many other features.

Companies such as Red Bee Media have decided to go with solution providers Anystream, Inc. to adopt the new Encoder technology in order to revise its video content for the BBC’s new iPlayer service.  According to a Red Bee spokesperson, the new Encoder will help it deliver faster and better quality video to customers in various formats.  The technology allows for solution providers to provide HD optical discs  and content that can be optimized for almost any screen, perfect for on-demand and broadband service.s 

Other companies across Europe, such as Sonopress, Imagion AG and DS&DVD and U.S. companies including GDMX, Deluxe and Blink Digital will also be working with solution providers to utilize the new Microsoft products.  Microsoft and Amazon.com also intend to offer a program for independent filmmakers that will let them publish as many as 1,000 HD DVD titles without any set-up fee through CreateSpace.

Over 85 percent of all HD DVD titles in the U.S. have now been encoded using the new VC-1 technology, so solution providers are offering it at an opportune time. 

Microsoft will also include this new SDK technology in its Xbox system and most particularly on its xbox LIVE Marketplace. 

For more information on this story, including a list of solution providers providing the new SDK technology, visit the attached link.

Added By:  Computer Consulting 101 Professional Kit

The Advanced Service Network (ASN) – an association for VARs and solution providers to get free referrals for IT work – recently announced it was opening up membership to all VARs.

The East Hanover, New Jersey-based company recently declared that location would no longer be a factor in membership for VARs to the ASN; now VARs and solution providers across the globe can have access to a new referral service. One of the benefits of ASN is a rule that limits the number of solution providers and VARs that can be members within a given geographic area, meaning that qualified members that join ASN immediately will get priority and weed out some of their competition.  While anyone can join the ASN, the number of total members within a given location is limited so more opportunities can be enjoyed by members. 

VARs that join the ASN can also refer customers globally to other ASN members online.  Information about specific solutions offered by members is available to each member in an online forum, which gives VARs that join the ability to learn as much about other solution providers before making contact.

Benefits of joining ASN for VARs include discounts on hotels, flights, car rentals, office supplies, financial services, insurance and much more. 

For more information on this opportunity for VARs, visit the attached link. 

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

IT consultants need to know when they are going after sweet spot small businesses that the company is going to be looking for someone that has strong hardware skills.  You need to thus know about RAID and multi-port adapters. 

What is Your Background?

IT consultants need to be able to deal with storage attached networks, network attached storage, mid-range data backup systems, DAT, DL2, UPS’s, power protection systems, routers, CSU’s, VSU’s, wi-fi hardware and anything associated with roaming. 

What Systems Do You Know?

Networking software is a very important part of life for IT consultants working with sweet spot small businesses.  You need to know the software and also have great skills with networking.  You also need to know about the server OS’s.  They are hiring IT consultants for networking design, installation and on-going support and maintenance.

What Are Clients Using?

IT consultants working with small businesses need to know about Microsoft Windows server, Microsoft Small Business Server, Novell Netware, Novell Small Business Suite and Red Hat.  Because client server messaging is so big, Microsoft Exchange Server and Novell GroupWise are also good ideas for IT consultants.

Accounting applications will also be crucial for IT consultants along with CRM applications, web servers like Microsoft IS and Apache. 

Which Other Tools Do You Know?

IT consultants working with small businesses should also know web authoring tools including Microsoft Front Page and Macromedia Dream Weaver.  For those dealing with small businesses that use Windows, terminal services will also be important.  IT consultants should also be familiar with network faxing, performance monitoring, virtual private networking, BPM’s, RAX and others.

Firewalls and advanced virus protection are also a necessary part of working with small businesses.

IT Consultants:  The Bottom Line

In order to support sweet spot small businesses, IT consultants need to know 25 – 50% of the aforementioned items. 

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit